Roman Founding Myth

Aeneas and his Prophecies

Survived the fall of Troy due to a prophecy that he’ll rule the Trojans

-Aeneas fled troy accompanied by his father Anchises and his son Ascanius, received a prophecy from Apollo to seek the home of his ancestor Dardanus (born in Italy)

-Sail across the Mediterranean, attacked by Harpies who give a prophecy that Aeneas will not found his city until hunger forces Trojans to eat their tables

-Helenus then gives the prophecy to Aeneas that he must found his city where he sees a white sow and thirty piglets laying on a river bank

Aeneas and Carthage

Storm drives their ship to Carthage, where the Queen (Dido) welcomes him and Aphordite causes her to fall in love with him

-After a year, Aeneas doesn’t want to leave but Zeus sends Hermes to tell him he must fulfill the prophecy

-Aeneas leaves, so Dido commits suicide and curses Aeneas and his descendants to be enemies of Carthage

-As he sails past Sicily (where he buried his father), his father tells him to head to the underworld; his father then shows Aeneas Rome’s future and that they are destined to rule the world

Harpies Prophecy Fulfilled

Make landfall at the river Tiber, where they eat the last of their food using hardtack as plates

-After eating the hardtack, Aeneas’s son states they’re eating their tables (Harpies prophecy)

War Against Larinia’s Suitor

Arrived in the land of Latinus whose daughter Larinia had a prophecy that she’ll marry the foreigner (Aeneas)

-Larinia had another suitor, Turnus, who starts a war between the people of Latinus and the Trojans

-Aeneas sails across the river Tiber looking for allies and sees the white sow and 30 piglets, but can’t found the city yet

-After winning the war, he marries Larinia and founds the settlement of Lavinium, his son then founds a city at the spot of the white sow and piglets (Alba Lunga)

Birth of Romulus and Remus

The final king was Amulius, who stole the throne from his brother NUmitor

-Numitor’s daughter gave birth to twins (father was Mars), the twins were put in a basket in the Tiber river and nursed by wolves

-Shepherd then took them in, naming them Romulus and Remus

Founding of Rome

Romulus and Remus decided they’d free their grandfather from prison, so they gathered an army and freed Numitor and put him on the throne (after killing Amulius)

-They then decided to found a city where they were nursed by the wolf

-unsure of the exact spots, they watched the flight of birds (a sign)

-Romulus saw 6 vultures first, then Remus saw 12 vultures, each brother thinking the gods favoured them

-Romulus killed Remus then placed the founding stone, naming the city after himself (Rome)