Why Origin Myths Matter

We all know what Rome became - largest empire of the ancient world, public bathing, gladiators, aqueducts, excellent roads and all that - but how did it begin? Who founded it? When? And why? Mary and Charlotte sift through the various myths that give some insight to these questions. 

Peel back the layers of history and Rome’s origins are lost in the bog on which it was built. Archaeology offers us evidence of Bronze Age huts, burial practice and trade with neighbouring (and far-flung) lands, but leaves many of the big questions unanswered.

This is a problem not only for classicists, but the countless men who apparently think of the Roman Empire several times a day. The Romans themselves struggled with their murky history. Even for them, the question of why they had risen to such extraordinary power was puzzling. The thought of humble origins sat uneasily with the grandeur and pomp of the imperial capital. So they did what many other cultures do and made up stories that explained their path to greatness. 

If you’ve heard of outcast babies Romulus and Remus being suckled by a wolf, that’s just the icing on the cake. Accounts of the Romulus myth vary wildly. In some versions, he eventually ascends to heaven as a god. In others, he is hacked to death by his disgruntled subjects. 

Other myths point elsewhere. The “Roman race” in Italy was founded by a Trojan exile called Aeneas, although he didn’t actually found the city of Rome itself. Maybe, that was a Greek called Evander, long before Romulus. 

It’s easy to dismiss these stories, but Mary and Charlotte argue that they tell us a great deal about how the Romans understood themselves and their city (whether there is some grain of literal truth in them, who knows?). Most of all they point to the way that, at some deep level, they considered themselves to be an immigrant culture - outcasts, exiles and opportunists - searching for a better life.  

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Mary and Charlotte’s recommended reads:

There are many ancient accounts of the origins of Rome. Best known is Book 1 of Livy’s History of Rome which tells the story from Romulus to the last of the seven early kings (translations in Penguin Classics or Oxford World Classics, as The Early History of Rome and The Rise of Rome). 

For Aeneas, try Virgil Aeneid Books 2 and 8. Book 2 takes us to Aeneas’ flight from Troy. Book 8 pictures Evander, who is then living there, showing Aeneas around the future site of Rome). 

The beginning of Mary’s SPQR, written for non specialists, busts a few myths about the origins of the city. The Italian archaeologist Andrea Carandini takes a completely different approach. Try his (short) Rome: Day One.

Interesting, but rather more specialist, books are: Catharine Edwards, Writing Rome (she is very good on the “Hut of Romulus” which supposedly was authentically preserved in Rome for hundreds of years); T. P. Wiseman, Remus (which has an off-beat line about the role of Remus in Roman history, but gives an eye-opening account of all the very different Roman traditions about the world and twins).

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