News from Italy
Today, Rome celebrates its 2778th birthday
by Maria Stella
Happy birthday, Rome, the eternal cradle of civilisation and splendour. With its 2778 years of history, culture, and beauty, this unique city will continue to be a beacon of inspiration for centuries.
According to legend, on April 21, 753 BC, a remarkable figure, Romulus, founded the city of Rome. This event, two thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight years ago, marks the birth of the eternal city. Rome’s history, monuments, and legacy continue to inspire the world. Today, as every April 21 at noon, the sun will enter the Pantheon at a declination that will perfectly centre the entrance.
Rome was not built in a day; it was a long process, not a foundation on a specific date. However, the meticulous research and scholarly work of the Latin author Marcus Terentius Varro, in the 1st century BC, who set the birth of Rome at April 21, 753, in turn inspired by the research of another scholar, an astrologer, Lucius Taruzio Firmanus, gives us a deep understanding of our history.
Lucius Taruzio Firmanus Pantheon Marcus Terentius Varro
The origins of the city of Rome are divided between legend and history. Legend has it that the town was founded by the first King of Rome, Romulus, a figure of great significance in Roman mythology, after killing his twin brother Remus; history instead tells that Rome was born through “synoecism”, that is, through the progressive unification of the villages scattered across the various hills such as the Palatine, Capitoline, and Aventine. It should be noted, however, that archaeological finds confirm some of the circumstances of the myth: the first city walls, for example, the object of contention between Romulus and Remus, actually date back to the 8th century, as legend has it.
Palatine Aventine Capitoline
The process that led Varro to set April 21 as the date of the foundation of Rome has religious but also “scientific” bases and astrological ones. On April 21, in the ancient Roman calendar, an ancient rural festival called Parilia was celebrated in honour of the goddess Pales, protector of flocks and shepherds. It was a festival of purification and renewal, therefore symbolically perfect for founding a city. According to the myth, Rome was founded by Romulus, who had been raised by shepherds and was in all respects a shepherd himself. Therefore, the foundation during the Parilia had a substantial religious and cultural value.
The Parilia Festival
Chronological calculations
Varro tried to give a scientific foundation to Rome’s history. Following legendary chronologies (such as the reigns of the seven kings of Rome, the Trojan genealogies, etc.), Varro calculated backwards from specific historical events (such as the first Olympics and the Trojan War) and concluded that the foundation must have fallen in 753 BC.
Consistency with Trojan myths
According to the myth, Rome descended from Aeneas, who fled Troy. Varro also took into account the mythical chronologies linking the fall of Troy (traditionally dated around 1184 BC) with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy and the subsequent foundation of Alba Longa and Rome, arranging everything with a “harmonic” calculation of genealogies.
Astronomical influence:
Here comes Lucius Tarutius (or Tarutius Firmianus), an astrologer, mathematician, and personal friend of Cicero. Thanks to Tarutius’ astrological calculations, Varro established not only the year but even the exact day of the foundation of Rome. According to what has been handed down (especially by Plutarch in his Life of Romulus), Tarutius had astrologically reconstructed the sky at the birth of Romulus, starting from myths and stories, establishing that Romulus was born on September 23 under the sign of Libra (a sign of balance and justice, symbolically perfect for the founder of a city) and determined that he founded Rome on April 21.
Aeneas Romulus and Remus
History and legend intertwine in the myth of Rome.
The symbol of Rome, a she-wolf suckling two twins, is a powerful image that encapsulates the mythological origins of the city. This myth, formed by several legends and defined in the Augustan age, tells the story of Romulus and Remus, the two twins who were supposedly the sons of the god Mars and Rhea Silvia, daughter of the king of Alba Longa, Numitor. The throne of Alba Longa had been usurped by Numitor’s brother, Amulius, who, upon learning of the birth of the twins, ordered them to be killed. The servant in charge of this task, however, did not have the courage, and instead of suppressing them, he entrusted them to the waters of the Tiber, placing them in a basket. The basket stopped right where Rome would have been built, and Romulus and Remus were saved because they were suckled by a she-wolf and then adopted by a shepherd. Therefore, the she-wolf and the twins symbolise the divine protection and the humble beginnings of Rome.
When they had become adults in 753, they killed Amulius, returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor, and decided to found a city in the place where they had grown up. That foundation, however, was to be marked by blood.
Legend has it that Romulus and Remus, driven by their shared ambition, vied for the role of ruler of the city that was yet to be born. They each staked their claim on a nearby hill, Romulus on the Palatine and Remus on the Aventine, awaiting a divine sign. When Remus saw six vultures, his brother saw twelve, a clear sign from the gods that Romulus was chosen. He founded the city on the Palatine Hill, tracing its walls, and named it Rome after himself.
However, Remus did not accept the outcome of this dispute. When Romulus traced the boundary of the city, the sacred “pomerium”, he jumped on it in mockery. The ‘pomerium’ was a significant boundary in Roman history, marking the city’s limits and carrying religious and legal implications. At that point, according to the most widespread version, Romulus killed him (or, according to other versions, he ordered him to be killed), uttering the famous phrase: “Thus will perish anyone who dares to cross the walls that I have built”
Does archaeology confirm the myth?
Some archaeological discoveries have found evidence of the myth: Between the 1980s and 1990s, the famous archaeologist Andrea Carandini excavated on the Palatine Hill, where, according to tradition, Romulus founded Rome, finding the remains of a fortification wall (a sort of very ancient palisade) dating back to around 750 BC, exactly the period indicated by the legend.
What does all this mean? There is some truth beneath the myth: Rome was founded in that period by Latin communities that united and used solemn rites to sanction the city’s birth. There were perhaps no Romulus and Remus in person, but tribal leaders, yes, and violent struggles for power (as the story of the fratricide suggests). The legend of Romulus and Remus is therefore not accurate word for word, but tells in epic form real events: a difficult birth, a struggle for command, an alliance between villages on the Palatine. Every year, the city of Rome makes April 21 a historical, folkloristic and cultural anniversary: the events in the city are different and varied, for Romans and tourists.
