Source Verification: Romulus
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Who was the father of Romulus and Remus?
Roman tradition names the war god Mars. Livy says their mother, the Vestal Rhea Silvia, was violated and named Mars as the father, either because she believed it or because a god made the fault seem less shameful. Plutarch says the she-wolf and the woodpecker that fed the twins were both sacred to Mars, which is why her claim was believed. He also reports a rumour that her uncle Amulius, disguised in armour, was the real father. Ovid's Fasti speaks of the twins as plainly Mars's sons.
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.4
Why did Romulus kill Remus?
Not every ancient source says he did. Livy gives two versions. In the first, the twins' followers fought over whose augury had won, six vultures for Remus or twelve for Romulus, and Remus died in the brawl. In the second, which Livy calls more common, Remus mocked the new walls by jumping over them and Romulus killed him in anger. Plutarch says some blamed Romulus and others his companion Celer. Ovid's Fasti names only Celer and has Romulus mourn his brother.
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7
Was Romulus a real person or a myth?
The ancient texts cannot settle it, and their own authors had doubts. Plutarch says the main account was first published by the Greek writer Diocles of Peparethus and followed by Fabius Pictor, and that some readers suspected its fabulous quality. He answers only that fortune is sometimes a poet. He also records several rival stories of who Romulus was. Livy hedges the divine birth and passes on a rational reading of the she-wolf. Both treat Romulus as the founder while admitting the story reached them as tradition.
Source: Plutarch, Life of Romulus 8
What happened to the founder of Rome?
Romulus vanished. Plutarch dates it to the Nones of Quintilis. In one account he was holding an assembly at the Goat's Marsh when darkness, thunder and rain scattered the crowd. The nobles told the people he had been caught up to heaven, and Proculus Julius swore that Romulus had appeared to him as the god Quirinus. Plutarch also reports a darker account: that the senators killed him in the temple of Vulcan and carried the pieces of his body away under their robes. Livy records the same suspicion.
Source: Plutarch, Life of Romulus 27
Where Accounts Differ
- who killed Remus
- whether the she-wolf was Larentia
- whether Romulus was taken to heaven or murdered by the senators
- whether Mars or Amulius fathered the twins
- whether Romulus lied about the augury
- Who killed Remus differs by source. Livy (1.7) gives an unnamed death in the brawl after the augury, then the more common report that Romulus killed him for leaping the walls. Plutarch (Romulus 10) names either Romulus or his companion Celer. Ovid (Fasti 4.837-856) names Celer alone and has Romulus mourn.
- Livy (1.4) and Plutarch (Romulus 4) both record that the she-wolf may have been Larentia, the herdsman's wife, since lupa also meant a woman of loose character.
- Romulus's end is disputed. Livy (1.16) follows the disappearance in a storm but notes a hint that the senators tore him apart. Plutarch (Romulus 27) gives the murder in the temple of Vulcan as one conjecture beside the storm. Ovid (Fasti 2.475-512) calls the charge against the senators false, and his Metamorphoses (14.805-828) has Mars carry Romulus to heaven.
- His paternity is hedged in the sources themselves. Livy (1.4) says Rhea Silvia named Mars either from belief or to lessen her fault, and Plutarch (Romulus 4) reports that Amulius in armour may have been the father.
- Plutarch (Romulus 9) records a version in which Romulus lied about seeing twelve vultures and saw them only when Remus arrived.
- Plutarch is cited from Bernadotte Perrin's translation on Perseus. Ovid's Fasti is not in the site's live citation registry, so its line numbers were checked by hand against the Latin text on Perseus. Dionysius of Halicarnassus's Roman Antiquities, a major source for Romulus, is not cited here because the site holds no checkable edition of it.
Sources
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.3
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.4
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.5
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.6
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.8
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.9
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.10
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.12
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.13
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.14
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.15
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.16
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 2
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 4
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 8
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 9
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 10
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 11
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 12
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 24
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 26
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 27
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 28
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 29
- Ovid, Fasti 2.381-424
- Ovid, Fasti 2.475-512
- Ovid, Fasti 4.837-856
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.805-851
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.778-804
- Plutarch, Life of Romulus 21
- Plutarch, On the Fortune of the Romans
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.59
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.60
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.18