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ROMULUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 689 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROMULUS , the legendary See also:

eponymous founder and first See also:king (753—716?) of See also:Rome, represented as the son of See also:Mars by the Vestal See also:Rhea Silvia or Ilia, daughter of Numitor, who had been dispossessed of the See also:throne of See also:Alba by his younger See also:brother Amulius. Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Silvia, were placed in a trough and See also:cast into the See also:Tiber by their granduncle. The trough grounded in the marshes where Rome afterwards stood, under the See also:wild fig See also:tree (ficus ruminalis), which was still See also:holy in later days. The babes were suckled by a she-See also:wolf and fed by a See also:woodpecker, and then fostered by Acca Larentia, wife of the shepherd Faustulus. They became leaders of a warlike See also:band of shepherds on the See also:Palatine, and in course of See also:time were recognized by their grandfather, whom they restored to his throne, slaying the usurper Amulius. They now proposed to found a See also:city on the site where they had been nurtured; but a See also:quarrel for See also:precedence See also:broke out and Remus was slain. Romulus strengthened his band by offering an " See also:asylum " to outcasts and fugitives, found wives for them by See also:capture and waged See also:war with their kinsmen. His most formidable foe was See also:Titus Tatius (q.v.), king of the Sabines, but after an obstinate struggle he and Romulus See also:united their forces and reigned See also:side by side till Tatius was slain at See also:Lavinium in the course of a See also:blood-See also:feud with Laurentum. Romulus then reigned alone till he suddenly disappeared in a See also:storm. He was thereafter worshipped as a See also:god under the name of See also:Quirinus, which, however, is really a See also:Sabine See also:form of Mars. The See also:story of Romulus, best preserved in the first See also:book of See also:Livy (see also See also:Dion. Halic. i.

75—ii. 56; See also:

Plutarch, Romulus; See also:Cicero, de Republica, ii. 2—1o), belongs throughout to See also:legend. This was See also:felt in later times by the See also:Romans themselves, who gave a rationalistic explanation of the miraculous incidents. Thus, Mars was converted into a stranger disguised as the god of war, and the she-wolf into a woman of See also:ill-fame (lupa); Romulus was not taken up into See also:heaven, but put to See also:death and carried away piecemeal by the See also:patricians under their cloaks. The whole story, probably first given by the See also:annalists See also:Fabius Pictor and Cincius Alimentus, contains religious and aetiological elements. The See also:foundation of the city by twins may be explained by the See also:worship of the See also:Lares, who are generally represented as a pair of See also:brothers, especially as the See also:mother of Romulus and Remus was connected with the worship of the See also:hearth of the See also:state. The introduction of the wolf may be of See also:Greek or eastern origin; it may have a totemistic significance; or may be due to the ficus ruminalis, the fig tree near the Lupercal on the Palatine, where the twins were first exposed. This tree was sacred to a goddess Rumina (ruma, " See also:breast," whence the suckling incident), and the resemblance between Romulus and ruminalis led to the fig tree and the founder of the city being subsequently connected by the See also:Roman antiquarians. The wolf would then be suggested by the proximity of the Lupercal, the grotto of See also:Faunus Lupercus, with whom the shepherd Faustulus is identical. According to See also:Professor Ducati of See also:Bologna, in a See also:paper on an old See also:Etruscan See also:stele, on which a she-wolf is represented suckling a See also:child, the wolf legend is an importation from See also:Etruria, the See also:original See also:home of which was See also:Crete. See also:Miletus, son of See also:Apollo and a daughter of See also:Minos, having been exposed by his mother, was suckled by she-wolves, being afterwards found and brought up by shepherds.

To See also:

escape the designs of Minos, Miletus fled to See also:Asia See also:Minor, and founded the city called after him, where the Etruscans first became acquainted with the legend. The opening of the " asylum " is a Greek addition (as the name itself suggests). Down to imperial times, the Romans seem to havebeen ignorant of the Greek See also:custom of taking See also:sanctuary; further, the See also:idea was entirely opposed to the exclusive spirit of the See also:ancient Italians. The story was probably invented to give an explanation of the sacred spot named " Inter duos lucos " between the arx and the Capitol. Another Greek See also:touch is the deification of an eponymous See also:hero. The See also:rape of the Sabine See also:women is clearly aetiological, invented to See also:account for the custom of See also:marriage by capture. See also:Consus, at whose festival the rape took See also:place, was a god of the See also:earth and crops, the giver of fruitfulness in See also:plants and animals. It is generally agreed that the capture of the Capitol by 'Titus Tatius may contain an See also:historical See also:element, pointing to an See also:early See also:conquest of Rome by the Sabines, of which there are some indications. Subsequently, to efface the recollection of an event so distasteful to Roman vanity and See also:national See also:pride, Sabine names and customs were accounted for by a supposed See also:union of Romans and Sabines during the See also:regal See also:period, the result of a friendly See also:league concluded between Romulus and Tatius. According to E. Pais, Romulus is merely the eponym of See also:Roma; his See also:life is nothing but the course of the See also:sun, and the institutions ascribed to him are the result of See also:long historical development. Romulus, like his See also:double Tullus Hostilius, is regarded as the founder of the military and See also:political (see RoME), as Numa and his counterpart Ancus Marcius of the religious institutions of Rome.

For a See also:

critical examination of the story, see See also:Schwegler, Romische Geschichte, bks. viii.–x.; See also:Sir See also:George Cornewall See also:Lewis, Credibility of early Roman See also:History, See also:chap. 11 ; W. Ihne, History of Rome, i.; Sir J. See also:Seeley, Introduction to his edition of Livy, bk. i.; E. Pais, Storia di Roma (1898), i. pt. 1, and Ancient Legends of Roman History (Eng. trans., 1906) ; also O. See also:Gilbert, Geschichte and Topographie der Sladt Rom See also:im Altertum (1883—1885).

End of Article: ROMULUS

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