On April 21, 753 BC. according to tradition, the Eternal City of Rome was founded. Its creators are Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of the vestal Rhea Sylvia and the god Mars.
According to mythology, she was forced to devote herself to the goddess Vesta and to vow celibacy and virginity by her uncle Amulius, who deposed her father Numitor from the throne of the city of Alba Longa and wanted to guarantee the absence of rivals. However, she was possessed by Mars and gave birth to the twins. Amulius ordered a servant to kill the babies, but he took pity on them and released them in a basket along the Tiber River.
The children were discovered by the river god Tiberinus and nursed by a she-wolf, and subsequently raised by the shepherd Faustulus. After reaching manhood, Romulus and Remus killed Amulius and restored their grandfather Numitor to the throne, then founded a new settlement on the Palatine Hill.
The date April 21, 753 BC. we owe to Varro, and the whole story is told in most detail by the Roman historian Titus Livius. According to his account, Remus thoughtlessly jumped over the unfinished city wall, which was considered a bad omen, and Romulus hastened to kill him so as not to provoke fate.
Regretting his deed, he later named the city Rome (Roma), and declared himself its first king. Romulus attracted residents by inviting and receiving fugitives, criminal murderers and runaway slaves.
Very quickly the city expanded on four more of the seven hills in the Capitol, Aventine, Caelius and Quirinal area. To replenish the predominantly male population of the city with women, the Romans kidnapped many women from the neighboring city of Sabine, and soon conquered it.
Romulus ruled for 38 years, and his end was as supernatural as the beginning of his reign - he simply disappeared without a trace, or so Plutarch claims. According to other sources, he was killed by the Senate.