Book
Founding Fathers
First published 1959
Romulus and Remus lead their followers towards the creation of a settlement beside the Tiber, but the community that will become Rome begins in rivalry rather than unity. Alfred Duggan retells the foundation legends through observers connected with different peoples and traditions, allowing the familiar story to emerge from conflicting loyalties rather than from a single heroic account.
The quarrel between the brothers, the death of Remus and the seizure of the Sabine women turn a precarious settlement into a city forced to fight and negotiate with its neighbours. Romulus survives by absorbing former enemies, creating alliances and giving religious meaning to political acts. The novel treats Rome’s legendary beginnings as the construction of a new civic identity from conquest, migration, marriage and shared ritual.
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