Founding of Rome
The founding of Rome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several hilltop villages during the Final Bronze Age or early Iron Age. Prehistoric habitation of the Italian Peninsula occurred by 48,000 years ago, with the area of Rome being settled by around 1600 BC.[2] Some evidence on the Capitoline Hill possibly dates as early as c. 1700 BC[3] and the nearby valley that later housed the Roman Forum had a developed necropolis by at least 1000 BC.[4] The combination of the hilltop settlements into a single polity by the later 8th century BC was probably influenced by the trend for city-state formation emerging from ancient Greece.
Most modern historians doubt the existence of a single founder or founding event for the city, and no material evidence has been found connecting early Rome to Alba or Troy. Most modern historians also dismiss the putative Aeneid dynasty at Alba Longa as fiction. The legendary account was still much discussed and celebrated in Roman times. The
Cultural context
The conventional division of pre-Roman cultures in Italy deals with cultures which spoke
When drawing a connection between peoples and their languages, a reconstruction emerges with Indo-European peoples arriving in various waves of migrations during the first and second millennia BC: first a western Italic group (including Latin), followed by a central Italic group of Osco-Umbrian dialects, with a late arrival of Greek and Celtic on the Italian peninsula, from across the Adriatic and Alps, respectively. These migrations are generally believed to have displaced speakers of Etruscan and other pre-Indo-European languages; although it is possible that Etruscan arrived also by migration, it must have done so before 2000 BC.[7]
The start of the Iron age saw a gradual increase in social complexity and population that led to the emergence of proto-urban settlements in central and northern Italy writ large. These proto-urban agglomerations were normally clusters of smaller settlements that were insufficiently distant to be separated communities; over time, they would unify.[8]
Archaeological evidence
There is archaeological evidence of human occupation of the area of modern Rome from at least 5,000
Bronze Age
Archaeological evidence suggests that Rome developed over a long period, but it was definitely occupied by the middle of the
Accordingly, thick deposits of manure
Eighth and seventh centuries BC
By this time, four major settlements emerged in Rome. The nuclei appeared on the Palatine, the Capitoline, the Quirinal and Viminal, and the Caelian, Oppian, and Velia.[16] There is, however, no evidence linking any settlement on the Quirinal hill with the Sabines, as is alleged by some ancient accounts.[17]
The area of the Forum also was converted at this time into a public space. Burials there discontinued and portions of it were paved over. Votive offerings appear in the
The first evidence of a wall appears in the middle or late eighth century on the Palatine, dated between 730 and 720 BC.[19] It is possible that the circuit of the wall marked out what later Romans believed to be the original pomerium (sacred boundary) of the city.[20] The discovery of gates and streets connected to the wall, with the remains of various huts, suggest that Rome had by this time:
acquired a defined boundary ... [and] a more sophisticated level of social and political organisation ... the use of the Forum as a public space point[s] to the development of [a] shared civil and ritual space[] for the inhabitants of all communities, demonstrating an increasing level of centralisation.[21]
Like other Villanovan proto-urban centres, this archaic Rome was likely organised around clans that guarded their own areas, but by the later eighth century had confederated.[21] The development of city-states was likely a Greek innovation that spread through the Mediterranean from 850 to 750 BC.[22] The earliest votive deposits are found in the early seventh century on the Capitoline and Quirinal hills, suggesting that by that time a city had formed with monumental architecture and public religious sanctuaries.[23] Certainly, by 600 BC, a process of synoikismos was complete and there had been formed a unified Rome – reflected in the production of a central forum area, public monumental architecture, and civic structures – can be spoken of.[24]
Ancient tradition and founding myths
By the
Modern scholars disregard most of the traditional accounts as myths.[28] There is no persuasive archaeological evidence for either the Romulan foundation or for the idea of an early Greek settlement.[29] Even the name Romulus – translated as "Mr Rome" by the classicist Mary Beard – is now generally believed to have been retrojected from the city's name rather than reflecting a historical figure.[30] Some scholars, particularly Andrea Carandini, have argued that it remains possible that these foundation myths reflect underlying historical events in some form and that the city and Roman Kingdom were in fact founded by a single actor in some way. This remains a minority viewpoint in present scholarship[31] and highly controversial in the absence of further evidence, with the arguments made by Carandini and others appearing to rest on highly tendentious interpretations of what is currently known with certainty from scientific excavations.[32]
