Remus

Remus was the twin brother of Romulus in Roman legend, the son of the Vestal Rhea Silvia and, as she claimed, of the god Mars. Raised by shepherds after being exposed on the Tiber, he helped his brother overthrow King Amulius of Alba Longa. He was killed in the quarrel over where to found the new city, which Romulus then called Rome (Livy, History of Rome 1.7).

Birth and Exposure

Numitor, king of Alba Longa and descendant of Aeneas, was driven from his throne by his younger brother Amulius, who killed Numitor's sons and made his daughter, Rhea Silvia, a Vestal virgin so that she would have no children (Livy 1.3.10–11). Rhea Silvia was violated and gave birth to twin sons. She named Mars as their father, either because she believed it or because the offence seemed less if a god were responsible (Livy 1.4.2). Plutarch mentions another report, that Amulius himself came to her in armour (Plutarch, Romulus 4.2). Her name is given as Ilia, Rhea or Silvia (Plutarch, Romulus 3.3).

Amulius had the mother imprisoned and ordered the boys thrown into the river. The Tiber was in flood, and the servants who carried the twins left them at the edge of the overflow, near the fig tree later called the Ficus Ruminalis (Livy 1.4.3–5). When the water drew back, a she-wolf came down from the hills and suckled them, and the king's herdsman found her licking the boys with her tongue (Livy 1.4.6). Plutarch adds that a woodpecker, a bird sacred to Mars, also helped to feed them (Plutarch, Romulus 4.2).

Growing Up Among Shepherds

The herdsman, Faustulus, took the boys home and gave them to his wife Larentia to raise. Livy notes that some thought she had been called “she-wolf” (lupa) among the shepherds because of her way of life, and that this was the origin of the wolf story (Livy 1.4.7). Plutarch gives her name as Acca Larentia and also says that the boys were taken to Gabii to be taught letters (Plutarch, Romulus 4.3, 6.1). Plutarch adds that the twins were said to have been named Romulus and Remus from ruma, the Latin word for teat, because they were seen suckling the wild animal (Plutarch, Romulus 6.2).

As young men the twins hunted, fought off beasts and robbers and shared the spoils with the shepherds, who gathered around them (Livy 1.4.8–9).

Recognition and the Fall of Amulius

During the festival of the Lupercalia on the Palatine, robbers angry at the loss of their plunder ambushed the brothers. Romulus defended himself, but Remus was taken and handed over to Amulius, who passed him to Numitor to be punished (Livy 1.5.1–5). Numitor began to suspect who the young man was. Faustulus, who had always suspected that the boys were of royal blood, told Romulus the truth (Livy 1.5.5–6). In Plutarch's version Faustulus brings Numitor the trough in which the twins had been exposed (Plutarch, Romulus 8.1–2).

Romulus arrived with his band of shepherds, and Remus joined from within; together they killed Amulius, and Numitor was made king (Livy 1.5.7–6.2). Livy says that the brothers hailed their grandfather as king; Plutarch says that Romulus attacked from outside while Remus roused the city from within (Plutarch, Romulus 8.6).

The Founding of Rome and the Death of Remus

With Numitor on the throne, the brothers wanted to found a city where they had been exposed. They could not decide by seniority which would name and rule it, so they agreed to take omens from the gods of the place: Romulus took the Palatine and Remus the Aventine (Livy 1.6.3–4). Plutarch says that Romulus laid out a square city, Roma Quadrata, and wished to found the city there, while Remus marked out a fortified precinct on the Aventine, later called the Remonium (Plutarch, Romulus 9.4).

Remus saw six vultures first. Romulus then saw twelve, and each was hailed as king by his own supporters, one claiming priority and the other the greater number. Livy says that the quarrel ended in blood and that Remus fell in the fighting. He gives as the more common report that Remus leapt scornfully over the new walls and was killed by an angry Romulus, who cried out: “So shall it be henceforth with everyone who leaps over my walls” (Livy 1.7.1–2). Plutarch also says that Remus ridiculed the trench and then leapt it, and that he was struck either by Romulus himself or by Celer, one of Romulus' companions (Plutarch, Romulus 10.1). In that account Faustulus and his brother Pleistinus also died in the fighting, and Celer fled to Etruria; Romulus buried Remus and the foster-fathers in the Remonia (Plutarch, Romulus 10.2, 11.1).

Romulus then became sole ruler, and the city was named after him (Livy 1.7.3).

Remus Sources

Livy, History of Rome 1.3.10–1.7.3; Plutarch, Life of Romulus 3.1–11.1.

See Also: Romulus, Mars