The Myth of Romulus and Remus Essay

The Roman society was regarded as being extraordinarily hierarchical and patriarchal. The adult males were considered as the head of the households and possessed the legal privileges and power which provided them the jurisdiction over other members of the home. The status of the Romans' freedom was created by the census ranking, ancestry, and citizenship. The most important division within the Roman society was that existing between the patricians who added to small elite that monopolized the political power. The elite group of individuals was the ones who comprised most of the Roman society. This paper will discuss the Romulus and Remus myth while explaining how Romans purposefully distributed political power to hinder the development of the type of tyranny during their kingship.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Romulus was a legendary first king in Rome and the founder of the city. In 753 BCE, Romulus started building the city upon Palatine Hill. After he found and named the capital Rome, he allowed different men from all classes to become citizens in Rome including the freemen and slaves with no distinction. After Romulus had ensued war with Sabines, he shared his kingship with Sabine king. The Rome King possessed absolute power over his people. This made the Romans purposefully distributed political power to hinder the development of the type of tyranny during their kinship. During his reign, the Senate offered only an oligarchic, weal, counterbalance to his power mainly exerting only the minor administrative powers. It is because of these reasons why the Rome kingdom is regarded as an absolute monarchy. The members of the Rome kingdom would only vote on the candidates who have been nominated by a chosen senate member known as interrex candidates. Servius reforms resulted in significant changes in the voting rights of the people of Rome. The rights of voting usually are based on the socioeconomic status of the Rome people, which transfers most of the power to only the hands of the elites. While Lucius was in control, he conducted several wars against the neighbors of Rome to include the Rutuli, Gabii, and Volsci.

Remus and Romulus were the purported sons of Mars and Rhea Silva, the god of war. Due to the prophecy explaining that they were born to overthrow the government of Amulius in the way of several mythological heroes, who were abandoned at the time of birth. The two sons were left to die on Tiber River, but several miraculous interventions saved them.

The people of the ancient Rome had pride as they believed they belonged to one of the greatest cities across the world. Rome needed to have a great story regarding its foundation and 8t is due to this plight that the legend of Remus and Romulus effectively filled this void. The longevity of Rome is creating a testament to the quality of the story which it produces and its significance to the great civilization which explains why Romans purposefully distributed political power to hinder the development of a type of tyranny that was different from their kingship. Remus and Romulus were twin brothers. Rhea Silvia, their mother, was Numitor's daughter. Numitor was Alba Longa's king, an ancient Latium's city.

Before the twin brothers were born, Amulius, Rhea Silvia's uncle took power through the killing of the male heirs of Numitor and used force to make Rhea Silvia a Vestal Virgin. In the ancient Rome, vestal virgins were usually charged with the role of maintaining sacred fire which was never extinguished, and they were to be sworn to chastity. After the twin brothers were born, Amulius was seen to be furious and had his servants take the twins to the flooded river to kill them. While the twins were placed to the downstream, they were discovered by a she-wolf. The Remus and Romulus myth states that it is a Lupa that nurses and suckles the twin brothers while the woodpecker is feeding them up to the time when the shepherd in the neighborhood found them. The shepherd is believed to be the one who raised the twin brothers together with his wife. As the time elapses, the twin brothers start proving that they are indeed natural leaders.

Conclusion

While the twin brothers became adults, they started resolving how they would help in finding a city at the site where they had met the wolf. However, the twin brothers began quarreling while deciding where they should make a place for the town and as a result, Romulus ended up killing Remus. Given that Romulus wished to have the city to be built on Palatine Hill, his twin brother Remus preferred the city be founded at Aventine Hill. After killing his twin brother, Romulus successfully found Rome at Palatine Hill and led it his name. Romulus participated in leading Rome in several military victories, while still supervising the expansion of the city. While Rome swelled with a different population of male refugees that were disaffected, Romulus was involved in leading a war that was against Sabine people. This war was eventually war which made Romulus absorb all the Saines into Rome. This made Romans seen to be purposefully distributing political power to hinder the development of the type of tyranny in the regions surrounding the kingship. It is under the leadership of Romulus which made Rome become a major dominant force in the area. However, while Romulus started growing older, he started making his rule more autocratic whereby he eventually disappeared in circumstances which are unknown.