According to tradition, this
is the dies natalis of the city of
Rome, future ruler of most of the known world, founded by Romulus in 753 B.C. on
the left bank of the Tiber River.
You know already the story
of Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Mars and grandsons of the exiled king
Numitor; how the usurping king ordered the semi-divine infants drowned in the Anio
River, and how instead their cradle drifted downstream until it was cast ashore
on the banks of the Tiber; how they were suckled by a she-wolf until they were
found and raised by shepherds on Palatine hill; how they learned of their true
birth and avenged their grandfather by slaying the usurper and returning the
rightful king to his throne.
If you don’t know it, you
should.
This version of the founding
of Rome is taken from “A Classical Dictionary of Biography, Mythology, and
Geography” (1891), by Sir William Smith:
“Romulus and Remus loved
their old abode, and therefore left Alba to found a city on the banks of the
Tiber. A strife arose between the
brothers where the city should be built, and after whose name it should be
called. Romulus wished to build it
on the Palatine, Remus on the Aventine.
It was agreed that the question should be decided by augury; and each
took his station on the top of his chosen hill.
The night passed away, and
as the day was dawning, Remus saw six vultures; but at sun-rise, when these
tidings were brought to Romulus, 12 vultures flew by him. Each claimed the augury in his own
favor; but the shepherds decided for Romulus, and Remus was obliged to
yield.
Romulus now proceeded to
mark out the pomœrium of his city,
and to raise the wall. Remus, who
still resented the wrong he had suffered, leapt over the wall in scorn,
whereupon he was slain by his brother.
[The Pomœrium was a symbolical wall, marked by stones or stone pillars
erected at intervals. The custom
when founding a new town was to yoke a bullock and a heifer to the plow, and
draw a furrow, with the clods falling inward, around the place to be
occupied. The furrow represented
the moat, and the little mound of clods formed the symbolical wall. The actual
stone walls were built outside this furrow, but near to it. The original pomœrium
probably ran around the foot of the Palatine hill.]
Map of Ancient Rome
Palatine Hill (Romulus) in red
Aventine Hill (Remus) in blue
Capitoline Hill and Quirinal Hill (Sabines) in green
Tiber River in brown.
As soon as the city was
built, Romulus found his people too few in numbers. He therefore set apart, on the Capitoline hill, an asylum,
or a sanctuary, in which homicides and runaway slaves might take refuge. The city thus became filled with men,
but they wanted women. Romulus,
therefore, tried to form treaties with the neighboring tribes, in order to
obtain connubium, or the right of
legal marriage with their citizens, but his offers were treated with disdain,
and he accordingly resolved to obtain by force what he could not gain by
entreaty.
In the fourth month after
the foundation of the city, he proclaimed that games were to be celebrated in
honor of the god Consus, and invited his neighbors, the Latins and Sabines, to
the festival. Suspecting no
treachery, they came in numbers, with their wives and children. But the Roman youths rushed upon their
guests, and carried off the virgins.
The parents of the virgins returned home and prepared for vengeance.”
[Battles ensue, first one
side gaining, then the other.]
“At length, when both
parties were exhausted with the struggle, the Sabine women rushed in between
them, and prayed their husbands and fathers to be reconciled. Their prayer was heard; the two people
not only made peace, but agreed to form only one nation. The Romans continued to dwell on the
Palatine under their king Romulus; the Sabines built a new town on the
Capitoline and Quirinal hills, where they lived under their king Titus Tatius. The two kings and their senates met for
deliberation n the valley between the Palatine and Capitoline hills, which was
hence called comitium, or the place
of meeting.”
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In honor of Eternal Rome,
fix a Roman banquet. This website has several delightful recipes and a few extras to help give your dinner a
Roman ambiance. If you can’t
manage all three courses or the ingredients are just too wild to try, fix
something simple like Chilled Peas Vinaigrette or Carrots Sautéed in Peppered Wine Sauce from the Gustatio (1st
course) and Pears Cooked with Cinnamon and Wine or Roman Custard from the Secundae Mensae (3rd course).
Eating while reclining is
optional. A good centerpiece for the Christian table would include a lion or two.
Bonum Appetitionem!
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Artwork:
SPQR by Piotr Michal
Jaworski. Swiped from Wikipedia
Map taken from Sir William Smith, “Map of
Ancient Rome Showing the Walls of Servius and those of Aurelian”, from A Classical Dictionary of Biography,
Mythology, and Geography (1891) p. 646
Guercino, Hersilia Separating Romulus and Tatius,
1645, Louvre. Swiped from Wikipedia.
