Editing Romulus and Remus (section)

==Modern scholarship==
[[File:Cr 20-1-Reverse.jpg|thumb|Romulus and Remus. Silver [[drachm|didrachm]] (6.44 g), {{circa|269}}–266 BC]]
[[File:Bracteate she-wolf NMAT KP208-243 (cropped).jpg|thumb|She-wolf suckling two infants ("Romulus and Remus"), with pseudo-Roman characters. [[Panjakent|Penjikent]], 5th century AD, [[National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan]] (KP 208–243).<ref>{{cite book |title=Tadjikistan : au pays des fleuves d'or |date=2021 |publisher=Musée Guimet, Snoek |location=Paris, Gand |page=133 |isbn=<!--978-94-6161-627-2-->978-9461616272}}</ref> Motif [[:File:Bunjikat_Remus_and_Romulus.jpg|also known further east]], from [[Principality of Ushrusana|Ushrusana]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Laet |first1=Sigfried J. de |title=History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century |date=1 January 1994 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-102813-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvlthkbFU1UC&pg=PA947 |language=en}}</ref>]]
Modern scholarship approaches the various known stories of Romulus and Remus as cumulative elaborations and later interpretations of Roman [[origin myth]]. Particular versions and collations were presented by Roman historians as an authoritative, official history trimmed of contradictions and untidy variants, to justify contemporary developments, genealogies and actions in relation to [[Mos maiorum|Roman morality]]. Other narratives appear to represent popular or folkloric tradition; some of these remain inscrutable in purpose and meaning. Wiseman sums the whole as the [[mythography]] of an unusually problematic foundation and early history.<ref>Wiseman ''Remus''.</ref><ref>{{cite book | first = Arnoldo | last = Momigliano | contribution = An interim report on the origins of Rome | title = Terzo contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico | volume = 1 | publisher = Edizioni di storia e letteratura | place = Rome | year = 2007 | pages = 545–98 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tq53aX69lv0C&q=Diocles+of+peparethus&pg=PA550| isbn = 9788884983633 }}. A critical, chronological review of historiography related to Rome's origins.</ref>

The three canonical accounts of Livy, Dionysius, and Plutarch provide the broad literary basis for studies of Rome's founding mythography. They have much in common, but each is selective to its purpose. Livy's is a dignified handbook, justifying the purpose and morality of Roman traditions of his own day. Dionysius and Plutarch approach the same subjects as interested outsiders, and include founder-traditions not mentioned by Livy, untraceable to a common source and probably specific to particular regions, social classes or oral traditions.<ref>{{cite book | first = Arnoldo | last = Momigliano | title = The classical foundations of modern historiography | publisher = University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton | year = 1990 | page = 101 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Djv5ttMz-HYC&q=Diocles+of+peparethus&pg=PA101| isbn = 9780520078703 }}. Modern historiographic perspectives on this source material.</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Dillery | editor-first = Andrew | editor-last = Feldherr | title = The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2009 | pages = 78–81 ff | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7AYWt9bQe9UC&q=Diocles+of+peparethus&pg=PT97| isbn = 9781139827690 }}.</ref> A Roman text of the late Imperial era, ''[[Origo gentis Romanae]]'' (The origin of the Roman people), is dedicated to the many "more or less bizarre", often contradictory variants of Rome's foundation myth, including versions in which Remus founds a city named Remuria, five miles from Rome, and outlives his brother Romulus.<ref>Cornell, pp. 57–8.</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = Origo Gentis Romanae | last = Banchich | others = trans. by Haniszewski, et al. | publisher = Cansius College | year = 2004 | url = http://www.roman-emperors.org/origogentis.pdf }}. Translation and commentaries.</ref>

Roman historians and Roman traditions traced most Roman institutions to Romulus. He was credited with founding Rome's armies, its system of rights and laws, its state religion and government, and the system of [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronage]] that underpinned all social, political and military activity.<ref>Rodriguez Mayorgas p.93</ref> In reality, such developments would have been spread over a considerable span of time. Some were much older and others much more recent. To most Romans, the evidence for the veracity of the legend and its central characters seemed clear and concrete, an essential part of Rome's sacred topography. One could visit the [[Lupercal]], where the twins were suckled by the she-wolf, or offer worship to the deified Romulus-Quirinus at the "''[[Casa Romuli|shepherd's hut]]''", or see it acted out on stage, or simply read the ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]''.

The legend as a whole encapsulates Rome's ideas of itself, its origins and moral values. For modern scholarship, it remains one of the most complex and problematic of all foundation myths, particularly in the manner of Remus's death. Ancient historians had no doubt that Romulus gave his name to the city. Most modern historians believe his name a [[back-formation]] from the name Rome; the basis for Remus's name and role remain subjects of ancient and modern speculation. The myth was fully developed into something like an "official", chronological version in the Late Republican and early Imperial era; Roman historians dated the city's foundation to between 758 and 728 BC, and [[Plutarch]] reckoned the twins' birth year as 771 BC. A tradition that gave Romulus a distant ancestor in the semi-divine [[Troy|Trojan]] prince [[Aeneas]] was further embellished, and Romulus was made the direct ancestor of [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|Rome's first Imperial dynasty]]. Possible historical bases for the broad mythological narrative remain unclear and disputed.<ref>The archaeologist [[Andrea Carandini]] is one of very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, based on the 1988 discovery of an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill in Rome. Carandini dates the structure to the mid-8th century BC and names it the ''[[Murus Romuli]]''. See Carandini, ''La nascita di Roma. Dèi, lari, eroi e uomini all'alba di una civiltà'' (Torino: Einaudi, 1997) and Carandini. ''Remo e Romolo. Dai rioni dei Quiriti alla città dei Romani (775/750 – 700/675 a. C. circa)'' (Torino: Einaudi, 2006)</ref> The image of the she-wolf suckling the divinely fathered twins became an iconic representation of the city and its founding legend, making Romulus and Remus pre-eminent among the [[List of fictional feral children|feral children of ancient mythography]].

===Historicity===
[[File:Maria Saal Dom Grabrelief Romulus und Remus 27122013 774.jpg|thumb|left|450px|A Roman relief from the [[Maria Saal#Cathedral|Cathedral of Maria Saal]] showing Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf]]
Current scholarship offers little evidence to support any particular version of the Roman foundation myth, including a historical Romulus or Remus.<ref>Rodriguez Mayorgas p.91</ref> Starting with Fabius Pictor, the written accounts must have reflected the commonly-held history of the city to some degree.<ref>Rodriguez Mayorgas p.90</ref> The archaeologist [[Andrea Carandini]] is one of very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, and dates an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill to the mid-8th century BC and names it the ''[[Murus Romuli]]''.<ref>See Carandini, ''La nascita di Roma. Dèi, lari, eroi e uomini all'alba di una civiltà'' (Torino: Einaudi, 1997) and Carandini. ''Remo e Romolo. Dai rioni dei Quiriti alla città dei Romani (775/750 – 700/675 a. C. circa)'' (Torino: Einaudi, 2006)</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wiseman |first1=T. P. |author1-link= T. P. Wiseman |title=Reading Carandini |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |date=2001 |volume=91 |pages=182–193 |doi=10.2307/3184776 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3184776 |access-date= |issn=0075-4358|jstor= 3184776 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>