The Roman gods were very ungod like in many ways. This was particularly true with regard to their sexual practices. Unsatisfied with mating with one another, they often took humans as mates, both with and without their prey’s consent. This, of course, resulted in many unwanted, bastard children, who were often left alone to fend for themselves.
Such was the case of the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The boys were the sons of the god Mars and a holy priestess and vestal virgin of the goddess Vesta. Because of her position within the temple, Silvia was not allowed to marry, nor was she supposed to consummate a relationship with any man.
Unfortunately, Mars didn’t care about the rules. He saw something he wanted and took it without the maiden’s consent. The pairing resulted in the birth of the twins Romulus and Remus.
The boys’ grandfather Numitor and his brother Amulius were in constant battle over the throne of Alba Longa. Their father had tried to divide the power between the two brothers by giving Numitor sovereign powers and Amulius the treasury. Bu Amulius didn’t care to share the reign with his brother and deposed him as king.
After his plan to prevent Silvia from giving birth to sons that might overthrow him failed, Amulius plotted the death of the girl and her children. There are many different versions with regard to the method the king used to rid himself of the trio. Some say he threw all of them into the river while others claim he imprisoned Silvia and simply abandoned the twins, assuming they would die of exposure. Yet another version has the maiden being buried alive while the boys were to be stabbed to death by servants.
Whichever version chosen, the result was the same. Silvia was somehow killed and the boys were left alone to fend for themselves somewhere in the wilderness.
While it seemed certain that they would die at the hands of the elements or become tasty meals for wild animals, that was not to be the case. Instead, they were found by a she wolf that decided to raise them as her own. She fed them with her own milk and engaged the help of a woodpecker to find food to sustain them.
Eventually, however, the wolf knew she could no longer care for them and she took them to a location where they would be discovered by a shepherd. The shepherd took them home to his wife and they finished raising the boys.
After they reached adulthood, Romulus and Remus decided to exact revenge on the man who had left them to die. They killed Amulius and reinstated their grandfather, Numitor, as the king. However, they did not choose to remain with their grandfather, but instead set off to build their own destiny.
Eventually, they settled on a spot and began to build a city. But Remus continued to heckle his brother about the height of the wall he was building around the city. In frustration and anger, Romulus killed Remus and went on to build the city on his own.
Once the city was complete, Romulus named it after himself and Rome was born. But, the city didn’t have a very glorified beginning. Its original residents were thugs, thieves, and fugitives. Romulus installed himself as supreme leader and took responsibility for those living within his city. When an insufficient number of women were available for wives, Romulus devised a plan to get gain access to more brides.
He announced that games would be held in celebration of the city’s founding. He invited the Sabines to take part in the activities. While the men were busy participating in the games, Romulus attacked the women’s camp, carrying off the best “specimens” and taking them back to Rome.
When King Titus discovered what Romulus had done, he vowed war upon Romulus. But oddly enough, it was the Sabine women who put a stop to the conflict. Eventually the two kings joined forces and ruled together over their people until Tatius was killed in another battle. After that, Romulus ruled alone until one day he simply disappeared. His followers believed the gods had taken him to heaven. He was eventually deified as the god Ouirinus.
Little did he know, when he began to build his city, that he was establishing the foundation for one of the greatest cultures in the world. That is, of course, if you believe the legend in the first place.
