Episode 2: The Life of Romulus Part 1

In our very first episode, we covered Theseus, a legend himself, but today we get to meet the man whom most believe founded Rome, Romulus!

Man or legend, you be the judge. Romulus was a towering figure to the ancient Romans who endured to bring glory to the Empire that Romulus set upon the world on April 21, 752 BC.

Excerpt

"Plutarch next moves to my favorite origin story, which I like to call the "Revenge of the Trojans", which is set at the time Agamemnon was pillaging and burning the Great city of Troy to avenge his dead brothers pride, while a few distraught Trojans fled the city, loaded up on some surviving Trireme’s and set out to find a new home, a new Troy and rebuild their society." 

Enjoy!

Transcript

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Ryan 0:08

[inaudible] hello and welcome to Plutarch's Greeks and Romans a podcast taking you on a tour through ancient Greek and Roman history seem to the lives of the most famous and influential people who lived it with the ancient historian and biographer Plutarch as our guide and companion. Welcome to

Chris 0:28

Episode two part a the origin myths of Romulus . In our very first episode, we cover Theseus a legend himself, but today we get to meet the man who most believed , founded grown man , or legend. You be the judge Ramez was a towering figure to the ancient Romans who sought to bring glory to their city, which Romulus is said to have founded on April 21st, seven 53 BC. It turns out Romans is in some very good company as April 21st is my birthday also. So yeah, just saying, but was Ramos a real figure or was he a myth designed to create a noble origin story or the founding of one of the world's oldest and greatest capitals the world has ever seen? I don't know, but I like to think there was some truth to his legends . Lucky for us, Plutarch's sure had some ideas himself and was kind enough to share them with us. So what is an origin myth? And what's all the fuss they're just fictional stories. Right? Well, some belief origin myths, help cultures define who they are through where they came from, forming guiding principles for the present generation and generations to follow. And for Romans where one came from could dictate one's entire life. Would you receive a high born education and begin training as an order, or were you destined to the 10 firms and serve in the military when duty calls and boy did duty call a lot. So let's jump into the meat and potatoes of this episode and start with who was wrong with us . Plutarch takes us through a gamut of origin, myths stories, some more believable than others, but all are very fascinating with the winners being the more mystic of the stories. Well , the more straightforward versions are dismissed at the time as folklore. I mean, come on. If I were a patrician and can't link myself to the founder of Rome and child Myers , why do I care to align myself with ramen as if he was just another barbarian or bankers ? Trojan, Plutarch describes many possible origin stories, all of which share many similarities and feature some of the same gods and ancient figures. Plutarch first describes a fierce nation of warrior nomads named the Pella saggy, ans roommates who are slayed and conquered their way across the continent . Eventually putting down roots, the river Tiber, naming their new settlement, eventually Rome, which would go onto forge a largest empire the world has ever seen. So to this account sound reasonable or no at this time in history, various tribes and hordes from all over Europe and East were in flux tribes would expand or be bankers through war famine, slavery or integration of many smaller tribes in their bigger tribes. Italy was no different. So I do believe this is a potential narrative that fits the time periods pretty well. Yeah .

Speaker 3 3:05

And early Roman history is littered with these stories of Italian tribes fighting each other with the Roman tribe emerging victorious, of course. So there is some credibility to this origin myth. I agree.

Chris 3:17

Blue truck next moves to my favorite origin story, which I like to call the revenge of the Trojans, which is set at the time. Agamemnon was pillaging and burning the great city of Troy to avenge his dead brother's pride while a few distraught Trojans fled the city loaded up on some surviving triremes and set out to find a new home on new Troy and rebuild their society. After weeks and months at sea lost, desperate, starving, they wound up on the banks of Tuscany at the mouth of the river. Tiber surely after landfall a high born woman by the name Roma sick and tired of living at sea, and frankly who could blame her, plugged with the other women to end the journey by sea and set up a permanent home in this new lush land situated on a few Hills with a life-giving river flowing through to ensure their permanency and settled their men's restless legs. Roma led the women to the ships and secret burning them to the ocean's floor, forcing the caravan of defeated Trojans to abandon the impossible task of finding the perfect place to rebuild a new Troy, the men after a short while, found peace with their new lands and honored Roma with the naming of their new settlement row .