The Romans'
Chronological disagreements
Ancient historian | Founding year |
---|---|
Gnaeus Naevius | c. 1100 BC[36] |
Ennius | c. 1100 BC[37] or c. 884 BC[38][39] |
Timaeus | 814–13 BC[40] |
Calpurnius Piso | 757, 753, or 751 BC[41] |
Varro and Plutarch | 754–53 BC[42][43] |
Fasti Capitolini | 753–52 BC[44] |
Dionysius of Halicarnassus | 752–51 BC[45][46] |
Polybius | 751–50 BC[47][48] |
Cato the Elder | 751 BC[49][50] |
Fabius Pictor
|
748–47 BC[51][52] |
Cincius Alimentus | 729–28 BC[53] |
While the Romans believed that their city had been founded by an
From
By the
Romulus and Remus
In the best known form of the legend, Romulus and Remus are the grandsons of
The twins then come into conflict during the foundation of the city, leading to the murder of Remus. The dispute is variously said to have been over the naming of the new city, over the interpretation of
Romulus, after
The story has been theorised by some modern scholars to reflect anti-Roman propaganda from the late fourth century BC, but more likely reflects an indigenous Roman tradition, given the Capitoline Wolf which likely dates to the sixth century BC. Regardless, by the third century, it was widely accepted by Romans and put onto some of Rome's first silver coins in 269 BC.[68] In his 1995 Beginnings of Rome, Cornell argues that the myths of Romulus and Remus are "popular expressions of some universal human need or experience" rather than borrowings from the Greek east or Mesopotamia, inasmuch as the story of virgin birth, intercession by animals and humble stepparents, with triumphant return expelling an evil leader are common mythological elements across Eurasia and even into the Americas.[69]
Aeneas
The indigenous tradition of Romulus was also combined with a legend telling of Aeneas coming from Troy and travelling to Italy. This tradition emerges from the Iliad's prophecy that Aeneas's descendants would one day return and rule Troy once more.[70] Greeks by 550 BC had begun to speculate, given the lack of any clear descendants of Aeneas, that the figure had established a dynasty outside the proper Greek world.[71] The first attempts to tie this story to Rome were in the works of two Greek historians at the end of the fifth century BC, Hellanicus of Lesbos and Damastes of Sigeum, likely only mentioning off hand the possibility of a Roman connection; a more assured connection only emerged at the end of the fourth century BC when Rome started having formal dealings with the Greek world.[72]
The ancient Roman annalists, historians, and antiquarians faced an issue tying Aeneas to Romulus, as they believed that Romulus lived centuries after the Trojan War, which was dated at the time c. 1100 BC. For this, they fabricated a story of Aeneas's son founding the city of Alba Longa and establishing a dynasty there, which eventually produced Romulus.[73][74][75]
In Livy's first book he recounts how Aeneas, a demigod of the Trojan royal Anchises and the goddess Venus, leaves Troy after its destruction during the Trojan War and sailed to the western Mediterranean. He brings his son – Ascanius – and a group of companions. Landing in Italy, he forms an alliance with a local magnate called Latinus and marries his daughter Lavinia, joining the two into a new group called the Latini; they then found a new city, called Lavinium. After a series of wars against the Rutuli and Caere, the Latins conquer the Alban Hills and its environs. His son Ascanius then founds the legendary city of Alba Longa, which became the dominant city in the region.[76] The later descendants of the royal lineage of Alba Longa eventually produce Romulus and Remus, setting up the events of their mythological story.[77]
Dionysius of Halicarnassus similarly attempted to show a Greek connection, giving a similar story for Aeneas, but also a previous series of migrations. He describes migrations of
]The introduction of Aeneas follows a trend across Italy towards Hellenising their own early mythologies by rationalising myths and legends of the Greek Heroic Age into a pseudo-historical tradition of prehistoric times;[80] this was in part due to Greek historians' eagerness to construct narratives purporting that the Italians were actually descended from Greeks and their heroes.[81][77] These narratives were accepted by non-Greek peoples due Greek historiography's prestige and claims to systematic validity.[82]
Archaeological evidence shows that worship of Aeneas had been established at Lavinium by the sixth century BC.
