The Twins and the Wolf

A girl who was supposed to be a virgin fell pregnant. Her father was a man who was supposed to be a king. Her twin sons were babies who were supposed to die. Their saviour was an animal who should have eaten them.

The boys’ uncle, Amulius, had usurped the throne from his brother, the rightful king. Although his brother was too powerful to have killed, Amulius engineered the death of his nephew, the rightful heir. He then had his niece, Rhea Silvia,  committed as a virgin priestess to avoid any descendants of his brother being born. His rule seemed secure.

Although Rhea Silvia remained faithfully virginal, Amulius’ usurpation could not go unchallenged. The god Mars visited the priestess and, whether he seduced or overpowered her, she had little real choice in the matter. Although she covered her pregnancy with excuses of illness, it became apparent that she seemed to have broken her vow of virginity. Rhea Silvia was imprisoned and her twin sons were taken from her after their birth.

Peter Paul Rubens, "Mars and Rhea Silvia", 1616/17
(Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna)

Amulius ordered the boys to be drowned in the nearby Tiber River. However, the river was in flood and the servants could not reach the main stream. The basket containing the infants was left in the swirling eddies and they were carried downstream, where they washed up on the riverbank. It was at this point that a second unseen intervention took place. A she-wolf was drawn to the crying of the babies. Was she sent by the gods? Instead of devouring them, she took pity on these human cubs and brought them to her cave lair to suckle them.

It was thus that the babies were discovered by an old shepherd. The foundlings were taken home to the shepherd’s childless wife and they were raised as their own. The boys were given the names Romulus and Remus and grew into brave and charismatic young men. Unknown to the old couple, these children of Mars would go on to avenge their mother and grandfather and then found the city which would later rule the world on the site where the wolf had suckled them—Rome.

"The Capitoline Wolf", medieval wolf with twins added around 1471
(Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome)