Did Romulus and Remus exist? - Historum

Commander · July 19th, 2006, 05:04 AM

Did Romulus and Remus exist? According to legend, Romulus founded Rome and Remus was his twin brother.

kahn · July 19th, 2006, 09:19 AM

I voted yes... after all isn't there where the name for the city Rome came from?

Ragz · July 19th, 2006, 12:50 PM

Surely not but, probably something good enough to morph into these mythological guys Livy tells us about. And don't forget to consider the time and reason Livy wrote his histories and who the primary reader would be.

Of course even Livy qualifies the story by saying this cannot be verified and is mostly "What we Romas believe."

heikstheo · February 20th, 2007, 09:17 PM

Oh, I suspect that someday there will be archaeological proof of the historical existence of Romulus and Remus.

Amergin · March 22nd, 2007, 03:59 PM

I phrase this as a question for a reason, but wasn't the first king of Rome named Romulus?

state-of-the-art · March 22nd, 2007, 04:20 PM

Well, i'm not entirely sure about the "raised by a she-wolf" part but yes Romulus founded Rome in 753 bce and established himself as its first king. Modern scholars don't fully agree with the tale but do agree that Rome grew from humble beginnings.

Nikd · March 22nd, 2007, 10:54 PM

In my opinion yes they existed, simply time made them mythos.

Lord_Cronus · March 23rd, 2007, 04:30 AM

I would say there was most definately a Romulus. The whole thing about his lineage is more than likely made up, i.e. son of Mars and the she wolf thing. It is somewhat strange that the first King was named Romulous and the last Emperor was named Romulous.

GermanDude92 · April 14th, 2007, 08:46 AM

Who knows, i doubt we ever will no.

-GermanDude

Afterwards Deified · April 29th, 2007, 12:15 AM

It's weird, because there are definitely things that DIDN'T happen (sons of actual gods, the suckling of the she-wolf, etc.) , and his mysterious disappearance make the story even more fishy. Add to it that the whole Romulus killing Remus sounds a hell of a lot like the Cain and Abel story, and you wonder if any of it was true. That said, I have a feeling that Romulus did exist, and was the first King of Rome. I also believe there were 6 Kings in all before the Republic came to power (although the third king, Hostilious, supposedly died by being struck by lightning while sacrificing to the gods, and that also sounds like fiction.

Bottom line, forget Romulus, my boy Augustus was the TRUE Father of the Country, if he founded Rome or not.