Roman Mythology: An Overview (Part IV)

Last time, we discussed the Trojan War cycle of myths. Be sure to check that out before reading this piece! Today, we'll be exploring the Founding of Rome cycle. The authors included in this overview are: Virgil (Aeneid, Eclogues, Georgics), Ovid (Metamorphoses, Amores, Heroides, Ars Amatoria, Fasti), Horace (Odes, Satires, Epistles), Livy (Ab Urbe Condita), Catullus, Lucretius, Seneca (tragedies), Statius, and Lucan.

Key Myths: The Founding of Rome

How to read this table:

Each row is a myth or mythological cycle. The columns show which authors engage with it and, where relevant, the specific work, book, or passage, and a note on how the myth is used. A dash (—) means the author does not meaningfully engage with that myth.

Author abbreviations:   Virg. = Virgil  ·  Ov. = Ovid  ·  Hor. = Horace  ·  Cat. = Catullus  ·  Liv. = Livy  ·  Lucr. = Lucretius  ·  Sen. = Seneca  ·  Stat. = Statius  ·  Luc. = Lucan

Work abbreviations:   Aen. = Aeneid  ·  Met. = Metamorphoses  ·  Od. = Odes  ·  DRN = De Rerum Natura  ·  Theb. = Thebaid  ·  BC = Bellum Civile (Pharsalia)  ·  AUC = Ab Urbe Condita  ·  Her. = Heroides  ·  Fast. = Fasti  ·  Am. = Amores

The Founding of Rome

Stay tuned next week for an explanation of myths pertaining to the founding of Rome. Until then, comment with any questions or pieces of information you'd like us to add! Myth	Summary	Virgil	Ovid	Livy	Other
Romulus and Remus	Twin sons of Mars and Rhea Silvia, suckled by a she-wolf, raised by a shepherd. They found a city; Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel over its walls. Rome takes the name of Romulus.	Aen. I.273–277: Jupiter's prophecy to Venus includes the founding of Rome by "Romulus of the race of Mars." Aen. VI.777–787: Anchises shows Aeneas Romulus among the souls of Rome's future great men.	Fast. II.381–422: the she-wolf, the founding, and the feast of Lupercalia explained through this myth. Met. XIV.772–804: the deification of Romulus as Quirinus.	AUC I.3–7: the fullest prose account. Livy narrates the birth, exposure, the wolf, the shepherd Faustulus, the founding quarrel, and the death of Remus.	Hor. Epod. VII and Od. III.3 use Romulus and Remus as a dark precedent of fraternal violence. Invoked to explain the civil war.
The Rape of the Sabine Women	Romulus's new city lacked women; he invited the Sabine people to games and had his men seize their women. The Sabine men attacked in retaliation but were stopped by the Sabine women themselves, who stood between the armies.	Aen. VIII.635–638: depicted on Aeneas's shield among scenes of early Roman history. Presented as a founding moment, not a moral problem.	Ars Am. I.101–134: Ovid retells it at length. He presents the rape as a model for seduction and uses it to explain the Roman games as a venue for courtship.	AUC I.9–13: the fullest account. Livy narrates the plan, the games, the seizure, the Sabine counterattack, and the women's interven- tion.	Hor. Od. III.9 (the Lydia ode) playfully alludes to Sabine women.
Lucretia	The Roman noblewoman was raped by Tarquinius Superbus's son Sextus. She summoned her father and husband, told them what happened, and killed herself. Her death sparked the revolt that expelled the kings and led to the founding of the Republic.	—	Fast. II.685–852: Ovid's fullest treatment — a long, detailed, and psychologically probing account that dwells on Lucretia's virtue and the political aftermath. Among the most important passages in the Fasti.	AUC I.57–60: the definitive prose account. Livy emphasizes Lucretia's chastity and Brutus's political cunning. Her death is the hinge of Roman constitutional history in his telling.	Sen. references her as the archetype of female virtue under pressure; she appears in his prose and is alluded to in the tragedies.
Aeneas's descent to the underworld	Aeneas enters the underworld guided by the Sibyl of Cumae. He crosses the Styx, passes Elysium, and meets his father Anchises, who shows him the souls of future Romans waiting to be born (called the parade of heroes).	Aen. VI: the central book of the entire epic. Contains the geography of the underworld, the theory of the soul's transmigration, and the prophetic vision of Roman history from Romulus to Augustus.	Met. XIV.101–157: the Sibyl of Cumae tells Aeneas her own story. Ovid does not retell the scene itself.

Stay tuned next week for an explanation of myths pertaining to the founding of Rome. Until then, comment with any questions or pieces of information you'd like us to add!