Speaker 3 4:28

What about this story? Makes it your favorite one?

Chris 4:31

Well, I was always one who rooted for the Trojans or the Greeks, and it was always sad that the Trojans vanished the way they did. So the notion roam sprung to life from the Vanquis Trojans brings me a silent joy. I find hard to explain. I like to think that these fleeing Trojans would one day have the last laugh. And when Rome eventually took all of Reese under her Republican cloak, after Macedonia fell on one 46 BC, it felt like a cosmic justice was done though. Rome wouldn't have absolute control over all Hellenistic Greeks until the fall of Alexandria in 30 BC, it would be fair to say the server revenge was completed and Macedonia and the souls of Troy were avenged. Also a little known fact of this story is that Roma among other backdrops was rumored to be the daughter of telephones who was the son of the greatest Greek and Roman hero ball guest , who Hercules further Aggie to the notion. Rome was ordained by the gods and given their strength . It's a fabulous story, which showcases the human spirit as one great city fell and its ashes a new great city of Rose

Speaker 3 5:34

From like a Hercules reference to bolster and origin story as well.

Chris 5:38

Yeah, exactly. Aligning oneself with a God was not an uncommon practice in ancient times. And in most cases was a political necessity. The next three origin stories Plutarch does not give much real estate to , but nevertheless, he felt they were important enough to give some brief mention. The first origin Plutarch describes is that a noble born by the name Romania's son of Ulysses who founded Rome. Of course, Ulysses is the Latinized name for a DCS from Homer's Epic, the Odyssey, this links Roman has with Rome with a very famous lineage. You Ulysses well Plutarch's second account claims, Ramez son of a Mathian founded Rome now in Greek mythology in Mathian refers to four individuals and Matthew Mathian King of Ethiopia and Matthew in King of [inaudible] , the son of Zeus and Electra. And Matthew Dean was an age member of CPS, his court. And lastly, our Mathian referred to today, a Trojan loyalists and companion to a knee is who son Ramos would go on to found Rome though. This timeline is a bit murky similar to my favorite origin where Trojans founded wrong. Plutarch's third description indicates that a King named Rama's King of the Latins are better known as the album Kings defeat . The [inaudible] who may agree were fearless barbarians raiding the coast and were originally from festively founded Rome when the fighting ended, none of these stories seem very exaggerated or bringing supernatural forces to the equation. No, they are a bit boring with a couple of high borns and a group of conquers who just happened to find the perfect place to settle a new community now, not to invoke Ockham's razor, but in these origin descriptions is the simplest answer. The highest probability of being right. Will you be the judge as we jump into the safest, most widely believed your origin story, portraying Romulus in the best light, the noblest light, the godliest light.

Speaker 3 7:40

Okay. So sounds like the next few origin stories, different substance, a bit than the ones that we've heard so far.

