Facts about Rome

Legend has it that Rome was founded by Romulus, who with his twin brother Remus, was rescued and then suckled by a she-wolf after being cast into the river Tiber by Amulius, after overthrowing his brother Numitor, King of Alba Longa and grandfather to the twins.

The twins were later found by the king's shepherd who took them home to his wife. The couple adopted and named the twins and years later fought and killed Amulius, restored the kingdom to Numitor and decided to found a city of their own.

Chosing the place where they had been nursed by the she-wolf, now Palatine Hill, the twins fell out resulting in the death of Remus at the hands of Romulus, who named the town Roma after himself.

The first settlers in the new city were outlaws in a settlement on Capitoline Hill. Since the city was short of women, Romulus decided to capture women from an Italian tribe called the Sabines.

Inviting them to a feast, the women were carried of while the attention of the Sabine men was diverted. The result of this was that the Sabine King, Titus Tatius, declared war on Rome.

When fighting was at its fiercest, the Sabine women begged for peace.

Romulus and Titus Tatius became joint rulers until Titus Tatius fell in battle and Romulus became sole ruler until one day disappearing in the midst of a violent storm and becoming the god Quirinus.