King Romulus Augustus
Uploaded by kg157532 on Jul 01, 2013
Romulus, in Roman legend, founder of Rome. When Amulius usurped the throne of his brother Numitor, king of Alba Longa, he forced Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, to become a vestal virgin so that she would have no children. However, she became the mother of twin sons, Romulus and Remus, by the god Mars. Amulius then imprisoned Rhea Silvia and set the infants adrift in a basket on the Tiber River. They floated safely ashore, where a she-wolf suckled and tended them until the royal shepherd Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia, found and reared them. When they were grown, the brothers learned their true identity, killed Amulius, and restored Numitor to the throne. They then decided to establish a city of their own where they had been first rescued from the Tiber River. When Romulus was chosen by an omen as the true founder of the new city, strife arose between the brothers, and Romulus killed Remus. He then populated his city with fugitives from other countries; to get wives he and his fellow Romans abducted the women of the neighboring Sabine tribe. After a long reign, Romulus disappeared in a thunderstorm and was thereafter worshiped as the god Quirinus. Romulus was about fifty-three when he disappeared. He lived from 771-717 B.C. Roman historians traditionally set the date of Rome's founding at 753 B.C.
The mother of the twins Romulus and Remus was a Vestal Virgin named Rhea Silvia, the daughter of Numitor and niece of King Amulius of Alba Longa. Numitor was the rightful king. The usurper, his brother Amulius, feared a future challenge from Numitor's descendants. To prevent their being born, Amulius forced the daughter of his brother Numitor to become a Vestal Virgin. The penalty for violating the vow of chastity was a cruel death, but Rhea Silvia survived long enough to give birth to twins, Romulus and Remus. Like later Vestal Virgins who violated their vows, Rhea may have been buried alive.
The reason that Romulus killed Remus is also unclear. One story about Romulus killing Remus begins with the brothers using augury to determine which brother should be king. Romulus looked for his signs on the Palatine Hill and Remus on the Aventine. The sign came to Remus first, six vultures (*).
Another story of the killing of Remus has each brother building...