Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Romulus, the hero that founded Rome and became a god.
Let’s get into it.
To set the stage for Romulus’ story, we’re going to wind the clocks back about 15 generations, back to the fall of Troy. Our preamble centres on Aenas, the most important Roman hero aside from Romulus. Aenas was the son of Aphrodite and of Anchises. Aphrodite, of course, was the goddess of love, sexuality, and beauty, and Anchises, as the son of Themiste, a Trojan princess, was Trojan nobility. Themiste was the sister of Laomedon, who was the father of Priam, who was the ruling king during the events of the Trojan war. And to bring this geneology full-circle, Aenas married Creusa, who was Priam’s daughter. Together, they had a son, Ascanius.
Though Aenas and his compatriots fought valiantly, in the end, Troy was sacked by the Greeks. Following this, Aenas led his family - though his wife was lost - and many of his countrymen away from the burning city. They found some ships and set sail, embarking on a quest for greener pastures where they could establish a new city for their people. This story, which begins with the fall of Troy and ends with Aenas defeating an army, taking a new wife, and founding a city in Italy - called either Lavinium or Latium - is the one sentence version of the Aeneid, which was written by the poet Virgil and is basically a conflation of the Odyssey and the Iliad. We’ll cover the events of the Aeneid in greater detail in another video.
Fast Forward about 12 generations and you get the birth of two brothers, Amulius and Numitor. Their father, Procas, a direct descendant of Aenas, divided the royal inheritance into two parts: one was the kingdom itself, and the other was all the treasure in the kingdom. Numitor, the first born son, chose the kingdom, leaving Amulius with all the treasure, but Amulius, who was treacherous and power-hungry, used his newly acquired wealth to overthrow and banish his brother. Then, to ensure there would be no one to challenge him in the future, Amulius dealt with Numitor’s children. The son was killed, and the daughter, Rhea, was dedicated to the service of Vesta, the Roman equivalent of Hestia, the virgin goddess of the hearth. It was expected that priestesses in Vesta’s service remain virgins, so by binding Rhea to Vesta in this way, it ensured she would bear no children, no sons that could create trouble later on.
Amulius’ plan would have worked had he lived in a world without gods, but alas, this wasn’t the case. One day, Rhea ventured into the woods to fetch water. Mars, the Roman equivalent of Ares, the god of war, came upon her and seduced her. They lay down together, and though Rhea did not yet know it, twin sons began to grow inside her. Months later, the pregnancy came to the attention of Amulius, who had his niece put in prison. When her children - twin brothers called Remus and Romulus - were born, they were taken from her and brought to the wilds, to the bank of the Tiber river.
Watch the video for the rest!