Other myths
By the time of the Pyrrhic War (280–75 BC), there were some sixty different myths for Rome's foundation that circulated in the Greek world. Most of them attributed the city to an eponymous founder, usually "Rhomos" or "Rhome" rather than Romulus.[87][88] One story told how Romos, a son of Odysseus and Circe, was the one who founded Rome.[89] Martin P. Nilsson speculates that this older story was becoming a bit embarrassing as Rome became more powerful and tensions with the Greeks grew. Being descendants of the Greeks was no longer preferable, so the Romans settled on the Trojan foundation myth instead. Nilsson further speculates that the name of Romos was changed by some Romans to the native name Romulus, but the same name Romos (later changed to the native Remus) was never forgotten by many of the people, so both these names were used to represent the founders of the city.[90]
Another story, attributed to Hellanicus of Lesbos by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, says that Rome was founded by a woman named Rhome, one of the followers of Aeneas, after landing in Italy and burning their ships.[91] That by the middle of the fifth century Aeneas was also allegedly the founder of two or three other cities across Italy was no object.[92] These myths also differed as to whether their eponymous matriarch Roma was born in Troy or Italy – i.e. before or after Aeneas's journey – or otherwise if their Romus was a direct or collateral descendant of Aeneas.[93]
Myths of the early third century also differed greatly in the claimed genealogy of Romulus or the founder, if an intermediate actor was posited. One tale posited that a Romus, son of Zeus, founded the city.[94] Callias posited that Romulus was descended from Latinus and a woman called Roma who was the daughter of Aeneas and a homonymous mother. Other authors depicted Romulus and Romus, as a son of Aeneas, founding not only Rome but also Capua. Authors also wrote their home regions into the story. Polybius, who hailed from Arcadia, for example, gave Rome not a Trojan colonial origin but rather an Arcadian one.[93]
References
Citations
- ^ Momigliano 1989, p. 57, citing Livy, 10.23.1.
- ^ a b c d Momigliano 1989, p. 53.
- ^ a b c Lomas 2018, p. 38.
- ^ a b c Cornell 1995, p. 48.
- ^ Cornell 1995, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 43.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 44.
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 17.
- ^ Heiken et al. 2005.
- ^ a b c d e Brock et al. 2021.
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 37.
- ^ Bettelli 2012, para "The Capitoline hill and the earliest settlement in Rome in the Bronze Age".
- ^ Bettelli 2012, para "The early Iron Age and the occupation of the Palatine hill".
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 39.
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 40; Cornell 1995, p. 57.
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 41.
- ^ Momigliano 1989, pp. 86–87. "So far no archaeological support has been found for the self-assured Roman tradition that the Latins of Romulus soon combined with the Sabines... [or] that the Sabine settlement was on the Quirinal". Momigliano also notes a linguistic contradiction: Quirinal should in Oscan be Pirinal.
- ^ Lomas 2018, pp. 41–42.
- ^ a b Lomas 2018, p. 42.
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 43.
- ^ a b c Lomas 2018, p. 44.
- ^ Momigliano 1989, p. 53; Forsythe 2005, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 88.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 92; Cornell 1995, pp. 102–3.
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 35.
- Varroin 754" [sic].
- ^ Livy, 1.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 70.
- ^ Momigliano 1989, p. 54.
- ^ Beard 2015, p. 71.
- ^ Cornell 1995, pp. 70–71.
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 36.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 60.
- ^ Momigliano 1989, p. 83.
- ^ Momigliano 1989, p. 67.
- ^ a b Koptev 2010, p. 20.
