Romulus and Remus
Discussion Questions
Value: An important idea or belief that is passed down from one generation to another
1. What stories from your childhood does this story about the founding of Rome remind you of?
2. What values were Roman moms and dads passing along to their children via this story?
Romulus and Remus
The story of the twins, sons of the god of War, Mars. In the legend Romulus and Remus are orphaned when their mother, Silvia is imprisoned and the infants are cast into the Tiber River. They are set ashore under a fig tree and found by a she wolf and a woodpecker, animals that are sacred to Mars. The twins are fed and nursed by the animals, until Faustulus, the king's herdsman finds them and raises them with his wife. They left home to found their new kingdom on the shores of that same river where they had many years before begun their legendary lives.
As children will often do, Romulus and Remus could agree upon neither the location of the new city nor a name for it. It was during this strife that Romulus killed his twin, and thereupon built the new settlement.
Lacking for inhabitants, the new king called upon outcasts from outlying communities to come to his new homeland and to settle upon the Capitoline Hill where Romulus built a sanctuary for misfits of other communities.
But, alas, Romulus soon discovered that his city was lacking for women, and he announced that games were to be celebrated in honor of the god, Consus, and he thereby invited the Latins and the Sabines to his celebration. It was during this event that the Romans lashed out upon the virgins of the community and carried them away.
Romulus' reign was tainted with this story of the rape of the Sabine women, whose tribe, under the leadership of Titus Tatius, allegedly infiltrated the new Latin lands and battled with the inhabitants of Latium, thus forming a union of the two tribes early in the history of ancient Rome.
During the ensuing war, the Sabine women prayed for peace, and they begged that the two tribes unite and form one people, one nation. Unfortunately, the peace was short-lived, and Titus Tatius, who was at this time co-reigning with Romulus, was killed in a confrontation. Thus, Romulus continued his reign alone not only over the Latins but also over the Sabines.
His 37-year reign as the first king of Rome ended when his father, Mars, carried him away to heaven in a chariot of fire. Henceforth, Romulus demanded to be known as " Quirinus," the guardian god to the Romans.