La nascita di Roma: storia e leggenda

HISTORY IN LEGEND: Written Documentary Sources Having obtained permission from their grandfather Numitor, Romulus and Remus left Alba Longa and went to the banks of the Tiber to found a new city in the place where they had grown up. Since they were twins and respect for primogeniture could not serve as a criterion of election, it was up to the gods who protected those places to indicate, through auspices, who they had chosen to name the new city and who should reign there after its foundation. Thus, to interpret the auspices, Romulus chose the Palatine and Remus the Aventine. The first omen, six vultures, is said to have fallen to Remus. Since twice as many had appeared to Romulus by the time the omen was announced, the respective groups proclaimed both kings simultaneously. Some claimed their right to power based on priority in time, others based on the number of birds seen. An argument ensued, and the angry verbal exchange turned to bloodshed: Remus, struck in the melee, fell to the ground. The better-known version is that Remus, to mock his brother, climbed over the newly erected walls [most likely the pomerium, the sacred furrow], and then Romulus, in a fit of rage, killed him, adding these words of defiance: "So, from now on, may anyone who dares climb over my walls die." In this way, Romulus seized power alone, and the newly founded city took its founder's name. (Livy, I, 6-7 – Ad Urbe Condita)