- ^ Momigliano 1989, p. 82. "Ennius... considered Ilia, Romulus' mother, to be the daughter of Aeneas... If, as seems probably, he attributed these words [that Rome was founded 700 years previously] to Camillus, he placed the origins of Rome in the early eleventh century BC".
- JSTOR 3295326.
Quintus Ennius... according to his account, the founding of the city was dated about the year 900
. - ^ Koptev 2010, pp. 19–20, noting also the interpretation that Ennius' claim of "seven hundred years" having elapsed may be from the time of Camillus, which imply c. 1100 BC.
- ^ Koptev 2010, pp. 15–16, noting that this was the first estimate of Rome's foundation; Koptev also notes Dionysius' later commentary expressing bafflement as to the choice of this year.
- ^ Koptev 2010, p. 43. "600 years before the consulate of M. Aemilius Lepidus and C. Popilius, which took place in 158 BC".
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 72; Forsythe 2005, p. 94.
- ^ Plut. Rom., 12, claims 21 April 753 BC synchronised with an eclipse; no such eclipse could have been observed in the Mediterranean for several years on either side of that date. Grafton & Swerdlow 1985, pp. 456–58.
- OCLC 415753. See Olympiad 6.4.
- ^ Koptev 2010, p. 20. "first year of the seventh Olympiad, 751 BC".
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 401.
- ^ Koptev 2010, p. 17; Momigliano 1989, p. 82.
- ^ Drummond 1989, p. 626.
- ^ Koptev 2010, p. 17.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 72.
- ^ a b Lomas 2018, p. 50.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, pp. 94, 369–70, noting that Fabius Pictor's work did not include five fictitious years of anarchy, which extended the chronology to Varro's date. See Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., 1.74.1.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 94; Lomas 2018, p. 50; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., 1.74.1.
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 36–37.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 72. "It seems clear that the various dates given by historians for the foundation... were linked to estimates of the length of the regal period".
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 73. "Most probably the date was fixed simply by counting back seven generations of thirty-five years... it seems likely that the foundation date was fixed by some kind of mechanical calculation".
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 279; Cornell 1995, p. 402; Grafton & Swerdlow 1985, passim
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 94; Lomas 2018, p. 50.
- ^ Miles 1995, pp. 138–39, on Livy, notes how he distinguishes between literal truth and a Roman "right to claim descent from Mars... because it appropriate symbolises the martial accomplishments of [later] Romans, who... have the ability to compel others to accede to that claim". Miles 1995, p. 142.
- ^ Miles 1995, p. 142.
- ^ a b Lomas 2018, p. 45.
- ^ Miles 1995, p. 147 n. 15: in Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., 1.85.1–3, Numitor sends the twins to found a city and gives them assistance; in Livy, 1.6–7 the twins do so on their own initiative.
- ^ Miles 1995, p. 147. Remus sees birds first; Romulus sees more. The correct interpretation of the omens "is ambiguous" and "is settled only by the murder of Remus and by the success of Romulus and his city".
- ^ Miles 1995, p. 148 n. 17, noting that Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., 1.87.2–3 "suppresses altogether" the fratricide and instead has Remus killed by an unknown assailant with Romulus mourning his death.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 96. Forsythe notes also that some scholars, like T P Wiseman, believe the tale was an invention of the fourth century BC and reflected self-image of the then-emerging patrician and plebeian nobiles.
- ^ Miles 1995, p. 147 n. 16: in Livy, 1.8.1, 1.8.6, 2.1.4 the city is made of only refugees; in Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., 1.85.3 it is instead made up of both refugees as well as prominent men from Alba Longa and descendants of Trojan exiles.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 97, adding that "Titus Tatius" may be a name for an early Roman monarch who was removed from the narrative of seven kings.
- ^ Cornell 1995, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Cornell 1995, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Cornell 1995, pp. 63, 413 n. 45, citing Iliad 20.307f.
- ^ Cornell 1995, pp. 63–64.
- ^ Cornell 1995, pp. 64–65.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 94. "Troy's unhistorical connection with Rome was maintained by inventing the Alban kings, whose reigns were made to span the chronological gap between Troy's destruction (1184/3 BC according to Eratosthenes) and Rome's foundation".
