Capitoline She-wolf

Introducing the famous She-Wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, sitting atop this high column. The original, dating from the Middle Ages, is in the Capitoline Museums. So lucky for you, if you weren’t planning on going in, there’s a replica right here! You’ve probably seen this statue in other cities around the world. There are countless copies of this emblematic Roman mythological figure. For those not familiar with the legend of the founding of Rome, here’s a brief outline. According to the myth, the priestess Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin and daughter of King Numitor, was impregnated by the god Mars, and gave birth to twins, Romulus and Remus. When Numitor was overthrown by his brother, the latter decided to have Rhea walled up and her children thrown into the Tiber River, so that they could never claim the throne. The story goes that a she-wolf found the helpless infants and took them in her den at the foot of the Palatine Hill. She fed and protected them for some time until a shepherd found them and raised them as his own. They say his wife was a prostitute, nicknamed lupa, which happens to mean both “she-wolf” and “prostitute” in Latin. That’s probably how the legend of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus came about. As adults, the twins decided to found a city at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where they had been rescued. But they couldn’t agree on a name and so they turned to the gods for help. They then stood high on a hill to take the auspices, that is to observe the behavior of birds and receive omens. Romulus spotted twelve vultures from the Aventine Hill, while Remus only saw six. The former was thus crowned king of the new city and went on to dig a moat, swearing to kill anyone who crossed it; this is where the city walls would later be built. Mocking his brother, Remus jumped over the moat, and believe it or not, Romulus killed him in cold blood then and there. And so, Rome was born in 754 BC, or so the story goes.