Editing Romulus and Remus (section)

==Primary sources==
The origins of the different elements in Rome's foundation myth are a subject of ongoing debate. They may have come from the Romans' own [[Italic peoples|Italic]] origins, or from [[Greco-Roman relations in classical antiquity|Hellenic influences]] that were included later. Definitively identifying those original elements has so far eluded [[Classics|classicists]].<ref>Tennant, p. 81</ref> Roman historians dated the founding of Rome around 753 BC, but the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC.<ref name="DoH I-72">Dionysius, vol. 1 p. 72</ref> There is an ongoing debate about how and when the "complete" fable came together.<ref name="Tennant">Tennant</ref>

Some elements are attested earlier than others, and the storyline and the tone were variously influenced by the circumstances and tastes of the different sources as well as by contemporary Roman politics and concepts of propriety.<ref>Wiseman, ''Remus''</ref> Whether the twins' myth was an original part of Roman myth or a later development is the subject of an ongoing debate.<ref name="Tennant"/> Sources often contradict one another. They include the histories of Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Tacitus as well as the work of Virgil and Ovid.<ref name="DoH I-72"/><ref name="DoH II-76">Dionysius, vol. II p. 76</ref><ref name="Plutarch">Plutarch, ''Lives''</ref>
[[Quintus Fabius Pictor]]'s work became authoritative to the early books of Livy's ''[[History of Rome (Livy)|History of Rome]]'', [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]'s ''Roman Antiquities'', and [[Plutarch]]'s ''Life of Romulus''.<ref name="Albrecht1997">{{cite book|last=von Albrecht|first=Michael|title=A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrYatgm2MWoC|access-date=20 November 2016|volume=I|year=1997|publisher=BRILL|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-10709-0|page=374}}</ref>

These three works have been among the most widely read versions of the myth. In all three works, the tales of the lupercal and the fratricide are overshadowed by that of the twins' lineage and connections to Aeneas and the deposing of Amulius. The latter receives the most attention in the accounts. Plutarch dedicates nearly half of his account to the overthrow of their uncle.

===''Roman Antiquities'' (Dionysius)===
{{Main|Dionysius of Halicarnassus}}
Dionysius cites, among others, the histories of [[Quintus Fabius Pictor|Pictor]], [[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)|Lucius Calpurnius Piso]], [[Cato the Elder]], [[Lucius Cincius Alimentus]].

The first book of Dionysius' twenty-volume history of Rome does not mention Remus until chapter 71. After spending another 8 chapters discussing the background of their birth in Alba, he dedicates a total of 9 chapters to the tale (79–87). Most of that is spent discussing the conflict with Amulius.

He goes on to discuss the various accounts of the city's founding by others, and the lineage and parentage of the twins for another 8 chapters until arriving at the tale of their abandonment by the Tiber River. He spends the better part of the chapter 79 discussing the survival in the wild. Then the end of chapters 79 through 84 focuses on the account of their struggle with Amulius. Chapter 84 is an alternate, non-fantastical account of their survival; the augury and fratricide are discussed in chapters 85 to 88.

===''Ab Urbe Condita'' (Livy)===
{{Main|Ab Urbe Condita Libri}}
[[File:Details of Romulus and Remus on the allegory of Tiber.jpg|thumb|Detail of Romulus and Remus on the allegory of Tiber]]
Livy discusses the myth in chapters 4, 5, and 6 of his work's first book. p.&nbsp;7 parentage 4 p.&nbsp;8 survival. p.&nbsp;8 the youth. 5 9–10 the struggle with Amulius. 6 p.&nbsp;11 (the beginning only) the augury and fratricide.

===Life of Romulus (Plutarch)===
{{Main|Parallel Lives}}
Plutarch relates the legend in chapters 2–10 of ''the Life of Romulus''. He dedicates the most attention, nearly half the entire account, to conflict with Amulius.

===''Fasti'' (Ovid)===
''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'', the epic Latin poem by [[Ovid]] from the early 1st century AD, contains a complete account of the twins' tale. Notably, it relates a tale wherein the ghost of Remus appears to Faustulus and his wife, whom the poet calls "Acca". In the story, Remus appears to them while in bed and expresses his anger at Celer for killing him and his own,{{clarify|date=August 2018}} as well as Romulus' unquestioned fraternal love.

