Everyone travels to Rome to visit the amazing sites of the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, to try Italian food & wine and so many other reasons. But with so much history in this ancient city, you may be wondering how was Rome was first created? The creation of Rome started in the year 753 BCE by two bothers, and demi-gods, Romulus and Remus. These brothers were born into royalty thanks to their mother being the daughter of Numitor, the king of Alba Longa. Before their birth, the king had already overthrown his own brother Amulius and had decided to kill all of the male heirs and sent Romulus and Remus’s mother to become a vestal virgin. These Vestal Virgins were preitesses, who were the patron Goddesses of the hearth. These were celibate priestesses whose duty was to watch over a sacred flame that could never go out.

The birth of Romulus and Remus

So what changed? When the boys mother, Rhea Silvia was discovered to be pregnant with Romulus, and Remus, instead of being sentenced to death by King Amulius, she was imprisoned. And their own grandfather sentenced Romulus and Remus to death by elements including death by burial, or being thrown into the Tiber River, the river that flows through the city of Rome. The king sentenced a servant to carry out the death of these brothers. The king did this because he did not want to have the stain of death on his own hands and therefore could not be punished by the paternal gods for his sin. However contradictory to the kings wishes, his servant found pity on them and decided to place Romulus, and Remus in a basket, and send the two brothers down the Tiber river.

The beginning of their new Life in Rome

The River God Tibernus made sure that Romulus and Remus were safely washed up ashore along the Palatine Hill in the Velabrum swamp. They were eventually found by Lupa, a she-wolf. Lupa suckled Romulus and Remus, and the brothers were fed by a wood-pecker, known as picus. Later the brothers were discovered by a shepherd named Faustulus, and his wife Acca Larentia who decided to take Romulus and Remus in as their own and raise them as their own children. Similar to their new father, Romulus and Remus were raised to become shepherds.
Although that may sound like a nice end to the story of Romulus and Remus, it doesn’t end there. One day while the brothers were working on their flock they were met by shepherds of King Amulius, their grandfathers shepherds. The shepherds of King Amulius started an argument with Romulus & Remus in which Remus was captured by the shepherds. He was later brought to King Amulius and imprisoned in the jails. Although you may think that their grandfather would have sympathy over his own family, he did not and kept his grandson imprisoned. While his brother was in jail, Romulus brought together a band of shepherds in order to free Remus from the king. As the king did not recognize Romulus and Remus since the last time that he saw them was when they were babies, Romulus was able to sneak into the jail and free his brother from the kings capture while also killing the king to get rid of his power.

After the death of King Amulius, Romulus and Remus were the next in line for the throne. They had a big decision to make, do they give up their life as shepherds with the new family they had and become king? Or do they stay where they are happy. Romulus and Remus decided that they would both refuse the throne, and instead reinstated their grandfather, Numitor, as the new king. The brothers decided that instead of taking over, they would set off to find their own city instead. Romulus thought that the city should be started upon the Palatine Hill, whereas Remus decided that it should be upon Aventine Hill. In order to settle this quarrel, Romulus and Remus decided to set up sacred spaces upon their hills and watch the birds go by to see how many pass by their spots. Romulus saw 12 birds pass, whereas Remus saw 6. Romulus assumed he was the clear winner, but Remus argued that he saw 6 before Romulus saw any giving his hill more significance. The brothers were at a stand still of how to go forward.

The creation of Rome

Romulus started to build walls around Palatine Hill in order to protect his area which then resulted in Remus mocking this wall, jumping over it continuously until Romulus had enough and killed his own brother. Although he killed Remus during their argument, this didn’t mean that Romulus wasn’t extremely upset – he mourned his brothers death and gave him a proper funeral which he believed that he should have. Romulus went on to name his city Roma after himself. After creating the foundation of the city Romulus decided to create a government, which involved Senators and Patricians. The city and government grew in popularity, and many fugitives, ex slaves, and criminals flocked to the city for a new start and that was the creation of the great city of Rome!