L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano E v e r y I t a l i a n child learns the legendary story o f R o m u l u s a n d R e m u s , the brothers who founded Rome, when they are in pri- mary school. Romulus and Remus, raised by the She- Wolf that still today sym- b o l i z e s o u r c a p i t a l , b u t whose ancestry went back all the way to the glorious warriors of Troy, as Virgil wrote in his masterpiece, the Aeneid. Roman histo- riographers Varro and Livy said the city was founded on the Palatine Hill by Romu- lus, first King of Rome, on the 21 st of April 753 BC, but where do history and arche- o l o g y s t a n d ? S t r a n g e l y enough, because they tend to hold hand and support one another all the time, they seem not to share the same view on this. According to modern his- t o r i a n s , t h e r e i s n o t h i n g t r u e i n t h e l e g e n d o f Romulus and Remus: it was created ad hoc to give the city appropriate origins, apt to meet the standards of a c i t y t h a t r u l e d t h e w o r l d and was at the head of an empire. Archeologists, on t h e o t h e r h a n d , s e e m t o believe there may be some truth in it, after all. Paolo Carafa, archeologist and lecturer at the La Sapienza U n i v e r s i t y i n R o m e s a i d t h a t " R o m e d i d n ' t c o m e from nowhere. There is a historical core in the legend and we managed to recon- s t r u c t i t . " A c c o r d i n g t o Carafa, a small settlement developed over about 200 hectares in the 8 th century B C , j u s t w h e r e R o m e i s today. For reasons that are yet to be clarified – possibly by royal decree – the set- tlement was given special status and was religiously consecrated. Traces of 8 th c e n t u r y B C f o r t i f i c a t i o n s w e r e f o u n d b y C a r a f a ' s team, thus making plausible the date of 753 BC as the date of Rome's own founda- tion. Another key building f r o m t h e s a m e p e r i o d brought to light by archeol- ogists was the temple dedi- c a t e d t o V e s t a , w h o s e s a c r e d f i r e w a s s y n o n y m w i t h t h e p r e s e n c e o f a d e v e l o p e d u r b a n s e t t l e - m e n t . V e s t i g e s o f o t h e r s t r u c t u r e s , i n c l u d i n g a n early forum and an early civic building, all dating to back to the 8 th century BC, were also found. Archeologists, then, seem t o b e l i e v e t h e r e i s s o m e - thing true in the legends R o m a n h i s t o r i o g r a p h e r s a n d w r i t e r s m e n t i o n e d , although they, of course, d o n ' t g o a s f a r a s s a y i n g that what Virgil wrote was t r u e . Q u i t e s i m p l y , t h e y underline how excavations and research show how, in f a c t , a t o w n d i d e x i s t already in the period and place legends mentioned. T h e r e i s m o r e : a r t e f a c t s from the Bronze Age, some six centuries before Rome's date of birth, were discov- ered on the Capitoline Hill. It is likely that the first king – and perhaps founder – of Rome, the very same p e r s o n l e g e n d s c a l l "Romulus," descended from a much more ancient Latin dynasty. It was, perhaps, to wipe out memories of such humble, local origins that, a t a l a t e r s t a g e , R o m a n i n t e l l i g e n t s i a i n t r o d u c e d t h e m y t h o f A e n e a s t o explain the city's origins, a m y t h t h a t w a s a l r e a d y k n o w n b y t h e p e o p l e o f Latium back in the 8 th cen- tury BC. L e t ' s r e w i n d a s e c o n d here, because not everyone m a y b e f a m i l i a r w i t h t h e connection between Rome and Aeneas. Aeneas was a Trojan warrior, who sur- vived the end of his city and e s c a p e d w i t h h i s f a t h e r , wife and son, and reached s a f e t y o n t h e c o a s t o f Latium. Here, legends say, he founded the town of Alba Longa, of which he was the first king. His successor was his son Ascanius and, then, all his descendants, all the w a y u p t o R o m u l u s w h o , therefore, wasn't only the son of a god – he and his brother were fathered by Mars, the god of war – but also direct descendants of Aeneas from their mother's – Rhea Silvia – side. The connection between A e n e a s a n d R o m e w a s explicitly put black on white b y V i r g i l i n t h e A e n e i d , which was commissioned by Emperor Augustus with the aim of – you guessed it – provide an adequate story for the origin of the city, one t h a t i n v o l v e d d e m i - g o d s and heroes and not shep- herds from central Italy. B e c a u s e t h e " r e a l " founders of Rome, very like- l y , d e s c e n d e d f r o m e a r l y Indo-European people who reached the peninsula from the Northern Balkans, some two thousand years before Christ. In the 8 th century BC, the Romans probably lived on the Palatine Hill, while the Sabines inhabited t h e C a p i t o l i n e a n d t h e Quirinale Hills. Here leg- endary tales return, describ- ing how Romulus and his p e o p l e , d e s c e n d a n t s o f Aeneas and living in newly c r e a t e d R o m e , t r i e d t o m a k e a d e a l w i t h t h e Sabines to get some of their women to marry and pro- c r e a t e w i t h . U p o n t h e i r r e f u s a l , R o m u l u s t r i c k e d the Sabines and kidnapped all of their women. A war ensued, which ended thanks to the women's mediation. H i s t o r i c a l l y , w e k n o w t h a t t h e S a b i n e s a n d t h e Latins merged quickly, as attested by the fact Rome's s e c o n d k i n g , N u m a Pompilius, was a Sabine, and by the presence of a number of Sabine words in L a t i n , l i k e b o s ( o x ) o r p o p i n a ( k i t c h e n ) . S o m e time later, around 625 BC, the Etruscans entered the scene, too. What strikes about the origins of Rome, whichever w a y – h i s t o r i c a l o r l e g - endary – you want to look a t i t , i s h o w q u i c k l y a n d powerfully its people con- quered the peninsula, sub- d u i n g o t h e r c u l t u r e s a n d englobing them into their own: the Sabines and the Etruscans, of course, but also the Greeks of Magna Graecia to the South. The Romans were strong war- riors and conquered fast, but they were also – and t h e y d e m o n s t r a t e d i t throughout most of their history – savvy rulers: they n e v e r e x p e c t e d t h e c o n - q u e r e d t o a b a n d o n t h e i r own language or culture, nor did they make it diffi- cult for them to get Roman citizenship, key to obtain e q u a l i t y a n d a d v a n t a g e s . T h e y w e r e t o l e r a n t a n d incredibly well organized, the latter a characteristic modern Italy seems to have entirely lost. They did not see other people and culture as inferior, understanding t h e r e w a s m u c h t o b e gained in reaching a bal- a n c e w h e r e c u l t u r e s , t h e R o m a n s ' a n d t h a t o f t h e c o n q u e r e d , c o u l d e n r i c h o n e a n o t h e r : t h i s i s w h y Rome was, in the end, such a cosmopolitan, multi-cul- tural city, modern we could e v e n s a y , i n a w a y m a n y modern metropolises still are not. W h e r e d o e s t h e t r u t h about the origins of Rome lays then? Perhaps, just like t h e o l d r e f r a i n s a y s , j u s t t h e r e , i n t h e m i d d l e . Between history and legend, between shepherds, war - riors and the gods. CHIARA D'ALESSIO The famous "lupa" that raised Romulus and Remus: still today, she is a symbol of Rome (Photo: Fedecandoniphoto/Dreamstime) The origins of La Città Eterna, between legend and history HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS

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