Editing Founding of Rome

{{short description|Archaeological evidence and mythical tale for Rome's origins}}
{{Use British English |date=December 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates |date=January 2024}}
[[File:Kapitolinische Wölfin Museum Capitolini.jpg|thumb| ''[[Capitoline Wolf]]'', sculpture of the [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-wolf]] feeding the twins [[Romulus and Remus]], the most famous image associated with the founding of Rome. According to [[Livy]], it was erected in 296 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Momigliano|1989|p=57}}, citing {{harvnb|Livy|loc=10.23.1}}.</ref> ]]
[[File:Belgique - Bruxelles - Maison de la Louve - 05.jpg|thumb|Romulus and Remus on the House of the She-wolf at the [[Grand Place]] of [[Brussels]]]]
The '''founding of Rome''' was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several [[hillfort|hilltop villages]] during the [[Prehistoric Italy#Bronze Age|Final Bronze Age]] or early [[Iron Age Europe#Italy|Iron Age]]. [[Prehistoric Italy|Prehistoric habitation]] of the [[Italian Peninsula]] occurred by 48,000 [[Before Present|years ago]], with the area of Rome being settled by around 1600&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Momigliano|1989|p=53}} Some evidence on the [[Capitoline Hill]] possibly dates as early as {{circa|1700&nbsp;BC}}{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=38}} and the nearby valley that later housed the [[Roman Forum]] had a developed [[necropolis]] by at least 1000{{nbsp}}BC.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=48}} The combination of the hilltop settlements into a single polity by the later 8th century{{nbsp}}BC was probably influenced by the trend for [[city-state]] formation emerging from [[ancient Greece]].

[[Roman mythology|Roman myth]] held that their city was founded by [[Romulus]], son of the [[war god]] [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] and the [[Vestal virgin]] [[Rhea Silvia]], fallen princess of [[Alba Longa]] and descendant of [[Aeneas|Aeneas of Troy]]. [[infant exposure|Exposed]] on the [[Tiber River|Tiber]] river, Romulus and his twin [[Remus]] were [[Human–animal breastfeeding|suckled]] by a [[she-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-wolf]] at the [[Lupercal]] before being raised by the shepherd [[Faustulus]], taking revenge on their usurping great-uncle [[Amulius]], and restoring Alba Longa to their grandfather [[Numitor]]. The brothers then decided to establish a new town but quarrelled over some details, ending with Remus's murder and the establishment of Rome on the [[Palatine Hill]]. The year of the supposed founding was variously computed by ancient historians, but the two dates seeming to be officially sanctioned were the [[Varronian chronology]]'s 753&nbsp;BC (used by [[Claudius]]'s [[Secular Games]] and [[Hadrian]]'s [[Romaea]]) and the adjacent year of 752&nbsp;BC (used by the [[Fasti Capitolini|Fasti]] and the Secular Games of [[Antoninus Pius]] and [[Philip the Arab|Philip I]]). Despite known errors in [[Varro]]'s calculations, it is the 753{{nbsp}}BC date that continues to form the basis for most modern calculations of the [[Ab urbe condita|AUC]] [[calendar era]].

The legendary account was still much discussed and celebrated in Roman times. The [[Parilia Festival]] on 21 April was considered to commemorate the [[Natale di Roma|anniversary of the city's founding]] during the [[late Republic]] and that aspect of the holiday grew in importance under the [[Roman Empire|Empire]] until it was fully transformed into the Romaea in AD{{nbsp}}121. Most modern historians dismiss these ancient accounts of a single founder descended from a Trojan lineage establishing the city at specific point in time as fiction.

== Cultural context ==
{{see|Villanovan culture|Latial culture}}
[[File:Europe middle bronze age.png|thumb|right|Western Europe during its Middle Bronze Age, with the [[Apennine Culture]] in blue]]

The conventional division of pre-Roman cultures in Italy deals with cultures which spoke [[Indo-European language|Indo-European]] and non-Indo-European languages.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=41–42}} The [[Italic languages]], which include [[Latin]], are Indo-European and were spoken, according to inscriptions, in the lower [[Tiber Valley]]. It was once thought that [[Faliscan language|Faliscan]] – spoken north of Veii on the right bank of the Tiber – was a separate language, but inscriptions discovered in the 1980s indicate that Latin was spoken more generally in the area. [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] speakers were concentrated in modern [[Tuscany]] with a similar language called [[Rhaetic|Raetic]] spoken on the upper [[Adige]] (the foothills of the eastern [[Alps|Italian Alps]]).{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=43}}

When drawing a connection between peoples and their languages, a reconstruction emerges with Indo-European peoples arriving in various waves of migrations during the first and second millennia BC: first a western Italic group (including Latin), followed by a central Italic group of [[Osco-Umbrian languages|Osco-Umbrian]] dialects, with a late arrival of [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] and [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] on the Italian peninsula, from across the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] and Alps, respectively. These migrations are generally believed to have displaced speakers of Etruscan and other pre-Indo-European languages; although it is possible that Etruscan arrived also by migration, almost certainly before 2000&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=44}}

The start of the Iron age saw a gradual increase in social complexity and population that led to the emergence of proto-urban settlements in central and northern Italy writ large. These proto-urban agglomerations were normally clusters of smaller settlements that were insufficiently distant to be separated communities; over time, they would unify.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=17}}

== Archaeological evidence ==
[[File:Villanovan - Urn in the Shape of a Hut and a Door - Walters 482312 - Three Quarter.jpg|thumb|right|Funerary urn of the [[Villanovan culture]], precursor to [[Etruscan civilization]]]]

There is archaeological evidence of human occupation of the area of modern Rome from at least 5,000 [[Before Present|years ago]], but the dense layer of much younger debris obscures any [[Paleolithic Italy|Palaeolithic]] and [[Neolithic Italy|Neolithic sites]].{{sfn|Heiken et al.|2005|p={{page needed |date=February 2025}}}} Traces of occupation have been found in the general region{{snd}}including [[Lavinium]] and the coast near [[Ardea, Lazio|Ardea]]{{snd}}going back to the 15th century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Momigliano|1989|p=53}} The area was home to the [[Apennine culture|Apennine]] and [[Proto-Villanovan culture]]s before the advent of the more regional [[Latial culture]].

