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Gods & Monsters·3/3·1
Photograph of Roman Forum & Palatine Hill

The place

Roman Forum & Palatine Hill

Romulus and Remus — The She-Wolf's Children

The founding myth of the Eternal City, born in blood on the Palatine Hill

753 BC (traditional founding)Roman Forum & Palatine Hill

Before Rome was Rome — before the seven hills held temples, palaces, and the fate of half the world — there were two newborns left to die in the flooded waters of the River Tiber. Their mother was a princess. Their father, supposedly, was a god. And the hill where they washed ashore would one day become the heart of the most powerful empire the world had ever seen.

Moral of the Story

The founding of great civilizations often carries a cost of blood and sacrifice, and the bonds of ambition can sever even those of brotherhood.

Characters

R
Romulus
R
Remus
M
Mars (God of War)
R
Rhea Silvia
K
King Amulius
K
King Numitor
F
Faustulus (Shepherd)
T
The She-Wolf (Lupa)

Source

Livy, Ab Urbe Condita I; Plutarch, Life of Romulus; Virgil, Aeneid VIII; Ovid, Fasti