Chris 7:46

Yes. And I want to discuss my favorite version between the less exciting story. It's a separate from what Plutarch and his contemporaries felt were the more logical origins of Romulus and Rome. The next two origins begin to sound more like famous Greek fables than historical account. I like to think Plutarch's organized his origin stories so we can begin to see how perhaps the two main themes of these previous accounts, a conquering tribe or defender of Ailey founded Rome are those from Troy founded wrong , perhaps were more logical. And with the coming accounts, be more of a libation to the gods. The fact only a few CS , every reads great , and is like Rome or Athens or the adventure rise of Alexandria makes it easy to see the importance of God's favor words of the people living in these cities and how that impact is societal norms and how people behave as a result to achieve their personal family and state goals to the ancients favor from the gods was earned through God, the upkeep and many believe their fortunes were tied to these premises. So noble born living in Rome, if successful could be interpreted by society as a whole, but the gods favor them. And hence they are deserving of their high station and work harder themselves to appease the gods and attempt to arise . Now it should be noted that most authors at the time did more or less agree that Ramos himself gave Rome her name, but disagreed about his birth and caregivers. Some believed he was son to any illness and [inaudible] daughter of Forbess and was born with his brother remiss and both were carried into Illy by a flooding river. And although all other vessels were lost in the flood, the two siblings ended up safe on the shores of the Tiber saved and a new community named after the boys was founded. Some say the revered Roma from my favorite tale, marriage to Latinas tele his son became mother to the boys. Others went as far as to say that any his daughter, Amelia procreate with the God Mars and Romulus and Remus were the result. Interesting.

Speaker 3 9:43

And as you mentioned, it sounds as if a lot of the same people and themes are recurring from tail to tail and even sounds as if the tails were being manicured later on to fit a certain narrative or possibly boost the fortunes of those born many centuries later,

Chris 9:59

Ryan , I think you're bang on many of these stories are very similar, but differ by who or what eventually lineage actually cast the stone. So before we jumped into Plutarch's main origin story, there is another origin story, which is similar and it goes a little, something like this. I King of elbow by the name, Tara cactus once had a vision. His vision was a ghastly operation of a male, the hung out in his house for several days. It's our kitty is unable to understand it or his purpose being in his home venture to tastiest in Tuscany, where he received guidance from the resident , Oracle, the Oracle told, told , uh , [inaudible] not to worry that the operation was waiting to mate with their version so that a highly renowned, lucky brute boy would be born. Tar kitty is presumably foaming at the mouth, headed home and immediately told the prophecy to one of his daughters, commanding her to go see the apparition and give herself to him like a normal person. His daughter was probably not in favor of this idea to have sex with a ghost and had her servant go in her place. Of course, once her kitty is became aware of this, he was enraged and punished both of them by locking them in a room to sew clothing all day and at night, other servants were ordered to undo everything they had sewn . So they could begin again. The next day, as far as anxious punishments went, this was pretty tame. And I'm sure both the daughter and servant were just happy. Their heads remain of fixed to the top of their soldiers. The servant eventually gave birth to twins whom Turk is commanded to Richie is one of his servants to dispose of to Richie , is the servant doing what many in the ancient world did when casting up unwanted babies went to the river's edge to drop them, but fearing the rise of water instead laid them on the ground a few feet away from the region river, assuming the flow waters would drown them eventually. However, the water subsided and a she Wolf and various species of birds came to the little King's rescue and kept them healthy and strong until our herdsmen spotted them and took them in. You're probably wondering when the famous Xi Wolf was going to enter the origin story and while your wait is over as she makes her debut, and we will be talking about her more in the next and final origin story, which really encompasses aspects from all the origin stories into a more coherent origin story. The must have satisfied the superstitious Romans the most.

Speaker 3 12:23

It really sounds like these stories were evolving from, you know, a simple conquering tribe or refugees from pro Troy to God's ghosts sex with ghosts, Oracles sheet Wells . Uh, it's really crazy. And then there's no hard proof to back any of this up. It's it's curious where these ideas came from.