=== Bronze Age ===
Archaeological evidence suggests that Rome developed over a long period, but it was definitely occupied by the middle of the [[Bronze Age]]. Core samples have shown that the terrain of Bronze-Age Rome differed greatly from what is present now.{{sfn|Brock et al.|2021}} The area of the [[Forum Boarium]] north of the [[Aventine Hill]] was a seasonally dry plain that simultaneously provided a safe inland port for the era's seafaring ships, a wide area for watering horses and cattle,{{sfn|Brock et al.|2021}} and a safe [[river ford|ford]] of the Tiber{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=37}} with shallow and slow-flowing water even if [[Tiber Island]] had not yet formed,{{sfn|Brock et al.|2021}} one of the river's major fords between [[Etruria]] and [[Campania]].{{sfn|Momigliano|1989|p=53}} This advantageous but exposed location was closely flanked by the Capitoline, which at that time rose sharply from the more easterly bank of the Tiber{{sfn|Brock et al.|2021}} and provided a ready citadel for defense and for control of the [[history of salt|salt production]] along the river and at its mouth.{{sfn|Momigliano|1989|p=53}} The [[Seven hills of Rome|other hills]] and the marshes between them provided similarly defensible points for settlement.

Accordingly, thick deposits of manure{{sfn|Brock et al.|2021}} and ancient pottery shards have been discovered in the [[Forum Boarium]] from the middle of the Bronze Age.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=48}} Current evidence suggests that there were three separate bronze-using settlements on the Capitoline during the period 1700–1350&nbsp;BC and in the neighboring valley that later became the [[Roman Forum]] from 1350–1120&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=38}} Some 13th century{{nbsp}}BC structures indicate that the Capitoline was already being terraced to manage its slope. Evidence in the Final Bronze Age around 1200–975&nbsp;BC is clearer, showing occupation of the Capitoline, Forum, and adjacent Palatine. Excavations near the modern [[Capitoline Museums]] suggest the construction of fortifications and some scholars have speculated that settlements also existed on the other hills, especially the [[Janiculum]], [[Quirinal hill|Quirinal]], and [[Aventine hill|Aventine]].{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=38}} The Capitoline currently seems to have been the earliest settled{{sfn|Bettelli|2012|loc=para "The Capitoline hill and the earliest settlement in Rome in the Bronze Age"}} but it is debated whether the settlements on the other hills were independent, colonies of the Capitoline settlement, or formerly separate villages already consolidated into a single polity.{{sfn|Bettelli|2012|loc=para "The early Iron Age and the occupation of the Palatine hill"}} By 1000&nbsp;BC, a necropolis existed in the Forum for cremation graves.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=48}} By the early Iron Age {{circa|900&nbsp;BC}}, graves started to be placed into the ground. Other cemeteries appear on the [[Esquiline]], [[Quirinal]], and [[Viminal Hill]]s by the 9th century, containing pottery, imported Greek wares, fibulae, and bronze objects.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=39}} Remains from huts on the Palatine have been found that date to the 9th or 8th centuries BC, with accelerating development by the early to middle 8th century BC.{{sfnm|Lomas|2018|1p=40|Cornell|1995|2p=57}}

=== Eighth and seventh centuries&nbsp;BC ===
[[File:Maquette de la Rome archaïque (musée de la civilisation romaine, Rome) (5917668745).jpg|thumb|right|Model of archaic Rome, 6th century BC]]

By this time, four major settlements emerged in Rome. The nuclei appeared on the Palatine, the Capitoline, the Quirinal and Viminal, and the Caelian, Oppian, and Velia.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=41}} There is, however, no evidence linking any settlement on the Quirinal hill with the Sabines, as is alleged by some ancient accounts.<ref>{{harvnb|Momigliano|1989|pp=86–87|ps=. "So far no archaeological support has been found for the self-assured Roman tradition that the Latins of Romulus soon combined with the Sabines... [or] that the Sabine settlement was on the Quirinal". Momigliano also notes a linguistic contradiction: {{lang|la|Quirinal}} should in Oscan be ''Pirinal''. }}</ref>

The area of the Forum also was converted at this time into a public space. Burials there discontinued and portions of it were paved over. Votive offerings appear in the ''[[comitium]]'' in the eighth century, indicating a more central religious cult, and other public buildings appear to have been erected around that time. One of those buildings was the [[Domus Publica|''domus publica'']] (the official residence of the ''[[pontifex maximus]]''), which is now believed to have been constructed between 750 and 700&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|pp=41–42}} Religious activity started also in this period on the Capitoline hill, suggesting a connection to the ancient cult of [[Jupiter Feretrius]]. Other offerings discovered indicate Rome's connections outside Latium, with imported Greek pottery from [[Euboea]] and [[Corinth]].{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=42}}

The first evidence of a wall appears in the middle or late eighth century on the Palatine, dated between 730 and 720&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=42}} It is possible that the circuit of the wall marked out what later Romans believed to be the original [[pomerium]] (sacred boundary) of the city.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=43}} The discovery of gates and streets connected to the wall, with the remains of various huts, suggest that Rome had by this time:

