Friday, November 14, 2008







I was curious about the other popular myth regarding the foundation of Rome. I found this on Wikipedia:

Legend has it that Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Rhea Silvia and Mars, were raised by wolves. Rhea Silvia was a priestess, and when it was found that she had been pregnant and had had children, the local King Amulius ordered her to be buried alive and for the children to be killed. The servant who was given the order set them in a basket on the Tiber river instead and the children were taken by Tiberinus, the river god, to the shore where a she-wolf found them and raised them until they were discovered as toddlers by a shepherd named Faustulus. He and his wife Acca Larentia, who had always wanted a child but never had one, raised the twins, who would later figure prominently in the events leading up to the founding of Rome (named after Romulus, who eventually kills Remus to have the city founded on the Palatine Hill rather than the Aventine Hill).


It seems like wolves figure into a lot of creation and foundation myths. There's something facinating about the primordial, powerful nature of wolves.







1 comment:

Jon Lorente said...

I chose the same sculpture to blog about. Wolves have some very interesting characteristics and one not being the raising of human children. Read what I wrote if you get a chance and let me know what you think about human nature vs the kindness of the wolf.