Romulus and Remus and the Battle for the Future

Romulus and Remus, the mythological demigod twins who founded Rome were sons of the war god Mars. After being left to die, the infants were suckled by a she-wolf in a sacred cave and later raised in pastoral beauty by the shepherd Faustulus.  The twins experienced other exciting Tintin-style adventures with sundry bandits, rebels, exiled kings, grandfathers, and what-not.  Yet the part of their mythological story which is arguably of greatest interest is when the brothers decided to found the city of Rome.  Immediately the twins (who had been inseparable allies through battles, love affairs, tribal intrigues, and wolf-childhood) fell out over…urban planning.  Romulus wished to build on the Palatine Hill, (above the cave where they were reared); Remus, however, preferred the Aventine Hill.  They argued fiercely and finally decided to let the gods decide.

Messages from the gods can be also be divisive and the oracular battle between the brothers did not end their dispute.  Remus saw six birds flying above his hill and proclaimed that the gods favored the Aventine.  Romulus saw a full dozen birds over the Palantine and proclaimed that the deities wished for this hill to be the heart of their city.  The argument over the direction their society would take and what the gods were really trying to say about how the nation should be built and administered caused the brothers to fall out forever.  Soon Remus was dead (perhaps by one of Romulus’ supporters but maybe at the hands of Romulus himself) and the Palantine became the center of Rome.  Yet the dispute left its shadow and Rome was always torn between battling rulers (both hills became great, but the Palantine was always foremost).  The story is a myth, of course, but it is the Romans’ own myth about how their society came into existence.

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