{{quote|
acquired a defined boundary ... [and] a more sophisticated level of social and political organisation ... the use of the Forum as a public space point[s] to the development of [a] shared civil and ritual space[] for the inhabitants of all communities, demonstrating an increasing level of centralisation.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=44}} }}

Like other Villanovan proto-urban centres, this archaic Rome was likely organised around clans that guarded their own areas, but by the later eighth century had confederated.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=44}} The development of city-states was likely a Greek innovation that spread through the Mediterranean from 850 to 750&nbsp;BC.{{sfnm|Momigliano|1989|1p=53|Forsythe|2005|2pp=92–93}} The earliest votive deposits are found in the early seventh century on the Capitoline and Quirinal hills, suggesting that by that time a city had formed with monumental architecture and public religious sanctuaries.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=88}} Certainly, by 600&nbsp;BC,<!-- end of the seventh century --> a process of {{lang|grc|synoikismos}} was complete and a unified Rome – reflected in the production of a central forum area, public monumental architecture, and civic structures – had by then been formed.{{sfnm|Forsythe|2005|1p=92|Cornell|1995|2pp=102–103}}

== Ancient tradition and founding myths ==
[[File:Rome-Palatin-fonds de cabanes.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Excavation on the [[Palatine Hill]] has found the foundations of a hut believed to correspond to the [[Hut of Romulus|Hut]] of [[Romulus]], which the Romans themselves preserved into late antiquity]]

By the [[late Republic]], the usual Roman origin myth held that their city was founded by a [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latin]] named [[Romulus]] on the day of the [[Parilia Festival]] (21 April) in some year around 750{{nbsp}}BC.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=35}}<ref>{{harvnb|Cornell|1995|p=72|ps=. Different ancient historians placed it in different years: "Fabius placed it in 748&nbsp;BC, Cincius in 728, [[Cato the Elder|Cato]] in 751 and [[Varro]] in 754" [sic]. }}</ref> Important aspects of the myth concerned Romulus's murder of his twin [[Remus]], the brothers' descent from the god [[Mars (god)|Mars]] and the royal family of [[Alba Longa]], and that dynasty's supposed descent from [[Aeneas]], himself supposedly descended from the goddess [[Aphrodite]] and the royal family of [[Ancient Troy|Troy]].{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=44}} The accounts in the first book of [[Livy]]'s ''[[History of Rome (Livy)|History of Rome]]''{{sfn|Livy|loc=1}} and in [[Vergil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' were particularly influential. Some accounts further asserted that there had been a [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greek]] settlement on the Palatine (later dubbed [[Pallantium]]) even earlier than Romulus and Remus, at some time prior to the [[Trojan War]].<ref>{{harvnb|Momigliano|1989|pp=54, 59}}; Verg. ''Aen.'', 8; {{harvnb|Dion. Hal. ''Ant. Rom.''|loc=1.45.3}}. Also noted are modern beliefs in Myceneaean influence: {{cite book |last=Peruzzi |first=E |title=Mycenaeans in early Latium |location=Rome |year=1980 |mode=cs2}}. Momigliano dismisses such beliefs, however, as overly reliant on "doubtful etymologies and ... unorthodox use of the legend of Evander".</ref>

Modern scholars disregard most of the traditional accounts as myths.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=70}} There is no persuasive archaeological evidence for either the Romulan foundation or for the idea of an early Greek settlement.{{sfn|Momigliano|1989|p=54}} Even the name Romulus is now generally believed to have been retrojected from the city's name – glossed as "Mr Rome" by the classicist [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]] – rather than reflecting a historical or actual figure.{{sfn|Beard|2015|pp=71, 95 ("unlike the fictional 'Romulus', or 'Mr Rome'")}} Some scholars, particularly [[Andrea Carandini]], have argued that it remains possible that these foundation myths reflect actual historical events in some form and that the city and [[Roman Kingdom]] were in fact founded by a single actor in some way. This remains a minority viewpoint in present scholarship{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=70–71}} and highly controversial in the absence of further evidence, with the arguments made by Carandini and others appearing to rest on highly tendentious interpretations of what is currently known with certainty from scientific excavations.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=36}} 

The Romans' [[origin myth]]s, however, provide evidence of how the Romans conceived of themselves as a mixture of different ethnic groups and foreign influences,{{Sfn|Cornell|1995|p=60}}  The Romans took the foundation of their own new cities seriously, undertaking many rituals and attributing many of them to remote antiquity.{{sfn|Momigliano|1989|p=83}} They long maintained the [[Hut of Romulus]], a primitive dwelling on the Palatine attributed to their founder, although they had no firm basis for associating it with him specifically.{{sfn|Momigliano|1989|p=67}}

