ROMULUS, the son of Mars by the Vestal Rhea Silvia or Ilia, daughter of Numitor, who had been dispossessed of the throne of Alba by his younger brother Amulius. Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Silvia, were placed in a trough and cast into the Tiber by their grand-uncle. The trough grounded in the marshes where Rome afterwards stood, under the wild fig tree (Ficus ruminalis), which was still holy in later days. The babes were suckled by a she-wolf and fed by a woodpecker, and then fostered by Acca Larentia, wife of the shepherd Faustulus. They became leaders of a warlike band of shepherds on the Palatine, and in course of time were recognized by their grand father, whom they restored to his throne, slaying Amulius. They now founded a city on the site where they had been nurtured; later a quarrel broke out and Remus was slain. Romulus strength ened his band by offering an "asylum" to outcasts and fugitives, found wives for them by capture and waged war with their kins men. His most formidable foe was Titus Tatius (q.v.), king of the Sabines, but after an obstinate struggle he and Romulus united their forces and reigned side by side till Tatius was slain. at Lavinium in the course of a blood-feud with Laurentum. Romu lus then reigned alone till he suddenly disappeared in a storm. He was thereafter worshipped as a god under the name of Quirinus. Various rationalizing accounts also exist of the legend.
The whole story, probably first given by the annalists Fabius Pictor and Cincius Alimentus, is artificial and shows strong Greek influence. The birth, exposure, rescue, and subsequent adventures
of the twins are a Greek tale of familiar type. Mars and his sacred beast, the wolf, are introduced on account of the great im portance of this cult. The localities described are ancient sacred places ; the Lupercal, near the ficus ruminalis, was naturally ex plained as the she-wolf's den. (See ROME, topography.) The asylum is pure Greek, both name and institution. The story was probably invented to give an explanation of the sacred spot named inter duos locos between the arx and the Capitol. An other Greek touch is the deification of an eponymous hero. The rape of the Sabine women is clearly aetiological, invented to ac count for the custom of simulated capture in marriage; these women and also Titus Tatius represent the Sabine element in the Roman population. The name Romulus (=Romanus, cp. the forms Siculus and Sicanus) means simply "Roman," the deriva tion of Remus is obscure.
Romulus is regarded as the founder of the military and political institutions (see ROME), as Numa and his counterpart Ancus Marcius are of the religious institutions, of Rome.