Main article: Founding
of Rome
According to the founding
myth of
Rome, the city
was founded on
21 April 753 BC by twin brothers Romulus
and Remus, who descended from theTrojan prince Aeneas[14] and
who were grandsons of the Latin King, Numitorof Alba
Longa. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius,
while Numitor's daughter, Rhea
Silvia, gave birth to the twins.[15][16] Because
Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars,
the Roman god
of war, the twins were considered half-divine.
The new king feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, so he ordered
them to be drowned.[16] A
she-wolf (or a shepherd's wife in some accounts) saved and raised them, and when
they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor.[17][18]
The twins then founded their own city, but Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel
over the location of the Roman
Kingdom, though some sources state the quarrel was about who was going to
rule or give his name to the city.[19] Romulus
became the source of the city's name.[20] In
order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent,
exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large
workforce but was bereft of women. Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and
tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights but as Rome was so full of
undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to
a festival and stole
their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins and the
Sabines.[21]
Another legend, recorded by Greek historian Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, says that Prince Aeneas led a group of Trojans on a sea
voyage to found a new Troy, since the original was destroyed in the outcome of
theTrojan
War. After a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber
River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again,
but the women who were traveling with them did not want to leave. One woman,
named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them
from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they soon realized
that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the
woman who torched their ships.[22]
The Roman poet Virgil recounted
this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid.
In the Aeneid,
the Trojan prince Aeneas is
destined by the gods in his enterprise of founding a new Troy. In the epic, the
women also refused to go back to the sea, but they were not left on the Tiber.
After reaching Italy, Aeneas, who wanted to marry Lavinia,
was forced to wage war with her former suitor, Turnus.
According to the poem, the Alban
kings were
descended from Aeneas, and thus, Romulus, the founder of Rome, was his
descendant.
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