As the legend goes, in the year 753 b.c. a basket carrying two little babies was abandoned at the mercy of the river Tiber. The currents dragged the basket to an inlet where the twins would have surely been dead if help had not arrived; a wolf. The adventure of Romolo and Remo had begun.
Once they grew up, the two founded a town. They made boundaries around the land and swore that they would kill anyone who tried to cross them. So it was. The first victim was Remo, murdered because he had crossed it. Romolo was the first king of Rome. And six others kings followed, before the advent of the Republic in the year 509 b.c. due to a turmoil against the then king Tarquinio the Proud.
The Ancient Roman version was slightly different. It states that Romolo and Remo were descendants of Enea of Troia and sons of Rea Silvia, a priestess, who conceived them with Mars the God of war. The king, discovering the sacrilege, imprisoned her and abandoned the two twins on the river Tiber, leaving the Gods to decide their fate. Believing that their city had been found from noble blood and with the aid of the divinity, it made the ancient Romans more confident in their strength.
On the contrary, some historical sources support that the 'Lupa' (female wolf), was simply an old woman who was called a wolf by the people who lived in a village by the river. The two boys grew up as savages without a culture. They formed a band that plundered and pillaged the surrounding villages. The two brothers never envisioned how powerful their city would become.

(Rita B.)

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