[MUSIC] Hello, everybody, and welcome back. A very important source of information for the history of Rome is the memory of the ancient. The ancient thought they knew the whole story. We have already met Aeneas, this nobleman who had to leave Troy burning and landed in Italy. According to the ancient memories, Aeneas came through Italy, founded a city on the coast of Latium, Lavinium. His son, Ascanius, moved from Lavinium to the hinterland of the region, and founded Alba Longa. The descendants of Ascanius founded Rome. This is one of the ways the ancient recreated their history. But we know that Aeneas has been a later insertion in an original and older foundation myth, the myth of Romulus and Remus. The very famous twins reproduced here on this coin, suckled by the she-wolf. The whole story goes as follows. A wicked guy in Alba Longa forces his brother, the proper king, to renounce to the throne, and he becomes the new king. Then he forces the daughter of the old king to be a priestess of the goddess Vesta. This was a way to prevent her from being pregnant, so she could not give heir to the old king. But the god Mars falls in love with this princess, and she gives birth to two children, Remus and Romulus. The whole story is painted on this fresco from a house in Pompeii, where you can see the god Mars, and the mother of twins asleep here, waiting for the god. The weakened new king knows the story, and sends the two children on the border of his kingdom, from Alba Longa to Rome. As is depicted here in this fresco, with the servants of the king carrying a basket with the twins inside, possibly along the way, which would be, later, the Appian Way, from the Alban Hills to Rome. The kids are exposed and abandoned on the banks of the River Tiber. But the Tiber refuses to kill the children, and more than this, they are suckled by a she-wolf. A shepherd comes nearby, sees the scene, and save the children. From that moment on, Remus and Romulus grow up on the Palatine. At a certain moment, they know the story. They go back to Alba Longa and save their mother, and they ask her permission to found a new city in the place where they have been saved. They were twins, so there was not an elder or a younger brother, and they had to decide who is going to be the new king of the new city. And to understand this, they ask the king of the gods. And a way of asking the will of the god was to look at the birds flying in the sky. This was a very famous story that was reproduced in a number of Roman monuments, like this one, a very large temple of the Quirinal Hill. In this huge sanctuary, on one pediment of the temple, the scene was reproduced. And you can see Romulus sitting here, and Remus sitting here, watching at the flying of bird in the presence of his godfather, Mars, and other other gods and goddess. The will of the gods is that Romulus should be the new king. There's a fight, and Remus is killed by his brother. But nonetheless, Romulus has to go on, and he celebrates a foundation rite on the top of the hill, of the Palatine Hill. Then he moves down, he used a plow, and traces a groove. This is the groove where the Palatine walls would be inserted. So the city is now born, according to the ancient memory. It is indeed a very strange story, with clear mythical evidence, the godfather, the she-wolf, and things like this. But nonetheless, it's full of very interesting elements. For example, tracing a groove with a plow was the usual way of founding a city in Latium, and by the Etruscan people, as is demonstrated by this votive offering. This is a small bronze statue of a man plowing, obviously to found something. And more than this, we have the evidence, a very ancient story of heroes fighting one another according to a god will. For example, this is a gold fibula of the 7th century BC, found in Vulci, an Etruscan city. Here you can see two heroes fighting one another, with birds flying over their head. This is a sign of a response from the god. So we can suppose that the foundation myth alone is not the total myth. It's, rather, a legend, that is, a story which is supposed to have happened in historical times. And even if full of mythical elements, is a story containing something which could be relevant for the comprehension of the real history.