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Romulus

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Romulus
1, legendary king of Rome
(Partly with Titus Tatius )
0147 - Roma - Piazza del Campidoglio - Statue del Tevere - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 7-Apr-2008.jpg
Romulus and Remus (the fountain sculpture of the Capitol Square )
Reign
753 to 716 BC. AD (37 years . ( Alba-la-Longue )
Deaths 716 Ave. BC ( Rome )
Father March
Mother Rhea Silvia
Consort (s) Hersilie
Descent (Prima, Aollius? )
Capitoline She-Wolf
List of Kings of Rome
Ancient Rome series

The story of legendary founders of Rome Romulus and Remus is part of Roman mythology . However, the Roman historians themselves, beginning with Livy , focus on the character of this poetic and legendary founding narrative :

"As for stories concerning the founding of Rome or prior to its foundation, I seek neither to true nor to give them to deny them: their approval is due more to the imagination of poets that serious information. It accepts that the Ancient Gods mingle in human affairs to give more majesty to their town .

Summary

The traditional story

The wolf

Antoninianus of Philip the Arab 247 Reverse SAECVLARES AVGG Wolf suckling Romulus and Remus - C178

Romulus and his brother twin Remus are the son of the vestal virgin Rhea Silvia and the god in March. Rhea Silvia was the daughter of Numitor king of the legendary Latin city of Alba Longa (founded by Ascanius , son of Aeneas ) and dispossessed of the throne by his brother Amulius. The latter, fearing that his grandchildren do not claim their due nephews grow up takes because they are the son of a vestal virgin , who had taken a vow of chastity , and orders them thrown into the Tiber.

But the order is executed poorly, newborns are abandoned in a basket on the river, miraculously survive (protected by the gods, says the legend), and are found under a fig tree wild (the Ficus rumen ) in front of the entrance to the cave of Lupercalia , at the foot of the Palatine , by a female wolf who nursed , and a woodpecker , the bird of Mars , .

Livy and Plutarch reported , Another explanation for the legend: the twins would have certainly been fed by a magnifying glass, but in the sense of prostitute . They are found in the cave of Lupercalia , by the shepherd Faustulus , guardian of flocks Amulius, and his wife Laurentia , a prostitute nicknamed the shepherds Lupa, "the Wolf", who breed.

Later, the twins, who revealed the secret of their birth kill Amulius (slain by Remus according to some, pierced by the sword of Romulus by others) and will restore their grandfather Numitor the throne of Alba.

Alternative Hellenistic

According to Livy, Romulus and Remus lived a childhood and adolescence totally countryside, along with Faustulus. "This life's physical and moral development ... " . Plutarch gives him about a very different version of this period of life of two brothers. In his story, far from being abandoned by everyone, Romulus and Remus are discreetly supported by their grandfather Numitor , which provides food to adoptive parents. Subsequently, they are led to Gabii , where they are given an education appropriate to their actual social status .

Founding of Rome

Romulus and Remus by Rubens

The vultures

The twins then decided to found a city and choose location for "where they had been abandoned and where they had spent their childhood." According to Livy , the right to appoint the city and therefore that the rule would rise to the fratricidal conflict. The Urbs (City) was founded on 21 April 753 BC (early Roman calendar ).

To decide, the twins consult soothsayers ; Romulus is located on the Palatine Hill , Remus on the Aventine. The interpretation of the omen is problematic: Remus was the first sighted six vultures , but Romulus eventually observe twelve.

For Plutarch, Remus saw six in actually, but Romulus lied: If twelve vultures appeared to him eventually, it was after the end of the countdown. Upon learning that he was eaten, Remus rebels. It is because of this event that the Romans mainly consult the vultures when they took the omens .

The death of Remus

The Latin historian reports two versions of the death of Remus . In the first, Remus falls (victim of a shovel Centurion Celer ) during the fight following the counting of omens; in another, he crossed the crease derisively sacred ( pomrium ) that have just drawn Romulus, who kills him as out of anger. It is said that finally, remorseful, buries his brother Romulus on the Aventine with full honors.