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 141. "In the developed legend of the origins of Rome, the son of Aeneas founded a hereditary dynasty at Alba Longa. But this Alban dynasty was an antiquarian fiction devised for chronographic reasons".
- ^ Momigliano 1989, p. 58. "Hence [from chronological difficulties] the creation of a series of intermediate Alban kings, which the poet Naevius had not yet considered necessary, but which his contemporary Fabius Pictor admitted".
- ^ Lomas 2018, p. 47, citing Livy, 1.1.
- ^ a b c Lomas 2018, p. 47.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 37–38.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 38; Lomas 2018, p. 47.
- ^ Cornell 1995, pp. 37, 39. "The legendary material [Greek myths] became a coherent body of pseudo-historical tradition and was the object of intense research".
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 39, referencing also Greek claims that Persians, Indians, and Celts also were all descended from Greek gods or heroes.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 39.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 40.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 93.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 37.
- ^ Cornell 1995, p. 65.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, pp. 93–94.
- ^ Miles 1995, p. 137 instead has "at least twenty-five".
- ^ Goldberg 1995, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Nilsson 1964, pp. 264–265, 272.
- ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 94.
- ^ Bickerman 1952, pp. 66–67.
- ^ a b Bickerman 1952, p. 67.
- ^ Bickerman 1952, p. 69.
Modern sources
- Beard, Mary (2015). SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (1st ed.). New York: Liveright Publishing. OCLC 902661394.
- Bettelli, Marco (26 October 2012). "Rome, City of: 1. Prehistoric (Earliest remains)". Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Wiley. ISBN 9781405179355.
- Bickerman, Elias J (1952). "Origines Gentium". Classical Philology. 47 (2): 65–81. S2CID 220418780.
- Brock, Andrea L; et al. (November 2021). "On the Banks of the Tiber: Opportunity and Transformation in Early Rome". Journal of Roman Studies. Vol. 111. .
- Cornell, Tim (1995). The Beginnings of Rome. London: Routledge. OCLC 31515793.
- Forsythe, Gary (2005). A Critical History of Early Rome: from Prehistory to the First Punic War. Berkeley: University of California Press. OCLC 70728478.
- Goldberg, Sander M (1995). Epic in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509372-8.
- Grafton, A T; Swerdlow, N M (1985). "Technical chronology and astrological history in Varro, Censorinus and others". Classical Quarterly. 35 (2): 454–465. S2CID 171000509.
- Grafton, A T; Swerdlow, N M (1986). "The Horoscope of the foundation of Rome". Classical Philology. 81 (2): 148–153. S2CID 161905620.
- Heiken, G; et al. (2005). The Seven Hills of Rome: A Geological Tour of the Eternal City. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Bibcode:2005shrg.book.....H.
- Koptev, Aleksandr (2010). "Timaeus of Tauromenium and Early Roman Chronology". In Deroux, Carl (ed.). Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History. Collection Latomus volume 323. Vol. 15. Brussels: Éditions Latomus. pp. 5–48. ISBN 978-2-87031-264-3.
- Lomas, Kathryn (2018). The Rise of Rome: from the Iron Age to the Punic Wars (1st Harvard ed.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 1015274849.
- Miles, Gary B (1995). Livy: Reconstructing Early Rome. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. OCLC 31658236.
- Nilsson, Martin P (1964). Olympen (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Bokförlaget Prisma. ISBN 91-7297-627-6.
- Walbank, FW; et al., eds. (1989). The Rise of Rome to 220 BC. Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 7 Pt. 2 (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23446-8.
- Momigliano, A. "The Origins of Rome". In CAH2 7.2 (1989), pp. 52–112.
- Drummond, A. "Appendix". In CAH2 7.2 (1989), pp. 625–44.
Ancient sources
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1937–50) [1st century BC]. Roman Antiquities. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Cary, Ernest. Harvard University Press – via LacusCurtius.
- Livy (1905) [1st century BC]. . Translated by Roberts, Canon – via Wikisource.
External links
- Lendering, Jona (1 September 2020) [2008]. "Varronian Chronology". Livius.org.