The Ruma Podcast

Come with me to tour one of the wealthiest and most influential cities of the Etruscan league. The Lucumo of Veii, Velthur Hathisna, is not even close to done with the two sacrani children who escaped the destruction of the Fidenate sacred spring.

In this episode, we learn more about Romulus and Remus as they flee the Ver Sacrum massacre and try to find their teacher in a town now in ruins after a recent battle. Childhood must have been a very fleeting or largely absent experience for children during the early Iron Age in Central Italy.

Set in 763 BCE, a decade before the founding of Rome, this dark, mythical narrative reimagines the dawn of an empire through a lens of tragedy, magic, and political intrigue. It chronicles the violent destruction of an ancient Italic Sacred Spring ritual and the harrowing survival of the young twin brothers Romulus and Remus. As Latin communities clash in a desperate scramble for land and resources, the Etruscan city-state of Veii emerges as a dominant force, led by a ruthless king and bound to a sinister, divine cabal determined to extinguish the twins before a fateful prophecy can unfold. Rich with action, deceit, and supernatural menace, the story lays bare the blood-soaked foundation of the world Rome would eventually dominate.