In the Fasti , Ovid uses the first version. He said there has never been any conflict between the twins and Remus had accepted the decision of augury. The writer says that it is through ignorance of the order of more than Romulus Remus mockingly that crosses the wall still low and it is through strict compliance with the instruction that Celer, head work, kills Remus to a spade. This is also with great difficulty that Romulus hides her grief .

The Rape of the Sabine

The abduction of the Sabine Women, by Pietro da Cortona (1629).

Romulus began to build his city, he called Roma ( Rome ), under its own name, says the legend. But the City, a place of refuge for slaves fleeing and free men wishing to change their existence is singularly lacking in women. A shortage condemning the project shortly. As attempts to marriage in the "cities" are all nearby for contemptuous of inadmissibility, Romulus decided to steal women . Claiming the chance discovery of an altar dedicated to a deity, he established the feast of Consualia "in honor of Neptune on August 18 , and it invites the Sabines and the peoples of many "cities" around: Caenina , Crustumerium , Antemnae. While attention is diverted men, women are abducted by surprise.

Plutarch questioned at length on the exact number of abductions: 30, which gave their names to 30 according to some Roman curia, 527 According to Anti, 683 according to Juba. Later, he puts the figure at about 800 . The biographer rejects as implausible the assertion that their number would be limited to 30 and the underlying intention of Romulus had been "less marriages than war." He also states that none of the abducted girls were married, except Hersilie , who was captured by mistake.

Thalasius

Chance of kidnapping induces a mixing between social classes. Some victims are high-ranking and "marry" the Romans of low condition, but "the most beautiful women were reserved for important" . Thus Thalasius , which falls to a girl of great beauty and will be commended for his luck with a spontaneous procession and while admiring it takes the girl home. This is the origin of the phrase pronounced during the solemn marriage, which is mimicked in the kidnapping of the bride . Another explanation is that "Thalasius" was the signal for triggering the kidnapping ... .

Dominique Ingres , Romulus, winner of Acron , carries the spoils in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius
( 1812 , Ecole des Beaux Arts , Paris ).

Furious, outraged people form a coalition led by the king of Cures Titus Tatius and declare war. Romulus begins overwriting Caenina soldiers, killing their leader Acron and took their city by storm. Attacked by surprise by Antemnates , it crushes them and also take their city. But at the request of his wife, originally from Sabine , Hersilie , Romulus the savings, grants pardon and citizenship to Antemnae.

Tarpeia

Thanks to the treachery of the young Tarpeia , the Sabines able to infiltrate the city and capture the citadel of the Capitol. First jostled, Romulus, after an invocation to Jupiter , manages to boost its troops in the assault. Combat is very undecided . So much so that junipers are the wives of the Romans who stand between the two camps. Thus the battle ends. Romans and Sabines merge, the government is concentrated in Rome, doubling its size and the Romans took the name Quirites (Cures) in honor of the Sabines.

Romulus then distributes the Roman population in thirty curies and gives them the name of the Sabine women.

Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war)

We also formed three centuries of knights: the Ramnes (which take their name from Romulus) , the Titienses (Titus Tatius) and Luceres (from who knows where, perhaps of Etruscan ) .

The two kings, Romulus and Titus Tatius the Roman Sabina reign together "in perfect agreement" for several years. Livy reports, however, not without some irony, after the accidental death of Titus during a riot to Lavinium , "Romulus least he should have regretted this misfortune. "The alliance with Lavinium is renewed.

At the head of a troop of 300 soldiers (the same as those mentioned above) all devoted to his person, Celeres , Romulus spends the rest of his life to waging war against its neighbors Etruscan Fidenae , especially Veii , a city to which he eventually awarding them against cession of territory a truce of one hundred years.

