Cave of Romulus and Remus found in Rome: archeologists 11/21/2007 10:55:00 AM - Dragana Kovacevic The legendary cave where ancient myth holds a she-wolf suckled and nurtured the future twin founders of Rome may have been found, a team of Italian archeologists has announced.
The cave - located underground and near the ruins of Emperor Augustus's palace on the Palatine hill - is decorated with seashells and mosaics. Preliminary examinations suggest the 16-metre deep cavity also features a white eagle at the centre, and that the area is generally well-preserved. Archeologists believe the place to be the once-worshipped, but since long-forgotten location known as Lupercale - named after the Latin word for wolf. "This could reasonably be the place bearing witness to the myth of Rome, one of the most well-known in the world, the legendary cave where the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, saving them from death," Reuters quoted Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli as saying. The cave was discovered during restoration work on Emperor Augustus' palace. The myth Legend has it that Remus and Romulus - sons of Mars, the Roman god of war - were abandoned by the banks of the river Tiber, where a female wolf found them and fed them her milk. The twins founded Rome at the site, but had a falling-out over who should rule it: Romulus killed Remus and became Rome's first ruler. It was once believed that through this line, all Romans were descendants of Mars. blog: http://artculture-indonesia.blogspot.com --------------------------------- Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends inside Yahoo! Mail. See how. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