=== Chronological disagreements ===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left: 10px;"
|+ Rome's foundation dates in ancient sources
! Ancient historian !! Founding year
|-
| [[Gnaeus Naevius]]
| {{circa|1100&nbsp;BC}}{{sfn|Koptev|2010|p=20}}
|-
| [[Ennius]]
| {{circa|1100&nbsp;BC}}<ref>{{harvnb|Momigliano|1989|p=82|ps=. "Ennius... considered Ilia, Romulus' mother, to be the daughter of Aeneas... If, as seems probably, he attributed these words [that Rome was founded 700 years previously] to Camillus, he placed the origins of Rome in the early eleventh century BC".}}</ref> or <br />{{circa|884&nbsp;BC}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brinkman |first=John A |date=1958 |title=The foundation legends in Vergil |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3295326 |journal=Classical Journal |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=25–33 |jstor=3295326 |issn=0009-8353 |quote=Quintus Ennius... according to his account, the founding of the city was dated about the year 900 }}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Koptev|2010|pp=19–20|ps=, noting also the interpretation that Ennius' claim of "seven hundred years" having elapsed may be from the time of [[Marcus Furius Camillus|Camillus]], which imply {{circa|1100&nbsp;BC}}. }}</ref>
|-
| [[Timaeus (historian)|Timaeus]]
| 814–13&nbsp;BC<ref>{{harvnb|Koptev|2010|pp=15–16|ps=, noting that this was the first estimate of Rome's foundation; Koptev also notes Dionysius' later commentary expressing bafflement as to the choice of this year. }}</ref>
|-
| [[Asinius Quadratus]]
| 776&nbsp;BC<ref>{{harvnb|Feeney|2007|p=87}}, via synchronism with the Eratosthenes' date for the first [[Olympiad]].</ref>
|-
| [[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)|Calpurnius Piso]]
| 757, 753, or 751&nbsp;BC<ref>{{harvnb|Koptev|2010|p=43|ps=. "600 years before the consulate of M. Aemilius Lepidus and C. Popilius, which took place in&nbsp;158 BC".}}</ref>
|-
| [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] and [[Plutarch]]
| 754–53&nbsp;BC{{sfnm|Cornell|1995|1p=72|Forsythe|2005|2p=94}}<ref>Plut. ''Rom.'', 12, claims 21 April 753&nbsp;BC synchronised with an eclipse; no such eclipse could have been observed in the Mediterranean for several years on either side of that date. {{harvnb|Grafton|Swerdlow|1985|pp=456–458}}.</ref>
|-
| [[Fasti Capitolini]]
| 753–52&nbsp;BC<ref>{{Cite book |last=Samuel |first=Alan Edouard |title=Greek and Roman chronology: calendars and years in classical antiquity |date=1972 |publisher=Beck |isbn=3-406-03348-2 |location=München |oclc=415753 |page=252 }} See Olympiad 6.4.</ref>
|-
| [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]
| 752–51&nbsp;BC<ref name=":0">{{harvnb|Koptev|2010|p=20|ps=. "first year of the seventh Olympiad".}}</ref>{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=401}}
|-
| [[Polybius]]
| 751–50&nbsp;BC{{sfnm|Koptev|2010|1p=17|Momigliano|1989|2p=82}}{{sfn|Drummond|1989|p=626}}

|-
| [[Cato the Elder]] and [[Diodorus]]
| 751&nbsp;BC{{sfn|Koptev|2010|p=17}}{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=72}}<ref>[[Diodorus]], [[Bibliotheca historica|''Bibliotheca historica'']] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/7*.html VII]. "the city was founded in the second year of the Seventh Olympiad."</ref>
|-
| [[Fabius Pictor]]
| 748–47&nbsp;BC{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=50}}<ref>{{harvnb|Forsythe|2005|pp=94, 369–70|ps=, noting that Fabius Pictor's work did not include five fictitious years of anarchy, which extended the chronology to Varro's date. See {{harvnb|Dion. Hal. ''Ant. Rom.''|loc=1.74.1}}. }}</ref>
|-
| [[Lucius Cincius Alimentus|Cincius Alimentus]]
| 729–28&nbsp;BC{{sfnm|Forsythe|2005|1p=94|Lomas|2018|2p=50|Dion. Hal. ''Ant. Rom.''|3loc=1.74.1}}
|}

While the Romans believed that their city had been founded by an [[eponym|eponymous founder]] at a specific time,{{sfn|Lomas|2018|pp=36–37}} when that occurred was disputed by the ancient historians. The earliest dates placed it {{circa|1100}}{{nbsp}}BC out of a belief that Romulus had been Aeneas's grandson. This moved Rome's foundation much closer to the [[fall of Troy|fall]] of [[Ancient Troy|Troy]], dated by [[Eratosthenes]] to 1184–83&nbsp;BC;{{sfn|Koptev|2010|p=20}} these dates are attested as early as the 4th century{{nbsp}}BC. Romulus was later chronologically connected to Aeneas and the time of the [[Trojan War]] by introducing a [[kings of Alba Longa|line of Alban kings]], which scholars consider to be entirely spurious.{{sfnm|Lomas|2018|1p=50|Feeney|2007|2pp=88–89}}

Most scholars view the move from a foundation date in the 1100s to one in the 700s to have come from Roman calculations from estimates of the lengths of the republican and regal periods.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=72. "It seems clear that the various dates given by historians for the foundation... were linked to estimates of the length of the regal period"}} Their attempts to estimate how long the regal period lasted, however, are largely rejected as synthetic calculations.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=73. "Most probably the date was fixed simply by counting back seven generations of thirty-five years... it seems likely that the foundation date was fixed by some kind of mechanical calculation"}} It may also be that the date of the city's foundation was assigned from Greek historiography,{{sfn|Feeney|2007|p=89}} especially influenced by [[Timaeus (historian)|Timaeus of Tauromenium]] (born {{circa|350&nbsp;BC}}) who may have been the first to move the founding of the city from the era of the Trojan war to the more historical 814&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Feeney|2007|pp=92–94}}, noting there is no clear rationale for the selection of 814–13&nbsp;BC. But see {{harvnb|Koptev|2010|pp=17–19}}, suggesting 814&nbsp;BC comes from synchronism with the Macedonian dynasty or as five ''saecula'' before 263&nbsp;BC and the start of the [[First Punic War|first Punic war]].</ref> A later intervention, possibly at the hands of [[Fabius Pictor]] (born {{circa|270&nbsp;BC}}) or his source [[Diocles of Peparethus]], then placed the foundation date within the [[Olympiad]]s (ie within "historical" time), settling eventually on {{circa|750&nbsp;BC}}.{{sfn|Feeney|2007|pp=95–96, noting that bringing the foundation within the Olympiads "helps Fabius in his larger thematic plan of showing that Rome is not a barbarian outsider but an equal participant in the Greek cultural world"}} [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] (born {{circa|60&nbsp;BC}}) placed it in the first year of the [[List of ancient Olympic victors|7th Olympiad]], that is, 752 BC.<ref name=":0" /> The later ''[[Chronicon (Eusebius)|Chronographia]]'' of [[Eusebius]] ({{circa|325&nbsp;AD}}) accepts this dating, but his ''[[Chronicon (Eusebius)|Canons]]'' notably place the event three years earlier, in 755 BC, while also using Dionysius' date as the beginning of Romulus' reign.<ref>[[Eusebius]] [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_chronicon_02_text.htm ''Chronographia'' 109-110], [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_02_part1.htm ''Canones'' 6-7th Olympiads].</ref>

