Our story of early Rome begins in a region of Italy called Latium. It was probably named from the Latin word “latus” which means wide, as in flat land. Latium was divided by the Tiber River. North of the river to the Arno River was Etruscan territory and the south was carved up by several different peoples, like the Sabines, Latins, Volsci, Hernici, and Aequi. This southern area was called Latium Vetus (“Old Latium”). It was a collection of city-states. The Tiber was the key to the region. It could be used to float goods, like salt, to its mouth where Greek and Phoenician traders awaited. Control of this area meant dominance of trade between central Italy and the Mediterranean area. The site was ideal because it combined high ground with a river. To this region came the most famous survivor of the sack of Troy. The leading source for the tale of Aeneas is Virgil. His Aeneid was a key source for the mythology about the founding of Rome. In Virgil’s recounting of the story, Aeneas (a son of Venus) and his followers escaped the sacking of Troy. They had many trials before they landed near the Tiber. They made a stop at Carthage where Aeneas had his ill-fated fling with Dido. Aeneas moved on to Italy from there.
When Aeneas landed in Italy, he was confronted by an army led by King Latinus. Either Aeneas won the battle and Latinus agreed to be his ally or they negotiated peace instead of fighting. Regardless, Aeneas was given Latinus’ daughter Lavinia’s hand in marriage. This enraged her fiancé Turnus. He was king of a nearby tribe. The jilted suitor marched to claim his bride and was defeated by Aeneas and Latinus in battle. Turnus was killed and this is where The Aeneid ends. Aeneas founded the city of Lavinium and since his father-in-law was killed in the battle with Turnus, he became the King of the Latins. The Latins were the intermixing of Aeneas’ Trojans and Latinus’ Aborigines. When Aeneas was killed in battle with the Etruscans, his son Ascanius (also known as Iulus or Julus) succeeded him and built the city of Alba Longa. It and its colonies became known as the Latin League.
According to Livy (and other Roman historians), the founding of Rome began when a Vestal Virgin (the women who maintained the sacred fire) got pregnant by the god Mars. Rhea Silvia gave birth to twin boys named Romulus and Remus. Their evil uncle Amulius had overthrown their grandfather Numitor and had taken the throne of Alba Longa. He pondered the threat that his twin nephews might some day right that wrong. He ordered them to be thrown into the Tiber River. At the time, the river was overflowing its banks, so the servant simply left the basket containing the twins in a stagnant pool. Along came a wolf that suckled the infants. A shepherd named Faustulus came upon the babies and brought them home to his wife Laurentia. (She may have been called Lupa, which means prostitute, but it also could mean wolf. This might explain the legend of them being raised by a wolf.) In another version, the basket was placed in the river and floated downstream until it caught in some bushes. A wolf, coming down to the river to drink, found the wailing infants and carried them to her lair and raised them as her own. One day, Faustulus heard strange noises coming from the cave and found two very feral toddlers crawling among their wolf siblings. He took them home.
According to Livy, the twins grew up to be more hunters and adventurers than shepherds. They graduated to attacking gangs of thieves in the area and gathered like-minded young men to their standard. At a local festival that featured naked competitions and debauchery, the robbers kidnapped Remus and brought him to King Amulius. They accused Remus of being the leader of a band that was plundering his territory. Romulus gathered his forces and rescued his brother. Amulius was assassinated in the process and Numitor was placed back on the throne. In a more entertaining version, when they were teenagers, they were sent to a nearby farm which happened to be the exile domicile of their mother and grandfather. She immediately recognized them (it was a mother thing) and introduced them to their ex-king grandfather. Just as Amulius had feared, they overthrew him and put their grandfather back on the throne.
- from my book “The Scipios in Spain”
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