The ANNOTICO Report
Thanks to Ron De Pompa of Italiani2

Associated Press
By Sarah Barden
Mon Feb 14, 2005

ROME - Legend has it that Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and
Remus, the twin sons of Mars, the god of war, who were suckled as infants
by a she-wolf in the woods.

Now, archaeologists believe they have found evidence that at least part of
that tale may be true: Traces of a royal palace discovered in the Roman
Forum have been dated to roughly the period of the eternal city's legendary
foundation.

Andrea Carandini, a professor of archaeology at Rome's Sapienza University
who has been conducting excavations at the Forum for more than 20 years,
said he made the discovery over the past month at the spot where the Temple
of Romulus stands today.

It is next to the Sanctuary of Vesta — the Roman goddess of the hearth —
just outside the Palatine walls, site of the earliest traces of
civilization in Rome.

Where previously archaeologists had only found huts dating to the 8th
century B.C., Carandini and his team unearthed traces of regal splendor: A
3,700-square-foot palace, 1,130 square feet of which were covered and the
rest courtyard. There was a monumental entrance, and elaborate furnishings
and ceramics.

The walls were made of wood and clay, with a floor of wood shavings and
pressed turf. It was tests on the clay that allowed the archaeologists to
confirm the age of the find.

Carandini said the residence had "absolutely extraordinary dimensions,
dimensions not formerly known."

"It could be nothing other than the royal palace," he said, adding that
during that period the average abode was about one-tenth the size.

Carandini also found a hut where vestal virgins are believed to have lit a
sacred flame.

Eugenio La Rocca, the superintendent for monuments for the city of Rome,
said Carandini's interpretation of the ruins appears to be accurate.

"It seems to me that what is emerging from the excavation of Carandini, who
can be considered the highest authority in this field, is a very coherent
archaeological reading," La Rocca told the newspaper Il Messaggero.

"Whoever created the legend did so with the knowledge that behind it there
was a historical foundation," he told the newspaper. "That doesn't mean the
story of Romulus and Remus necessarily happened that way, but only that
memory as it was handed down by the majority of the Latin writers is much
more than a hypothesis."

In Rome's founding myth, the daughter of a king deposed by his brother was
forced to become a vestal virgin to prevent her from having children. But
Rhea Silvia became pregnant with sons of the god Mars.

When the infants were discovered, the princess was imprisoned and the
babies were set adrift in a basket on the Tiber River — which today winds
its way through Rome.

The twins floated ashore safely and were suckled by a she-wolf until they
were rescued by a shepherd, who raised them.

When they learned the story of their past, they killed the usurper Amulius,
restored Rhea Silvia's father — Numitor — to the throne, and set off to
found a city on the site where they were taken care of by the wolf.

The image of the two naked babies looking up to drink the milk of the
she-wolf became a recurrent theme in Roman art, and sculptures of the scene
are scattered around museums throughout the nation.

While there is little evidence of the historical existence of twins called
Romulus and Remus who founded Rome, the discovery of the palace offers
tantalizing indications the legend had roots in fact.

Carandini began his career as an art historian before becoming involved in
archaeological digs.