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Romulus and Remus<br />
The city of <strong>Rome</strong> is thought to have begun in a small village in a region of Italy called Latium.<br />
Roman legends adopted from the Greeks also tell us that the ancient Romans believed they could<br />
trace their ancestry back to a person called Aeneas, a hero who escaped from the complete<br />
destruction of the city of Troy (Ilium) by the Greeks. The legend reinforced the hero aspect<br />
favoured by the Romans by saying that Aeneas carried his father on his back. Aeneas later moved on to<br />
Carthage before finally deciding to settle in Latium.<br />
Aeneas eventually had a son who founded the city of Alba Longa and the legend tells us that Romulus and<br />
Remus, traditional founders of <strong>Rome</strong>, were descended from the kings of Alba Longa. During the last 10 years<br />
of his life the famous Roman poet, Virgil, wrote his epic poem ‘Aeneid’, a poem in 12 books which retold the<br />
legend of Aeneas and outlined the growth of the Roman Empire.<br />
The legend of Romulus and Remus may be partially true, for in the 8th century BC we know that two villages,<br />
one on the Palatine Hill, merged to form a single settlement. This was around 753 BC —the date recognised<br />
in legend. However, the discovery at the beginning of the 20th century of hut foundations and burial sites on<br />
the Palatine Hill cast doubts on the veracity of the foundation story. Archaeologists decided that some of the<br />
burial sites dated back to the 10th century BC, hundreds of years before the legend of Romulus and Remus.<br />
In what is believed to be another early foundation legend, Romulus invited his powerful enemies, the<br />
Sabines, to a feast and during the celebrations the Romans seized the Sabine women for their wives.<br />
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– 6 – <strong>Ancient</strong> <strong>Rome</strong> Prim-Ed Publishing www.prim-ed.com