Before
Rome was founded, in the surrounding mountain region called Alba Longa lived
two brothers. The younger brother wanted to rule the lands even though he knew
it was his older brother, who was chosen by their father. In a mysterious way,
the younger brother removed his sibling, who was never found and nobody knew
what happened to him.
Soon
after the mysterious disappearance of the older brother, his wife gave
birth to twins. To make sure that the children wouldn’t take away the throne
from the younger brother, he demanded from his men, “Take the twins from the
mother and abandoned them to die in the flooding Tiber River.” He roared in
such demand that even those men whose hearts weakened at the view of the
innocent babies wouldn’t dare to protect them.
The
overflowing river made the banks shallow with water and in those shallow waters
the basket with the newborns was let go by a man who whispered, “May the low
waters take you to a safe place.” The calm river carried the basket until it
got tangled in the roots of a fig tree at the Palatine Hill. The babies lulled
by the still waters quietly slept until the scorching afternoon sun reached
them through the tree branches and woke them up. The babies cried out of hunger
until a female wolf shielding herself in the cool cave nearby heard them.
The
wolf quickly appeared by the basket. As a mother of newborn wolves, she had
plenty of milk in her breasts. She looked at the innocent babies with her
caring eyes, smelled their skin and licked their faces as cleaning them before
feeding. Then laying by the basket, she let the babies suckle the milk. The days
went by and the wolf continued to nurse the twins. The birds coming to the fig
tree noticed the babies, too, and brought them wild berries in their beaks.
One
day, a shepherd passing by noticed the basket. Movement of something tiny
inside it and babbled noises made him move closer. The older shepherd, who
didn’t have children and always wanted to have a son, now found two. He happily
grabbed the basket and rushed home to show the babies to his wife. “Look what I
found. It’s a sign from God. We couldn’t have our own children and now we have
two boys,” announced the shepherd upon entering the hut.
The
wife clasped her hands as in prayer and raised her head saying, “Thank you.”
The
happy boys grew to be strong and brave. They grazed the stock, hunted in the
woods, trained in spear and protected the house of their parents making them
very proud. They always tried to stay out of trouble even when provoked. But it
wasn’t always easy to keep a peaceful atmosphere, when somebody was clearly
looking for a fight and that’s what happened one summer day.
As
the boys rolled their bodies down the hill against the warmth of the grass,
filling the air with joyful laughter, they came to a sudden stop. Almost at the
bottom of the hill, a foot of an unknown shepherd stopped them. “Well, well,
well, what do we have here?” Asked one shepherd mocking at the brothers.
“Oh,
let me guess, two brothers, who live with a mother and father,” continued
mocking another shepherd.
The
brothers tried to move on even when being pushed, but the trouble looking
shepherds would not let go. A fight broke. The three unknown shepherds were
stronger and captured Remus.
Romulus rushed with the help to free his brother. The
place where he found him was filled with some faces staring at them. The appearance
of two identical men at the same place led to some whispers.
“I’ve met two identical brothers only once in my life and
they disappeared as babies,” murmured one man.
“Yes, I remember them as well and they would be around
the age of those two boys,” muttered another man.
“Shall we approach them,” asked the first man.
“Certainly,” responded the second man.
The conversation between the two man and two brothers
resulted in the discovery of the twins' true identity. After finding out about
their roots and what their uncle did to them, they avenged their father by removing
the uncle from the throne and reinstating the grandfather instead.
Not wanting to wait for the throne, they chose to found a
city on their own. Upon arrival at the seven hills, they quarreled, which hill they should pick.
“The hill in the center is
protected by the surrounding hills,” announced Romulus.
“It’s better to have it on the outside hill, so you can
have a better view of anybody approaching,” argued Remus.
Not being able to reach an agreement, the quarreled
brothers started building a wall separating two hills. The wall didn’t solve
the problem as brothers argued even more. During one of those arguments, while
on the wall, Romulus accidently pushed his brother, which turned to be fatal
and now he was left alone.
The hill that Romulus picked was the hill, where the wolf
had found them at the bottom as infants. This became a new settlement, which he
named after himself – Rome. The city was built with his followers. He welcomed
everybody announcing, “Whoever wishes to obtain new lands is welcomed within my
walls, which further will protect you and your land.” This offer attracted
different kinds of men, even outcasts and some troublemakers. The town grew
fast, but there were no women. To solve this problem, Romulus invited women
from neighboring town for a festival.
The women gladly accepted the invitation. On the day of
the festival, they were warmly welcomed, given a tour around the town first.
The strong new walls were shown encircling the houses and cobblestone streets.
The women in awe and admiration were led to the center for some music, dance
and food. After all the plates and cups were emptied and the women were ready
to leave, the men held them against their wish. This led to a war with the
neighboring town, where the women came from.
It wasn’t a quick battle. It lasted years until the women,
who already had children asked the leaders to stop the fight stating, “We don’t
want our children to be left without fathers and us without husbands. There is
a reason for what had happened. Let us live in peace instead of fighting
against each other.”
As a result both settlements connected as one and were
ruled by both leaders, Romulus and Titus. However, five years hardly had
passed, when Romulus became the sole ruler after Titus death. Romulus ruled for
many years.
One day, the blue sky suddenly was covered with grey
clouds, the wind picked its speed, thunder lighted the sky a few times and fog
filled the air. Fear covered people’s faces. After a short time, the sky
rapidly became blue again and the sun lighted people’s faces. However, there
was one person missing. Romulus mysteriously disappeared.
Devoted followers of Romulus and his soldiers were ready
to grab weapons and fight for him. Just in time, some witnesses swore, “We saw
Romulus to be taken to heaven.”
It is said that now as a god he watches over Rome.
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