We interrupt our Text & the City week to bring you an exciting announcement:
In a press conference held on the Palatine Hill today, Francesco Rutelli, Minister of Culture, has announced the discovery of the Lupercal, the cave in which Romulus and Remus were suckled by the She-Wolf after she rescued them from the banks of the Tiber River.
Long known to be near the House of Augustus on the Palatine, the Lupercal was discovered while archaeologists were drilling to survey the foundations of the first Emperor’s home. Irene Iacopi, a superintendent of archaeology, said they were surprised to discover the site:
We knew from ancient reports that the Lupercal shouldn’t be far from the Emperor’s palace, but we didn’t expect to find it. It was a lucky surprise.
We didn’t enter the cave but took some photos with a probe. They show a richly decorated vault encrusted with mosaics and seashells, too rich to be part of a home.
The discovery of the site is a major find that may shed light on the story of Rome’s foundation. According to legend, the city was founded by twins, Romulus and Remus, who were the sons of the war god, Mars, and of Rhea Silvia, a princess descended from the Trojan warrior Aeneas. As newborns, the babies were abandoned in a basket on the banks of the Tiber River, where they were discovered by the She-Wolf who took them to her cave and suckled them alongside her own pups. Eventually Romulus and Remus were found by Faustulus, a shepherd, who raised them to adulthood.
As young men, Romulus and Remus decided to found a city on the site where their lives had been miraculously saved by the She-Wolf, but in the process they quarreled about which of them would lead the new city. They looked to the gods to settle the dispute, and the immortals designated Romulus as city founder. He undertook the rituals necessary to create a city on April 21st, 753 BC, and on the same day killed his brother Remus for violating the new city’s sacred boundary.
Whether or not the Romulus and Remus story is a true one is a hotly debated issue. In recent years, archaeologist Andrea Carandini has claimed to find evidence that supports this fantastic story, though the debate remains open and many scholars still believe that Romulus and Remus were legendary characters.
Whether or not Romulus and Remus ever existed, and whether or not their lives were saved by a She-Wolf, the ancient Romans found them important enough to commemorate their by maintaining monuments that honored their place in the city’s earliest history.
Ancient tourists following the “Romulean Trail” could visit the Ficus Ruminalis, a fig tree growing alongside the Tiber and marked the place where Romulus and Remus were abandoned. Climbing up the nearby Palatine Hill, they could pay homage to their city founder with a visit to the Hut of Romulus, the thatch and straw hut in which the first citizen was said to have lived. Last but not least, those interested in Rome’s earliest history could visit the Lupercal, the richly decorated cave in which it was believed that the babies lived with La Lupa before being discovered by the shepherd Faustulus.
It is that cave which archaeologists believe they have discovered in a never before excavated area between the Temple of Apollo Palatinus and the Church of Sant’Anastasia on the Palatine. The newly-discovered Lupercal appears to comprise a natural grotto enlarged by construction to give it the form of a nymphaeum measuring some 9 meters tall and some 7.5 meters in diameter. Photos (see above and below) taken by means of a probe sent into the chamber show that the ceiling vault is elaborately decorated with colored marbles and features a large which eagle at its center.
