Roman tradition dated the founding of Rome to 753 BCE, fixed by the scholar Varro from the legendary contest between the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, raised by a she-wolf after being abandoned on the Tiber. Romulus, taking a stronger augury of birds on the Palatine Hill against his brother's reading on the Aventine, marked the city's sacred boundary, the pomerium, with a plow, an act Roman religion treated ever after as a founding ritual rather than merely a civic one, tying the city's legitimacy directly to divine sanction sought and won at its origin.
Facts
The Event
When It HappenedTraditionally 21 April 753 BCE, the date fixed by the antiquarian Varro and later marked by the festival of the Parilia. 1 Where It HappenedThe Palatine Hill, above the Tiber, where Romulus marked out the pomerium. 1 Principal PartiesThe twin brothers Romulus and Remus, raised by a she-wolf after being abandoned on the Tiber; Romulus prevailed in their contest over whose augury was stronger and became the city's first king. 2 Disputed
HistoricityThe Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition (Hornblower, Spawforth and Eidinow, eds., Oxford University Press, 2012) records 753 BCE as Rome's own traditional foundation date, fixed by the first century BCE scholar Varro from the legendary contest between Romulus and Remus in which Romulus's stronger augury of birds on the Palatine won him the right to mark the city's pomerium with a plow; archaeological evidence shows settlement on the site considerably earlier than 753 BCE, and the dictionary treats the Romulus and Remus narrative as a foundation legend rather than a historical account. 3 Consequences
What It SettledRomulus marked the city's sacred boundary, the pomerium, with a plow, an act Roman religion treated ever after as a founding ritual tying the city's legitimacy to divine sanction sought and won at its origin. 3 Scholarship
Where It Is RecordedThe two fullest ancient accounts are Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, Book 1, and Plutarch's Life of Romulus, written more than seven hundred years after the events they describe and drawing on earlier Roman antiquarian tradition rather than contemporary record. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Rome, Cities This source names Rome directly: "Roman tradition dated the founding of Rome to 753 BCE, fixed by the scholar Varro from the legendary contest between the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, raised by a she-wolf after being abandoned..."
Belongs to Tradition
Related To
Sources
1. The History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita), Book 1
Livy (Titus Livius), translated by Rev. Canon W. M. Roberts, Everyman's Library, E. P. Dutton and Co., 1912View the Source 2. Life of Romulus (Perseus, Perrin translation)
Plutarch, translated by Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library, hosted by the Perseus Digital Library, 1914View the Source 3. The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition
Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2012s.v. Rome, foundation legend; RomulusView the Source Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
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