Chris 12:43

Absolutely. So let's get to it. The story which blue chart presents as the most believable was first recorded by the Greek. [inaudible] perhaps one of the first Roman historians and subsequently subsequently relied heavily on by the likes of Plutarch and others such as Fabius Pictor or Roman Senator, and a historian from the third century BC who reaffirmed they opoly sees account of this origin story. As you may recall from earlier comments, the more fantastical origin stories better aligned with whose views Oh yes. The senatorial class, we're creating an events , Tejas origin story to perhaps benefit their families present. And future fortune would not be out of line to suggest once again, as the last account reveals the Kings of Alvara back and center stage in our last tale , all the origin of Romulus and the founding of Rome before we venture further, perhaps we should briefly introduce the Kings of Alba as a feature front and center in many of our stories today, including the next and final origin story. The lineage of the Kings of Alba is said to have ascended from Aeneas and continued in linear fashion, which eventually devolved into a lengthly a session of two brother Kings Newman tour and the nucleus new mature and Emilia's were brothers and both inherited the throne, a difficult situation and probably safe to say trouble would brew and brew heard and brew fast. Emilia is in his bid to gain the upper hand over his brother. After both remade King made a clever proposal to new mandatory , where they would divide the kingdom into equal shares. The first option was one brother would be granted the whole kingdom. And the second option was ownership of all the treasure and gold that was brought from Troy. New mentor was quick to claim the kingdom. Well. Um , nucleus was secretly pleased to take the gold and Julius ruse was a success. As the kingdom had no money and Emilia was able to use the money he had taken in his deal to slowly break down new mentors hole in the kingdom, eventually taking the entire kingdom from him as support for new maturer was no match for the tempting offers the elite remade by Mulas to secure his reign and knew this had new mentors daughter made a Vestal, dooming her to a life of solitude. And I unable by law to have children and ensuring he would not need to compete against a potential heir of course, as to be expected in ancient times, the daughter of Newman juror, some believed her name to be Sylvia fell pregnant, and Muniez perhaps made his first obvious error after some chirping from his own daughter. Anthony , let Sylvia live in confinement until the bird

Speaker 3 15:22

Darren babies always ruining the best lady .

Chris 15:26

Yes, agreed. However, apparently the birth was quite a success as too large and strong baby boys were presented to the King. Emilia was so distraught over the sight of these twin boys and the threat. They posed. He had one of his loyal servants named fess . Tulious carry them away in a small trophy to be dumped in the river, but the roaring waters of the river scare Fest Tulious and he left them just far enough away from the edge that when the waters did rise, they didn't envelope the trough completely, but rather carry it to a safe place near a wild victory, which they called ruminate ileus either from Romulus or more likely from ruminating as cattle would seek the fig trees, shadowy relief from the hot Italian heat, lucky for the boys, they landed under this tree or surely the heat would have vanquished them and they may not have survived before as legend has it. Uh, she will came across the boys and would nurse them, keeping them strong and protected them from the wildly beast of the force that she will also employ the services of a revered woodpecker to keep the boys well fed. Both the she Wolf and woodpecker were steamed Holy to the God. Mars,

Speaker 3 16:36

Wait, Mars is the God of war, right? I mean, I can understand she Wolf, but woodpecker. How was woodpecker? The sacred bird of Mars, the God of war.

Chris 16:47

I don't know what to tell you, but Hey, you know, what better parents could he ask for? Right. However, when we peel back the fable a bit, we realized that eventually it was [inaudible] and his wife who raised the boys after this episode, by the river and the fact, the Roman word, LoopPay had two meanings, a Wolf, the other, a woman of loose life, a very polite term for a prostitute. We can possibly see how the former meaning of Lou pay was more desirable to the assertion. Ramez was born of a prostitute. So Rama's henceforth was raised by loopy the she Wolf and not loopy . The Tulious is

Speaker 3 17:22

Loose white . Okay. Wow. I didn't know that about the double meaning of LoopPay interesting. Sorry .