From [[Claudius]]'s [[Secular Games]] in AD{{nbsp}}47 to [[Hadrian]]'s [[Romaea]] in AD{{nbsp}}121, the official date seems to have used the [[Varronian chronology|chronology]] established by [[Varro]] in the late 1st century{{nbsp}}BC, placing Rome's founding in 753{{nbsp}}BC. [[Augustus]]'s [[Fasti Capitolini|Fasti]] running to AD{{nbsp}}13 and the Secular Games celebrated at Rome's 900th and 1000th anniversaries under [[Antoninus Pius]] and [[Philip the Arab|Philip{{nbsp}}I]], meanwhile, used dates computed from a foundation a year later in 752{{nbsp}}BC. Despite known errors in Varro's work,<ref>{{harvnb|Forsythe|2005|p=279}}; {{harvnb|Cornell|1995|p=402}}; {{harvnb|Grafton|Swerdlow|1985|loc=passim}}</ref> it is the former date that has become the most repeated in modernity and is still used for computing the [[ab urbe condita|AUC]] [[calendar era]].{{sfnm|Forsythe|2005|1p=94|Lomas|2018|2p=50}}

=== Romulus and Remus ===
[[File:Origini di roma in narrazione continua, da pompei V 4, 13, s.n..JPG|thumb|A fresco from [[Pompeii]] depicting the foundation of Rome. [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]] riding in his chariot; [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] descending from the sky to [[Rhea Silvia]] lying in the grass; [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] shows to [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] the she-wolf suckling the twins; in the lower corners of the picture: river-god [[Tiberinus (god)|Tiberinus]] and water-goddess [[Juturna]]. 35–45 AD.]]
{{main|Romulus and Remus}}

<!-- Present tense for the tale -->
In the best known form of the legend, Romulus and Remus are the grandsons of [[Numitor]], the king of Alba Longa. After Numitor is deposed by his brother [[Amulius]] and his daughter [[Rhea Silvia]] is forced to become a [[Vestal virgin]], she becomes pregnant{{snd}}allegedly [[Rape in ancient Rome|raped]] by the [[war god]] [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]{{snd}}and delivers the two illegitimate brothers.<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|1995|pp=138–139|ps=, on Livy, notes how he distinguishes between literal truth and a Roman "''right to claim'' descent from Mars... because it appropriate symbolises the martial accomplishments of [later] Romans, who... have the ability to compel others to accede to that claim".}} {{harvnb|Miles|1995|p=142}}.</ref> Amulius orders that the children [[infant exposure|be left to die]] on the slopes of the Palatine or in the [[Tiber River]], but they are [[human-animal breastfeeding|suckled]] by a [[she-wolf (ancient Rome)|she-wolf]] at the [[Lupercal]] cave and then discovered by the shepherd [[Faustulus]] and taken in by him and his wife [[Acca Larentia]]. (Livy combines Larentia and the she-wolf, considering them most likely to have referred to a [[prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitute]], also known in Latin slang as a {{lang|la|lupa}} or she-wolf.){{sfn|Miles|1995|p=142}} Faustulus eventually reveals the brothers' true origins, and they depose or murder Amulius and restore Numitor to his throne. They then leave or are sent to establish a new city at the location where they had been rescued.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=45}}<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|1995|p=147 n. 15|ps=: in {{harvnb|Dion. Hal. ''Ant. Rom.''|loc=1.85.1–3}}, Numitor sends the twins to found a city and gives them assistance; in {{harvnb|Livy|loc=1.6–7}} the twins do so on their own initiative.}}</ref>

The twins then come into conflict during the foundation of the city, leading to the murder of Remus. The dispute is variously said to have been over the naming of the new city, over the interpretation of [[augury|auguries]],<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|1995|p=147|ps=. Remus sees birds first; Romulus sees more. The correct interpretation of the omens "is ambiguous" and "is settled only by the murder of Remus and by the success of Romulus and his city".}}</ref> whether to place it on the Palatine or Aventine Hill, or concerned with Remus's disrespect of the new town's [[sulcus primigenius|ritual furrow]] or wall. Some accounts say Romulus slays his brother with his own hand, others that Remus and sometimes Faustulus are killed in a general melee.<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|1995|p=148 n. 17|ps=, noting that {{harvnb|Dion. Hal. ''Ant. Rom.''|loc=1.87.2–3}} "suppresses altogether" the fratricide and instead has Remus killed by an unknown assailant with Romulus mourning his death. }}</ref> [[T. P. Wiseman|Wiseman]] and some others attribute the aspects of [[fratricide]] to the 4th-century BC [[Conflict of the Orders]], when Rome's lower-class [[plebeians]] began to resist excesses by the upper-class [[patrician (Rome)|patricians]].<ref>{{harvnb|Forsythe|2005|p=96|ps=. Forsythe notes also that some scholars, like T&nbsp;P Wiseman, believe the tale was an invention of the fourth century BC and reflected self-image of the then-emerging patrician and plebeian [[nobiles]].}}</ref>

