From Romulus to Romulus

...and beyond

Romulus and his twin brother Remus had just been abandoned by the side of the Tiber river. As luck had it, a female wolf happened to be wandering by. Naturally, as one does, she raised the human babies as her own, nursing them on the milk of wolves.

As the twins grew up, they began to attract a small following. Over time, this following grew larger and larger.

Eventually, the twins found out who they were.

Their true heritage was revealed to them by the shepherd who had first discovered them under the care of the she-wolf. They were, in fact, the grandsons of Numitor, the rightful king of Alba Longa, who had been usurped by his brother, Amulius.

Driven by a newly found purpose, the brothers led their band of followers to overthrow Amulius, reinstating their grandfather to the throne. What would be next for these two kingmakers of royal blood?

Found a new city, of course. They returned to the place where their lives had begun, the banks of the Tiber river, to lay the foundations of what would become one of the most important and influential cities in all of human history.

But as they began this monumental task, a rift formed between them. Differences in temperament and vision led to a bitter disagreement over where exactly the city should be founded.

Romulus favored the Palatine Hill, while Remus argued for the Aventine Hill. This dispute escalated into a fierce argument, reflecting deeper tensions between the brothers.

Tragically, this conflict reached a fatal climax. In a moment of anger and frustration, Romulus murdered Remus, a deed that would forever cast a shadow over his legacy—and over the city that followed. Romulus became the sole founder and the first king of the new city, which he named Rome, after himself.

Under Romulus's rule, Rome began its ascent to power, and the Roman monarchy—the earliest of three forms of government for the city—had begun.

I mean, not really. None of this happened.

These stories are still incredibly important, though, for what they say about the people of Rome during this time. For the first two and a half centuries of its existence—from 753-509 BCE, according to sketchy records—Rome was a monarchy, ruled by individual kings with near-absolute power.

There was a senate during this time period, but it was weak and corrupt, mostly just a club for oligarchs. This meant that the individual king determined quite a lot about how people felt, and how things ran.

For a while, this worked out all right, but one day, a king named Tarquin was crowned. Today, we call this legendary figure Tarquin the Proud.

Tarquin came to power in a controversial manner, believed to have gained the throne through nefarious means after the death of his predecessor, Servius Tullius. His rule was marked by tyranny and cruelty, which eventually led to widespread discontent among the Roman populace.

The last straw for for Tarquin was when his son, Sextus, raped a noblewoman named Lucretia. After Lucretia took her own life, the outraged populace boiled over.

Never again, they cried! Never again would Rome be ruled by a single person with so much power. From now on, there would be something different.

After the time of the kings, the republic took center stage. If you want to read about the Roman Republic's structure and functioning, as well as about the transition from the republic to the empire, here’s something I wrote about that:

After five tumultuous centuries, the republic gave way to the Empire, officially starting with Caesar Augustus, Julius Caesar’s nephew and adopted son.

For the next several centuries, Rome’s emperors ruled with absolute power. Some led prosperous times for Rome, while the reign of other emperors was chaotic and brutal. No matter what, this form of government and its traditions stayed mostly intact.

Finally, the last emperor of Rome was elevated to power in the year 475… and he was out of power by 476, gracefully allowed to live out his last years by his conqueror, Odoacer.

This last Roman emperor’s name is one of those coincidences of history I find a little too convenient, but so it is.

His name was Romulus.

Romulus Augustulus was the last emperor of Rome… or was he?

For another thousand years, the relocated capitol of the Roman Empire thrived in the east. In 330 CE, one of those emperors with absolute power, Constantine the Great, decided to move the center of power to Byzantium, which he promptly renamed Constantinople.

Constantinople—and the Eastern Roman Empire that surrounded it—thrived as a center of commerce between lands the east and the west, Asia and Europe. It was consistently one of the richest cities in the world for centuries, and the Romans didn’t even take a break from ruling it until its fall to the Ottomans in 1453.

Rome was an uninterrupted concept for many, all the way from the legendary days of its founding in 753 BCE, up until Mehmed the Conqueror finally took control of the last vestiges of the Roman empire in 1453.

What an incredible run!