Romulus and Remus
Also known as: Romulus et Remus, Ab Urbe Condita — Romulus and Remus, The Founding of Rome (Romulus and Remus)
Livy recounts the legendary birth, exposure, and rescue of the twins Romulus and Remus, their restoration of Numitor, the augural dispute over Rome’s foundation, and Remus’s death, culminating in Romulus’s establishment of the city.
Description
In Book 1 of Ab Urbe Condita, Livy gathers Roman foundation lore into a concise narrative. The Vestal Rhea Silvia bears twins by Mars; the usurper Amulius exposes them to the Tiber, but they are preserved at the fig tree Ruminalis and suckled by a she-wolf at the Lupercal. The shepherd Faustulus and his wife Acca Larentia rear the boys, who later restore their grandfather Numitor to Alba Longa’s throne. Planning a new city on the Tiber, the brothers seek augural confirmation—Romulus on the Palatine, Remus on the Aventine. Dispute over the signs leads to Remus’s death—either by Romulus himself or by the hand of Celer—and Romulus marks the city’s sacred boundary, founding Rome and instituting primordial rites and institutions.
Historiography
Livy presents multiple variants of the twin legend and often offers euhemeristic explanations (e.g., the she-wolf as a nickname for Acca Larentia). He relies on earlier Roman annalists and antiquarians while imposing moral and civic themes. The narrative became canonical for later Roman identity, complemented by parallel accounts in Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch. Manuscript transmission of Ab Urbe Condita is fragmentary for later books, but Book 1 survives well and shaped Renaissance and modern receptions of Rome’s origins.
Date Notes
Legendary material from early Roman oral and annalistic traditions; Livy preserves and rationalizes variants in Ab Urbe Condita Book 1.
Themes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Romulus
- Remus
- Rhea Silvia
- Numitor
- Amulius
- Faustulus
- Acca Larentia
Myths
- The She-Wolf and the Twins
- Augury and the Founding Dispute
- Death of Remus
- The Rape of the Sabines
Facts
- Livy records Mars as the putative father of the twins but notes rationalizing traditions.
- The twins are stranded at the fig tree Ruminalis near the flooded Tiber’s bank.
- A she-wolf suckles the infants; Livy mentions the alternative that lupa meant Acca Larentia, a courtesan.
- Faustulus, a royal herdsman, discovers and rears the boys with Acca Larentia.
- Romulus and Remus overthrow Amulius and restore their grandfather Numitor.
- Augury decides the city’s founder: Romulus on the Palatine, Remus on the Aventine, with conflicting counts of vultures.
- Remus dies after mocking or leaping over the new wall; in one version Celer strikes him down.
- Romulus marks the pomerium with a plough, establishing Rome’s sacred boundary and law.
- Livy uses the narrative to illustrate Roman virtues of pietas, courage, and civic order.
- The story serves as Rome’s foundational myth, linking divine ancestry to political institutions.