Romulus, after [[sulcus primigenius|ritualistically ploughing]] the [[Roma Quadrata|generally square course]] of the city's [[pomerium|future boundary]], erects [[Murus Romuli|its first walls]] and declares the settlement an asylum for exiles, criminals, and runaway slaves. The city becomes larger but also acquires a mostly male population.<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|1995|p=147 n. 16|ps=: in {{harvnb|Livy|loc=1.8.1, 1.8.6, 2.1.4}} the city is made of only refugees; in {{harvnb|Dion. Hal. ''Ant. Rom.''|loc=1.85.3}} it is instead made up of both refugees as well as prominent men from Alba Longa and descendants of Trojan exiles.}}</ref> When Romulus' attempts to secure the women of neighbouring settlements by diplomacy fail, he uses the religious celebration of [[Consualia]] to abduct the women of the [[Sabines]]. According to Livy, when the Sabines rally an army to take their women back, the women force the two groups to make peace and install the Sabine king [[Titus Tatius]] as comonarch with Romulus.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=45}}<ref>{{harvnb|Forsythe|2005|p=97|ps=, adding that "Titus Tatius" may be a name for an early Roman monarch who was removed from the narrative of seven kings}}.</ref>

The story has been theorised by some modern scholars to reflect anti-Roman propaganda from the late fourth century BC, but more likely reflects an indigenous Roman tradition, given the [[Capitoline Wolf]] which likely dates to the sixth century&nbsp;BC. Regardless, by the third century, it was widely accepted by Romans and put onto some of Rome's [[denarius|first silver coins]] in 269&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=60–61}} In his 1995 ''Beginnings of Rome'', [[Tim Cornell]] argues that the myths of Romulus and Remus are "popular expressions of some universal human need or experience" rather than borrowings from the Greek east or Mesopotamia, inasmuch as the story of virgin birth, intercession by animals and humble stepparents, with triumphant return expelling an evil leader are common mythological elements across Eurasia and even into the Americas.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=62–63}}

=== Aeneas ===
[[File:Batoni, Pompeo — Aeneas fleeing from Troy — 1750.jpg|thumb|Eighteenth century painting by [[Pompeo Batoni]] depicting Aeneas fleeing from Troy. Aeneas carries his father.]]
[[File:Aeneae exsilia.svg|thumb|Aeneas's route in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]''. The epic poem was written in the early first century BC.]]

<!-- Present tense for the tale -->
The tradition of Romulus was also combined with a legend telling of Aeneas coming from Troy and travelling to Italy. This tradition emerges from the [[Iliad]]'s prophecy that Aeneas's descendants would one day return and rule Troy once more.<ref>{{harvnb|Cornell|1995|pp=63, 413 n. 45|ps=, citing ''Iliad'' 20.307f}}.</ref> Greeks by 550&nbsp;BC had begun to speculate, given the lack of any clear descendants of Aeneas, that the figure had established a dynasty outside the proper Greek world.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=63–64}} The first attempts to tie this story to Rome were in the works of two Greek historians at the end of the fifth century BC, [[Hellanicus of Lesbos]] and [[Damastes of Sigeum]], likely only mentioning off hand the possibility of a Roman connection; a more assured connection only emerged at the end of the fourth century&nbsp;BC when Rome started having formal dealings with the Greek world.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=64–65}}

The ancient Roman annalists, historians, and antiquarians faced an issue tying Aeneas to Romulus, as they believed that Romulus lived centuries after the Trojan War, which was dated at the time {{circa|1100&nbsp;BC}}. For this, they fabricated a story of Aeneas's son founding the city of [[Alba Longa]] and establishing a dynasty there, which eventually produced Romulus.<ref>{{harvnb|Forsythe|2005|p=94|ps=. "Troy's unhistorical connection with Rome was maintained by inventing the Alban kings, whose reigns were made to span the chronological gap between Troy's destruction (1184/3&nbsp;BC according to Eratosthenes) and Rome's foundation".}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Cornell|1995|p=141|ps=. "In the developed legend of the origins of Rome, the son of Aeneas founded a hereditary dynasty at Alba Longa. But this Alban dynasty was an antiquarian fiction devised for chronographic reasons".}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Momigliano|1989|p=58|ps=. "Hence [from chronological difficulties] the creation of a series of intermediate Alban kings, which the poet Naevius had not yet considered necessary, but which his contemporary Fabius Pictor admitted". }}</ref>

In Livy's first book he recounts how Aeneas, a demigod of the Trojan royal [[Anchises]] and the goddess [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], leaves Troy after its destruction during the [[Trojan War]] and sailed to the western Mediterranean. He brings his son – Ascanius – and a group of companions. Landing in Italy, he forms an alliance with a local magnate called [[Latinus]] and marries his daughter [[Lavinia]], joining the two into a new group called the Latini; they then found a new city, called [[Lavinium]]. After a series of wars against the [[Rutuli]] and [[Caere]], the Latins conquer the [[Alban Hills]] and its environs. His son Ascanius then founds the legendary city of [[Alba Longa]], which became the dominant city in the region.<ref>{{harvnb|Lomas|2018|p=47}}, citing {{harvnb|Livy|loc=1.1}}.</ref> The later descendants of the royal lineage of Alba Longa eventually produce Romulus and Remus, setting up the events of their mythological story.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=47}}

