Classical Mythology

Rome II: Asylum: Romulus and Remus

05.16.2013 - By Dr Rhiannon EvansPlay

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Romulus was revered as the founding hero of Rome, later made a god, but his myth is not without ambiguity. A significant element of the city foundation story is the murder of his brother Remus, and the most common version of this myth is that Romulus himself was responsible. This lecture explores the difficulties which fratricide presented to the Romans, how they tried to explain it, and how it has been analysed by scholars of Roman myth as a story which was makes sense of Rome’s social and political history.

Copyright 2013 Rhiannon Evans / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

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