Remus

Remus was the legendary twin brother of Romulus and a central figure in Rome’s foundation traditions. He and Romulus were said to be the sons of the god Mars and Rhea Silvia, daughter of the displaced king Numitor of Alba Longa. Their great-uncle Amulius ordered the infants to be abandoned beside the River Tiber, but they survived, were suckled by a she-wolf and were later raised by the shepherd Faustulus. As young men, the brothers discovered their royal ancestry, overthrew Amulius and restored Numitor to the throne.

After leaving Alba Longa, Romulus and Remus decided to establish a new city near the place where they had been rescued. They disagreed over its location and over which brother should rule. Romulus favoured the Palatine Hill, while Remus preferred the Aventine. The dispute was submitted to augury, but the signs proved ambiguous: Remus saw six vultures first, while Romulus later saw twelve. Each claimed that the gods had chosen him, and the disagreement escalated into violence. Accounts of Remus’s death vary. In the best-known tradition, Remus mocked the fortifications of Romulus’s new settlement by leaping over its unfinished wall. Romulus, or one of his followers, killed him and declared that the same fate would meet anyone who crossed Rome’s defences. Other versions suggest that Remus was killed during fighting between the brothers’ supporters. His death left Romulus as the city’s sole ruler and made fratricide part of Rome’s foundation story.

In Alfred Duggan’s Founding Fathers, Romulus and Remus lead their followers to establish a settlement beside the Tiber, but the new community is divided by rivalry, ritual and competing ideas of kingship.