===''Roman History'' (Dio)===
''Roman History'' by [[Cassius Dio]] survives in fragments from various commentaries. They contain a more-or-less complete account. In them, he mentions an oracle that had predicted Amulius' death by a son of Numitor as the reason the Alban king expelled the boys. There is also a mention of "another Romulus and Remus" and another Rome having been founded long before on the same site.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dio Cassius|access-date=24 November 2016|chapter=|title=Roman History I p.12-18|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/dio_cassius-roman_history/1914/pb_LCL032.13.xml?rskey=eUjGRa&result=1&mainRsKey=Aro2od|doi=10.4159/DLCL.dio_cassius-roman_history.1914|year=1914|isbn=9780674990364}} {{Subscription required|via=[[Loeb Classical Library|digital Loeb Classical Library]]}}</ref>

===''Origo Gentis Romanae'' (unknown)===
This work contains a variety of versions of the story. In one, there is a reference to a [[woodpecker]] bringing the boys food during the time they were abandoned in the wild. In one account of the conflict with Amulius, the capture of Remus is not mentioned. Instead, Romulus, upon being told of his true identity and the crimes suffered by him and his family at the hands of the Alban king, simply decided to avenge them. He took his supporters directly to the city and killed Amulius, afterwards restoring his grandfather to the throne.<ref>''Origo Gentis Romanae'' XXI</ref>

===Fragments and other sources===
[[File:Franks Casket the left panel.jpg|thumb|320px|Panel of the 8th-century [[Anglo-Saxon art|Anglo-Saxon]] [[Franks Casket]]]]
*''Annals'' by [[Ennius]] is lost, but fragments remain in later histories.
*''Roman History'' by [[Appian]], in Book I "Concerning the Kings", is a fragment containing an account of the twins' parentage and origins.
*''[[The City of God]]'' by [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] claims, in passing, that Remus was alive after the city's founding. Both he and Romulus established the Roman Asylum after the traditional accounts claimed that he had died.<ref>{{cite book|author=Saint Augustine|access-date=24 November 2016|title=The City of God Against the Pagans|volume=1|page=137|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/augustine-city_god_pagans/1957/pb_LCL411.137.xml?mainRsKey=Aro2od&result=1&rskey=bxRC3b|doi=10.4159/DLCL.augustine-city_god_pagans.1957|year=1957|isbn=9780674994522}} {{Subscription required|via=[[Loeb Classical Library|digital Loeb Classical Library]]}}</ref>
*''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' by [[Diodorus Siculus]], is a [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]], which survives mostly intact in fragments and has a complete recounting of the twins' origins, their youth in the shepherd community, and the contest of the augury and fratricide. In this version, Remus sees no birds at all and he is later killed by Celer, Romulus' worker.
*''[[Origines]]'' by [[Cato the Elder]], fragments of which survive in the work of later historians, is cited by Dionysius.
*Roman poet [[Juvenal]] calls them ''geminos Quirinos'', an allusion to [[Quirinus]].<ref>Leeming, David.''From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology''. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2003. pp. 64–65.</ref>

===Lost sources===
*[[Quintus Fabius Pictor]] wrote in the 3rd century BC. His ''History'', written in Greek, is the earliest-known history of Rome. He is cited by all three canonical works.
*[[Diocles of Peparethus]] wrote a history of Rome that is cited by Plutarch.
*[[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)|Lucius Calpurnius Piso]] wrote a history cited by Dionysius.
*[[Quintus Aelius Tubero (jurist)|Quintus Aelius Tubero]] wrote a history cited by Dionysius.
*Marcus Octavius (otherwise unknown) wrote an account cited in the ''Origo Gentis''.
*[[Licinius Macer]] (died 66 BC) wrote an account cited in the ''Origo Gentis''.
*Vennonius wrote an account cited in the ''Origo Gentis''.
*[[Juba II]] wrote a history cited by Plutarch<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roller |first1=Duane |title=The world of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene : royal scholarship on Rome's African frontier |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0415305969 |pages=171}}</ref>