Romulus and Remus
Legend has it that Ascanius, son of the Trojan hero Aeneas, once founded the city of Alba Longa on the banks of the River Tevere. Among the descendants who reigned over this population are Numitor and his brother Amulius. The latter dethroned Numitor and, so that he would not have offspring to usurp the throne, he condemned his daughter Rea Silvia to be a priestess so that she would remain a virgin. .
However, Mars, the god of war, fathered the twins Romulus and Remus in Rhea Silvia. When they were born, they were abandoned and thrown in a basket into the Tiber River. The current dragged them to the area of the seven hills, on the way to the mouth of the Tevere, and they were rescued and nursed by the so-called Luperca she-wolf or Capitoline she-wolf. The she-wolf took the brothers to her lair on the Palatine Hill until they were found by a shepherd and his wife, who raised them.
When they were adults, and learned of her history, they took revenge on their uncle Amulio and returned the power of Alba Longa to their grandfather Numitor. It was then that they decided to found a city on the banks of the Tiber, where they had been suckled by the she-wolf. However, the brothers Romulus and Remus argued about the exact place where the city should be founded, so they consulted the flight of birds, a method used by the Etruscans. They decided to count the vultures they sighted on the seven hills: the Palatine, Aventine, Capitol, Caelian, Quirinal, Esquiline and Viminal mountains.
Romulus saw twelve vultures flying over the Palatine Hill, while Remus spotted six on another. Faced with the disagreement over the vultures that they had seen flying over the area, Rómulo delimited a plot of land on the Palatine Hill to found the new city and swore that he would kill whoever crossed it. Remus disobeyed his brother and crossed the line, so Romulus killed him and proclaimed himself the first king of Rome. This fact occurred in the year 754 a. C. approximately.
Actually, the city’s history dates back more than 2,700 years. Specifically to the 8th century B.C. The banks of the Tiber were inhabited by Latin colonies, who founded small villages.
Over time, they came to group together to become more complex and organized organizations, in which a ruler or king, an assembly, its corresponding senate and an army were appointed. In the age of Christ, Rome had already become the capital of the largest and most powerful Empire of the time. In the Middle Ages and after the barbarian invasions, the decline of Rome begins and it becomes a city of ruins and sparsely populated. The situation would not change until almost a thousand years later.
In the Renaissance, Rome is transformed into a majestic capital, and becomes again the city it had once been. Hundreds of artistic and cultural movements developed in it, supported by its leader and religious leaders of that time. It is the origin of the golden age of Rome, in which a large number of artists of world importance appear, such as Michelangelo or Raphael. In addition, the Catholic Church orders the construction of numerous temples throughout the city, thus transforming it into a religious capital, the seat of Christianity. The splendor and transformation of the city continues to increase, with movements such as the Baroque.
Today, Rome is an open-air museum, contrasting its thousands-year-old archaeological ruins with modern ones.