Download About Romulus and Remus - Core Knowledge Foundation

Ottoman Turks seized the city in 1453 CE and made it the capital of their empire.
After the establishment of modern Turkey, the capital moved to Ankara, and
Constantinople was renamed Istanbul in 1930.
B. Background
The Legend of Romulus and Remus
Rome probably began as a small, unimpressive village of farmers and
shepherds, but in later days the Romans liked to tell a different story. Like many
other people all around the world, they developed legends about their
founders—stories that are not historically accurate but were important to the
people who told them. The legendary story about the founding of Rome linked
the Romans to the gods and also to the ancient Trojans.
Central to the mythology of the ancient Greeks was the Trojan War. Homer
describes some key episodes in this war, including the exploits of the hero
Achilles, in his epic poem the Iliad. Homer’s other epic poem, the Odyssey, tells
of the wanderings and adventures of another Greek warrior, Odysseus, on his way
back to Greece after the Trojan War. As Rome grew and prospered, it, too, needed a national epic to explain and glorify its origins. The Roman poet Virgil composed the Aeneid to fulfill this need. Virgil lived many years later, during the time
of the emperor Augustus, when Rome had already grown powerful. He had
almost completed his great epic poem when he died in 19 BCE.
Virgil’s epic begins with the fall of Troy and the end of the Trojan War. The
poem tells the story of Aeneas, a great Trojan hero descended from the goddess
Venus, who wanders the Mediterranean looking for a new home and has many
adventures reminiscent of Odysseus. At last, Aeneas reaches Italy and the gods
reveal the glorious future of Rome to him. Aeneas marries the daughter of the
king of Latium (an ancient region of central Italy), and their son founds Alba
Longa, which would be the forerunner of Rome.
This epic story of Aeneas, in turn, provides the setting for the legend of
Romulus and Remus. According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were twins
descended from Aeneas. Their grandfather, Numitor, was one of the kings of Alba
Longa, and their father was the war god Mars. (It was not uncommon for the
Greek and Roman gods to have romantic relationships with mortal women.) The
twins’ grandfather, Numitor, was driven from power by his brother, Amulius, just
before the twins were born. When the children were born, the wicked Amulius
had them put them in a reed basket and set adrift on the Tiber River. Amulius
thought the boys would drown. He did not want them to live, lest they should
grow up and challenge his rule. But the twins were lucky. The basket did not sink;
instead, it lodged on the riverbank, where the boys were discovered by a mother
wolf. The mother wolf sensed that the babies were hungry and nursed the human
babies along with her own cubs. They survived and were raised by a herdsman.
When they grew up, Romulus and Remus took revenge on Amulius and restored
their grandfather Numitor as king.
Teaching Idea
Have students retell the legend of
Romulus and Remus by making a filmstrip (or cartoon strip) of the events in
the story. Give each student a strip of
white paper, 4 inches high by 14 inches long. Have students divide the
strip into 2-inch boxes; they will need
to draw six lines. In each box they
should draw a scene from the story
and use speech bubbles like those in
comic strips to add words to the
story.
According to the legend, the twins then founded Rome at the spot along the
Tiber where they had been rescued. The year of Rome’s founding is traditionally
set at 753 BCE. The two brothers argued and Romulus killed Remus. Romulus
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II. Ancient Rome
became the first king of Rome and ruled for many years until he mysteriously disappeared in a storm. After his death, Romans believed that Romulus’s father, the
god Mars, took him up to the heavens in his chariot. Later Romans worshipped
Romulus as the god Quirinus.
Some Roman coins of later years showed Romulus and Remus being suckled
by the she-wolf. This image became an important Roman symbol. 39
Latin as the Language of the Romans
Teaching Idea
Use the Core Knowledge Sequence to
find some Latin phrases commonly used
in English speech. (Students will study
Latin phrases in Grade 7.) You can also
find Latin phrases on paper money,
state seals, and similar places. Make a
short list of the Latin phrases, and ask
students if they know the definition or
the context in which the phrase is
used. Challenge students to use these
phrases as they have conversations
with each other. For example, you
might encourage a student to seize the
day or enjoy the present by saying,
“carpe diem!”
The area in which Rome was established was known as Latium. The people
spoke a language known as Latin. As the Roman Empire expanded through Italy
and beyond, the Latin language spread as well. It spread through the Roman
legions (as the Roman army units were called) and through Roman governors and
officials. While Greek was the lingua franca, or common language, of the Eastern
Roman Empire, Latin became the dominant language of the Roman Empire.
Latin itself developed over the years, and eventually it helped create several
new languages. As soldiers came in contact with inhabitants in other areas, such
as France (Gaul) and Spain (Iberia), new languages developed. They were based
on a mix of native languages and Latin. These languages are known as the
Romance languages and include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and
Romanian. The word Romance comes from the word Roman. Although English is
not a Romance language (it’s a Germanic language), a great many English words
are based on Latin. Many of them came into English through Old French, which
is a Romance language. The Normans who invaded and conquered England in 1066
CE spoke French, and many of the words in their vocabulary eventually entered
English. Other English words were borrowed from Latin later on.
Many important literary works were written in Latin. Virgil wrote his poetry
in Latin. Other Latin classics include the mythological stories collected in Ovid’s
Metamorphoses, the prose of Julius Caesar, the histories of Tacitus and Livy, the
satires of Horace, and the letters of Cicero.
Later on, Latin became the language of the Christian church: it was the language used by church fathers like St. Augustine and St. Jerome. Latin continued
to be important even after it ceased to be spoken as the everyday language. In the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance, many religious and scholarly works were written in Latin because it was assumed that educated people in many countries
would be able to read Latin, whatever their native language might be.
Roman Deities
Originally, the Romans were farmers who worshipped spiritual forces associated with family and agriculture. While there were national deities, the Lares and
Penates were specific spirits associated with each family. The Lares were thought
to protect the home and the good fortune of a family, whereas the Penates were
believed to protect its storeroom. Vesta, the spirit of hearth and home, was considered the guardian of the Roman people’s family.
The Romans also adopted and adapted the deities of the Greeks. The Greek
god Zeus, the chief of the Greek deities, became the Roman god Jupiter, chief of
the Roman deities. Hera, the wife of Zeus, became Juno, the wife of Jupiter.
Aphrodite metamorphosed into Venus, and Hermes, the Greek messenger, into
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