12/12/2015
Tito Livius, likely the most important roman historian, wrote in his “Ab urbe condita” (since the Roman foundation) the date of birth of the city: 753 before Christ, April 21st.
That day Romulus, the first king of the city, dug the perimetrical furrow of the so-called “Roma quadrata”, the “Square city”, and the same day he killed his twin brother Remus; this is the legendary story of that day
Romulus and Remus were the sons of Rea Silvia, a virgin vestal, the daughter of Numitore, the Alba Longa king’s brother.
To avoid any heritage problem, the king, Amulio, forced her to become a vestal; this priestly order was a real important one: the priestesses had to keep alight the sacred fire whom, according to the legend, came from the Troy’s fire after the Greek conquest, and brought by Aeneas, one of the few survivors, first in Lavinio, around 20 miles south of Rome, and then in Alba Longa, a little village East of Rome, by his son Ascanio: for all the time she was priestess, she had to remain virgin: as it turned out, she didn’t…
The tradition says Rea Silvia met at a fountain, while she was going to take water for the vestals convent, a gorgeous soldier, that turned out to be the god Mars himself; and of course, how could you resist to a God?
Of course, after the king discovered it, he imprisoned her, walling her up alive till the birth.
The twins came into the world: and Rea Silvia was buried alive: this was the punishment for Vestals responsable of such a crime.
Even the two twins had to die: the king gave them to a servant, ordering him to kill them in the forest and to bring their hearts back.
The brave servant was moved to pity at the babies’ cries, and instead of killing them he preferred to leave them in a wicker basket, abandoning them at the river (the legend says he brought to his king the hearts of two deers).
The basket landed in the valley (later on called Velabrum) at the slope of Palatine hill, where a vast marsh covered the area; there they were founded by a female wolf, which took care of them as if they were her own puppies.
Later on, a farmer, Faustolo, that lived on the same Palatine hill, found them and brought them home to his wife, making they grow as if they were their kids.
Growing up, they dreamed to found a new city; with a bunch of friends, all of them farmers’ sons, they went in a valley close to a river (the Tiber, of course).
Remus wanted to found the city there, while Romulus preferred a hill nearby, in outstanding position.
Hard choice! To set the place, the two twins questioned the gods: from then to dusk, the one to see more birds flyng from West to East would become the king: these was a typical Etruscan religious ceremony to investigate the gods, a way to proof how related was the newborn town with the Etruscan world.
Well..Remus saw eleven birds and he was winning, but right at dusk Romulus passed him, seeing four more birds so to arrive at twelve. The brother refused to accept the verdict.
So, the day after, while Romulus was digging up the sacred borders of the city, Remus jumped over the furrow, so to say he refused the brother authority; and the brother, to prove it, killed him in front of his crew.
That’s why the birthday of Rome is also the anniversary of the first murder in this city.