Chris 17:27

We are beginning to see perhaps a true story of orphan children taken in by a servant of the King and his wife. Most likely in secret, a secret likely kept from a moodiness , but possibly a lifeline for numerator who may have helped keep this a secret, providing the boys caregivers with resources, deserving of noble born children, to assure a noble education and be altered in later centuries to fit the narrative. Romas is of golly descent. It is rumored or fess . Tulious named the boys rom is in Rema from their more mystic origin of being suckered by a she Wolf or known to the Romans as Ruma . The Doug meaning to be suckled by a teat, but others still claim their names were more of a endearment to the old name of the river Tiber Rumo regardless, the boys were raised, received a proper high born education and quickly grew into a very noble, adventurous, brave young men attempting all endeavors, traditionally chased by young men, regardless of the danger posed to them. Ramez quickly became began to exceed remiss and stature and began to accumulate accomplishments in excess of remiss becoming the favorite brother and was seeing as a developing statesman, as his dealings with neighbors were that of a respectful and fair negotiator. Now both Romulus and Remus would take up legitimate pastimes. We have liberal studies hunting, running, fighting crime, righting wrongs, and their reputations began to grow. And they began to become famous amongst their peers and those in lower stations of life. But of course the Kings court was not impressed and did nothing to further their cause. It's hard to believe the true identities of the boys alluded. Emilia's the King of Alba who meticulously planned the downfall of his own brother, numerator, seizing, almost complete control over the entire kingdom, but stranger things have happened not to mention a she Wolf suckling, a baby back to health. Fair, definitely fair. The catalyst which were launched the boys into direct conflict with numerator and eventually to the showdown between the two and dramas is eventually a session Ascension as Rome's first King began as Emilia's and numerator engaged in a quarrel between their two cow herds and Julius upset at his cow herds were being driven from passers without explanation seem to have convinced Romulus and Remus to intervene on his behalf, angry new mentor. This insight provides a little speculation that perhaps Amulek didn't know the secret and was merely leveraging the fame of these two young men for his advantage.

Speaker 3 19:50

That's a good point. Why would Amelia seek the assistance of the only two people who pose a legitimate threat to his reign and legacy? Although perhaps Emilia was once again using his palace to solve his own issue while gaining the trust of the two rising stars.

Chris 20:03

It's very interesting to speculate what truths the King was or was not aware as a pragmatic man, which our movie has , seems to have been in my opinion, keeping this truth close to his chest bedding . The boys weren't aware of their lineage was probably the safer move . Also, what better way than to minimize their threat, then do embrace them and perhaps down the road adopt and make them his successors. But again, I speculate as the quarrel began to shift towards Emilia as his favor, new mentor became frustrated and accused of brothers of recruiting and for many rebellion in an attempt to sway the brothers from their course and leave the quarrel to be resolved between Emilia's and himself. When these political attacks failed, he resorts to a strategy of violence, intimidation by kidnapping remiss when he was traveling of men. And I'm sure his instincts were to end remiss, but held back, realizing this could push Emilia's to rethink his position on his dear old brother Newman door and lay into him to the point where he may not come out the other end better to keep a remiss as potential leverage, then immediately gratifying his lost for revenge

Speaker 3 21:06

Choosing using here. I mean, why would Newman threatened his own heirs and why would he shy away from punishing remiss out of fear of Amelia's reaction?

Chris 21:15

Yes, I agree. It seems like that, but perhaps numerous , we realized that Emilia has had some sway or the boys, and we want them alive providing new mentor with a Bergen chip or perhaps numerous or didn't know who the brothers really were. And hence they meant nothing to them and were fair game for this type of violence and political theater. But I agree it does not really jive. However, when it comes to ancient history, this sort of confusion or contradictions or fairly normal news quickly spread over Remus is misfortune in for Tulious upon hearing this when immediately drawn this , told him the truth that both his and remiss his origin impressing upon him, the importance of both their lives and cold and wrongness to take action. We're almost answered the call to action and rushed to his twin brother's rescue.

Speaker 3 22:02

This point, Romulus will drop everything and risk his life to run to his brother's rescue. I wonder how this relationship ends up deteriorate

Chris 22:09

For that answer. You have to wait until next episode,

Ryan 22:12

The life of Ron LIS PRP. Thanks for listening to Plutarch's Greeks and Romans podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, feel free to head over to our blog at Plutarch's Greeks, romans.com or check out Plutarch's grease enrollments on Facebook. And don't forget to leave us a review on whichever podcast service you're using. See you next time.