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Aeneas, Romulus, and the Founding of Rome
 Rita Mailheau
When the Gauls burned Rome in 390 BC, more than just the buildings went up in smoke. The archives, containing the documents and annals of Roman History up to that point, were also lost. One wonders why a company of concerned citizens didn't unite to write it all down before everyone forgot. But maybe they wanted to forget because maybe it wasn't all that exciting. In the absence of record, Roman History twisted into something mythological, and what we have left is a hybrid of fact and myth.
Arguably, the founding of Rome began with the fall of Troy. In April 22, 753 BC, Aeneas, having fled Troy's devastation, arrived with his men to the coast of Italy to start over. According to Livy, the Roman historian, Aeneas and his men lost everything but ships and swords, which they used to scour their new land for supplies. Under King Latinus, the outraged natives engaged Aeneas in battle. Sources disagree on what happened next, but in either version Aeneas marries the King's daughter Lavinia and has a son Ascanius. Eight generations later their descendant Numitor loses the throne, overturned by Amulius his brother. Amulius forces Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, to become a Vestal Virgin, thus preventing further heirs to the throne from Numitor's line.
Enter the mythological portion of the tale. Rhea Silvia, whilst napping on the banks of a stream falls into a deep sleep. Mars, overwhelmed by her beauty, visits leaving her "rich with twins Romulus and Remus. Amulius orders them drowned but a kindly servant sets them adrift on a raft and they float downstream to safety and the care of a she-wolf. Famed renditions in both coin and statue depict the she wolf and twin suckling boys. This image became a patriotic icon throughout Roman history.
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