It will leave a state strong enough militarily and impressive to live in peace for forty years under the reign of his successor Numa Pompilius.

Quirinus

According to legend, he is not dead, but just disappeared one day in a violent storm and was taken to heaven while he was inspecting his troops near the Goat Marsh . It would become the mighty god of the Romans and their city. He was later treated as Quirinus. Livy again, after recalling that "Romulus had more supporters among the people that the patricians, reports a most sordid rumor according to which Romulus was simply massacred by patricians and assumes that its apotheosis under the name of Quirinus was a political ploy intended to appease the right people.

In a context that foreshadows the conflicts between the plebeians and patricians , the story of the divine apparition of Romulus to Julius Proculus , seems, despite its implausibility, have calmed the spirits:

"Romans," he said , Romulus, the father of our city, suddenly came down from heaven this morning at daybreak, and was offered to me, and as I stood before him, full fear and respect, and urges him to look for the opposite: "Go, me he said, and announce to the Romans that the will of heaven is to make Rome the capital of my world. So they practice the art of war. Let them know and they teach their children that no human power can withstand the Roman arms. " At these words, he says, he rose into the air and walked away. "

- Livy , Roman History, Book I, 16

"What is extraordinary, says Livy is that we have believed this story and that the belief in the immortality of Romulus has comforted the people and the army. "

Romulus and Indo-European heritage in Rome

According Dumzil , as founder of Rome, Romulus focuses on the person of many aspects of the three Indo-European.

  • The first function is the sovereignty, including its close relationship with Jupiter, which gives it its auspices. It embodies more specifically the tendency to "magical" or "terrible" in this first function, the other tendency, more "legal" sovereignty, referring to his successor, King Numa Pompilius, the founder of many religions including that of Fides The guardian deity of oaths.
  • The second function is related to the force, army, since it is conquering warrior king and son of Mars.
  • Finally, the third function of abundance, prosperity, by twinning and its association with King Sabine Titus Tatius, whose people embody opulence.

Discovery of the Cave of Lupercalia

On 20 November 2007 , the archaeologists in Italy announced they had discovered the cave where the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia and where according to legend, Romulus and Remus allegedly lived. Andrea Carandini said the expert, he is one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made . The identification of the Lupercalia cave has not been unanimous, however, archaeologists as Fausto Zevi Whereas it is rather a nymphaeum dependent on the imperial palace .