Dionysius of Halicarnassus similarly attempted to show a Greek connection, giving a similar story for Aeneas, but also a previous series of migrations. He describes migrations of [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadians]] into southern Italy some time in the 18th century BC,{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=37–38}} migrations into Umbria by Greeks from Thessaly, and the foundation of a settlement on the [[Palatine hill]] by [[Evander of Pallantium|Evander]] (originally hailing also from Arcadia) and [[Hercules]],{{sfnm|Cornell|1995|1p=38|Lomas|2018|2p=47}} {{cn span |text=whose [[labors of Hercules|labour]] with the [[Labours of Hercules#Tenth: Cattle of Geryon|cattle]] of [[Geryon]] was placed in the [[Forum Boarium]] by the Romans. |date=January 2024 }} 

The introduction of Aeneas follows a trend across Italy towards [[Hellenization|Hellenising]] their own early mythologies by rationalising myths and legends of the [[Greek Heroic Age]] into a pseudo-historical tradition of prehistoric times;<ref>{{harvnb|Cornell|1995|pp=37, 39|ps=. "The legendary material [Greek myths] became a coherent body of pseudo-historical tradition and was the object of intense research".}}</ref> this was in part due to Greek historians' eagerness to construct narratives purporting that the Italians were actually descended from Greeks and their heroes.<ref>{{harvnb|Cornell|1995|p=39|ps=, referencing also Greek claims that Persians, Indians, and Celts also were all descended from Greek gods or heroes. }}</ref>{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=47}} These narratives were accepted by non-Greek peoples due Greek historiography's prestige and claims to systematic validity.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=39}}

Archaeological evidence shows that worship of Aeneas had been established at Lavinium by the sixth century BC.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|p=47}} Similarly, a cult to Hercules had been established at the [[Ara Maxima]] in Rome during the archaic period.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=40}} By the early fifth century BC, these stories had become entrenched in Roman historical beliefs.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=93}} These cults, along with the early – in literary terms – account of [[Cato the Elder]], show how Italians and Romans took these Greek histories seriously and as reliable evidence by later annalists, even though they were speculations of little value.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=37}} Much of the syncretism, however, may simply reflect Roman desires to give themselves a prestigious backstory: claim of Trojan descent proved politically advantageous with the Greeks by justifying both claims of common heritage and ancestral enmity.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=65}}

=== Other myths ===

There was no single mythic tradition of Rome's founding.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wiseman |first=T Peter |date=2013 |title=The Palatine, from Evander to Elagabalus |jstor=43286787 |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=103 |pages=234–268 |issn=0075-4358 |quote=They [authors of the reviewed books] assume there was a single legendary tradition, but in fact there were dozens. Servius knew eight... Festus knew ten, Plutarch thirteen, Dionysius fourteen. }}</ref> By the time of the [[Pyrrhic War]] (280–275&nbsp;BC), there were some sixty different myths for Rome's foundation that circulated in the Greek world. Most of them attributed the city to an eponymous founder, usually "Rhomos" or "Rhome" rather than Romulus.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|pp=93–94}}<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|1995|p=137|ps=&nbsp;instead has "at least twenty-five".}}</ref> One story told how [[Rhomos|Romos]], a son of [[Odysseus]] and [[Circe]], was the one who founded Rome.{{sfn|Goldberg|1995|pp=50–51}} [[Martin P. Nilsson]] speculates that this older story was becoming a bit embarrassing as Rome became more powerful and tensions with the Greeks grew. Being descendants of the Greeks was no longer preferable, so the Romans settled on the Trojan foundation myth instead. Nilsson further speculates that the name of Romos was changed by some Romans to the native name Romulus, but the same name Romos (later changed to the native Remus) was never forgotten by many of the people, so both these names were used to represent the founders of the city.{{sfn|Nilsson|1964|pp=264–265, 272}}

Another story, attributed to [[Hellanicus of Lesbos]] by [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], says that Rome was founded by a woman named Rhome, one of the followers of Aeneas, after landing in Italy and burning their ships.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=94}} That by the middle of the fifth century Aeneas was also allegedly the founder of two or three other cities across Italy was no object.{{sfn|Bickerman|1952|pp=66–67}} These myths also differed as to whether their eponymous matriarch Roma was born in Troy or Italy – i.e. before or after Aeneas's journey – or otherwise if their Romus was a direct or collateral descendant of Aeneas.{{sfn|Bickerman|1952|p=67}}

Myths of the early third century also differed greatly in the claimed genealogy of Romulus or the founder, if an intermediate actor was posited. One tale posited that a Romus, son of Zeus, founded the city.{{sfn|Bickerman|1952|p=69}} Callias posited that Romulus was descended from Latinus and a woman called Roma who was the daughter of Aeneas and a homonymous mother. Other authors depicted Romulus and Romus, as a son of Aeneas, founding not only Rome but also Capua. Authors also wrote their home regions into the story. [[Polybius]], who hailed from Arcadia, for example, gave Rome not a Trojan colonial origin but rather an Arcadian one.{{sfn|Bickerman|1952|p=67}}

== See also ==
* ''[[Natale di Roma]]'', a modern festival commemorating the founding of the city