Film Adaptation

References

  1. According to Plutarch ( a href = "% C3% Vies_parall A8les_des_hommes_illustres" title = "Parallel Lives of Illustrious Men"> Parallel Lives, Romulus, 29 ), we deduce the date of birth.
  2. There dies at 54 by Plutarch ( Parallel Lives , Romulus, 29 ), we deduce the date of birth.
  3. According to Plutarch , the father of the twins could have been Amulius , reportedly raped his niece, Rhea Silvia ( Parallel Lives , Romulus, 4 ).
  4. Plutarch gives the marriage with Romulus as uncertain ( Parallel Lives , Romulus, 14 ).
  5. According to Zenodotus Troezen , but contradicted by many historians as Plutarch ( Parallel Lives , Romulus, 14 )
  6. The legendary story described in the article is mainly derived from the Roman historian Livy. The edition of Belles Lettres listed in the sources provides a lengthy discussion concerning the intentions of the author's literary and historical reconstruction of the text of Livy (p. VII-CXXX).
  7. Livy , Roman History, Preface, Book I
  8. Livy , Roman History, Preface, Book I, p. 52, Flammarion
  9. In Latin archaic ruma means "a breast", hence the pun on the origin of the name of the city of Rome (Dictionary of Place Names - Louis Deroy and Marianne Mulon , Oxford , 1994) ( ISBN 285036195X )
  10. Rumina was a goddess of lactation ( Gaffiot , ed 2000, p. 1391).
  11. Ovid , Fasti III
  12. Plutarch , Parallel Lives, Romulus, 4, 2 + footnote 9 p.82
  13. Livy, Roman History, Book I, 4
  14. Plutarch, Romulus, 4, 4
  15. Lupa is originally from the French word " brothel ".
  16. Book I, 4
  17. Plutarch, Romulus, VI, 1
  18. Eleventh day before the Kalends of May, the day of eclipse , as it should. (Plutarch)
  19. Plutarch, Romulus, IX, and X 4, 1
  20. Livy , Roman History, Book I, 6
  21. According to Plutarch, Faustulus was also one of the victims of the brawl.
  22. Ovid , The Fasti, Book IV, 807-862
  23. A late French legend has it that Remus was not killed, but simply removed and either party to found the city of Durocortorum , current Reims (in Champagne ), hence the name of Remi and the historical role of Reims in the ceremonial the coronation of the kings of France.
  24. The fourth month after the founding of the City by Quintus Fabius Pictor , quoted by Plutarch (Romulus, XIV, 1)
  25. The merger with Neptune is usually dismissed as a pun by modern translators, who see Consus, a god italics and associates rather with Ops , the goddess of the harvest (Plutarch, Parallel Lives, footnote 40, p. 101). See also the translation of Annette Flobert (footnote 31, p. 69)
  26. Plutarch, Romulus, XIV, 3
  27. The festival will be celebrated Consualia August 21
  28. Romulus, XIV, 1-2
  29. comparison Theseus - Romulus, XXXV, 2
  30. Livy
  31. Also spelled "Talasius" without pm. The hours have been added to "make Greek", but the term would be Sabine origin.
  32. Annette Flobert rejects this etymology
  33. Sextus Scylla of Carthage , according to Plutarch, who advance even further explanation of the origin of the word (Romulus XV, 1)
  34. Romulus is injured by a stone and must temporarily stop fighting (Plutarch).
  35. In his Roman History (Volume I, Chapter 4: The Beginnings of Rome, p. 42, Coll. Bouquins, Robert Laffont), the historian Mommsen (1817-1903), based on etymology, advance thesis that the original name of the Romans was "Ramniens" (which would have meant "men of the forest"). The three tribes of which he is talking about would have been prior to the City, which is born of the merger ( synoecism ), not as in later presented by Livy.
  36. This interpretation of "ethnic" origin of the three tribes Roman is now totally rejected inter alia because the etymology of the three strictly Etruscan names. See also footnote 1, p. 24 of the edition of Belles Lettres).
  37. The storm was accompanied by an eclipse of the sun (Annette Flobert, footnote 55, p. 82, referring perhaps to Plutarch.
  38. Location of Future Circus Flaminius at the Champ de Mars. On July 7 , there commemorating the "disappearance" of Romulus.
  39. Proculus Julius, a man of confidence, "whose claim had weight," according to Livy, a character in the surname anachronistic, depending on the edition of Belles Lettres (footnote 1, p. 28).
  40. Julius Proclus, according to Plutarch (Romulus, XVIII, 1)
  41. Julius Proculus
  42. Book I, 16
  43. Dispatch Reuters November 20, 2007
  44. La Repubblica, November 23, 2007

Sources

  • (The) (en) Livy , Roman History, Book I, (translation Gaston Baillet), Les Belles Lettres , Paris, 2003, ( ISBN 2-251-01281-8 )
  • Livy, Roman History. From the founding of Rome to the Gallic invasion (translation Annette Flobert) Garnier-Flammarion, Paris, 1995, ( ISBN 2-08-070840-6 )
  • Plutarch , Parallel Lives, Theseus - Romulus, Quarto Gallimard, 2001.

See also

Related articles

External Links

King of Rome ( list ) / Latin
Preceded by: According to: Followed by:
Foundation of Rome
( 753 BC. ) 		Romulus (partly with Titus Tatius )
( 753 to 716 BC. ) 		Numa Pompilius
( 715 to 673 BC. )


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