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|20em}}

=== Modern sources ===
<!-- sentence case titles for articles, chapters, books; title case journals -->
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Beard |first=Mary |title=SPQR: a history of ancient Rome |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-87140-423-7 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=902661394 |publisher=Liveright Publishing }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Bettelli |first=Marco |title=Rome, city of: 1. prehistoric (earliest remains) |date=2012-10-26 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah16123 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Ancient History |publisher=Wiley |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah16123|isbn=9781405179355 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Bickerman |first=Elias J |date=1952 |title=Origines gentium |journal=Classical Philology |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=65–81 |doi=10.1086/363470 |jstor=267375 |s2cid=220418780 |issn=0009-837X}}
* {{cite book |last=Brock |first=Andrea L |author2=Laura Motta |author3=Nicola Terrenato |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Brock et al.|2021}} |date=November 2021 |contribution=On the banks of the Tiber: opportunity and transformation in early Rome |contribution-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/on-the-banks-of-the-tiber-opportunity-and-transformation-in-early-rome/2102BC2695CC0D6CA991BCCEC3E1C097 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=[[Cambridge, England|Cambridge]] |title=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=111 |pages=1–30 |doi=10.1017/S0075435821000344 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Cornell |first=Tim |title=The beginnings of Rome |date=1995 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-01596-0 |location=London |oclc=31515793}}
* {{Cite book |last=Feeney |first=Denis C |title=Caesar's calendar: ancient time and the beginnings of history |date=2007 |url={{google books |id=QqDtYEFtMIAC |plainurl=y}} |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-25119-9 |location=Berkeley}}
* {{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=Gary |title=A critical history of early Rome: from prehistory to the first Punic war |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94029-1 |location=Berkeley |oclc=70728478}}
* {{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Sander M |title=Epic in republican Rome |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-509372-8 }}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Grafton |first1=A T |last2=Swerdlow |first2=N M |date=1985 |title=Technical chronology and astrological history in Varro, Censorinus and others |jstor=639075 |journal=Classical Quarterly |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=454–465 |doi=10.1017/S0009838800040295 |s2cid=171000509 |issn=0009-8388}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Grafton |first1=A T |last2=Swerdlow |first2=N M |date=1986 |jstor=269789 |title=The horoscope of the foundation of Rome |journal=Classical Philology |volume=81 |issue=2 |pages=148–153 |doi=10.1086/366976 |s2cid=161905620 |issn=0009-837X }}
* {{cite book |last1=Heiken |first1=G |last2=Funiciello |first2=R |last3=de Rita |first3=D |display-authors=1 |date=2005 |title=The seven hills of Rome: a geological tour of the eternal city |url={{google books |id=pWSYDwAAQBAJ |plainurl=y}} |publisher=Princeton University Press |bibcode=2005shrg.book.....H |isbn=978-0-691-13038-5 |ref={{harvid|Heiken et al.|2005}} }}
* {{cite book |last=Koptev |year=2010 |first=Aleksandr |chapter=Timaeus of Tauromenium and early Roman chronology |pages=5–48 |title=Studies in Latin literature and Roman history |volume=15 |editor-first=Carl |editor-last=Deroux |series=Collection Latomus, 323 |publisher=Éditions Latomus |place=Brussels |isbn=978-2-87031-264-3 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/1072515 |url={{googlebooks|GlhCAQAAIAAJ|plainurl=y}} }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lomas |first=Kathryn |title=The rise of Rome: from the Iron age to the Punic wars |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-674-65965-0 |publisher=Harvard University Press |edition=1st Harvard |location=Cambridge |oclc=1015274849}}
* {{Cite book |last=Miles |first=Gary B |title=Livy: reconstructing early Rome |date=1995 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-3060-7 |location=Ithaca |oclc=31658236}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nilsson |first=Martin P |title=Olympen |date=1964 |edition=2nd |publisher=Bokförlaget Prisma |language=sv |isbn=91-7297-627-6 }}
* {{Cite book |title=The rise of Rome to 220 BC |series=Cambridge Ancient History |volume=7 Pt. 2 |edition=2nd |date=1989 |editor-first1=FW |editor-last1=Walbank |display-editors=etal |isbn=0-521-23446-8 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |ref={{harvid|CAH<sup>2</sup> 7.2|1989}} }}
** {{harvc |last=Momigliano |first=A |c=The origins of Rome |pages=52–112 |in=CAH<sup>2</sup> 7.2 |year=1989 }}
** {{harvc |last=Drummond |first=A |c=Appendix |pages=625–44 |in=CAH<sup>2</sup> 7.2 |year=1989 }}
{{refend}}

=== Ancient sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |author=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |author-link=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |year=1937–50 |orig-year=1st century BC |title=Roman Antiquities |url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/dionysius_of_halicarnassus/home.html |series=Loeb Classical Library |publisher=Harvard University Press |translator-last=Cary |translator-first=Ernest |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Dion. Hal. ''Ant. Rom.''}} }}
* {{Cite wikisource |author=Livy |author-link=Livy |title=From the Founding of the City |translator-last=Roberts |translator-first=Canon |year=1905 |wslink=From the Founding of the City |orig-date=1st century BC |wslanguage=en |ref={{harvid|Livy}} }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web |last=Lendering |first=Jona |title=Varronian Chronology |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/varronian-chronology/ |date=2020-09-01 |orig-date=2008 |website=Livius.org |ref=none }}

{{Ancient Rome topics}}
{{Etruscans}}

[[Category:Wolves]]
[[Category:Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology]]
[[Category:8th century BC in the Roman Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ancient city of Rome]]
[[Category:City founding|Rome]]
[[Category:Etruscan mythology]]
[[Category:Origin myths]]
[[Category:Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Romulus and Remus]]
[[Category:She-wolf (Roman mythology)]]