artsykat
Junior Member
Hello, I'm Kateri, nice to meet you~!
Posts: 51 
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Post by artsykat on Sept 29, 2016 1:11:35 GMT
I found that the part from The Story of Romulus and Numa, what really made it feel more like a legend than actual facts was that it seemed to follow the same format as other Greek/Roman tales. The king wants to rid of a child, gives said child to servants to dispose of, and that child, or in this case children, survive and become conquerors or kings. (Romulus does, that is.) I feel like this factor may have to do with the culture back then. The Greeks and Romans worship their gods, who were at first disposed of by their father. But they rose up and defeated him, and became gods. It's really interesting to see the way the Greek and Roman authors demonstrate power and the way they portray their kings.
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Post by Dominique Martin on Oct 1, 2016 1:55:26 GMT
That is a great point. It seems any time they try to get rid of someone it backfires greatly. Many time jealous gods tried to kill mortal babies but it failed and they became great heroes or demigods. I think a lot of the times though this is caused by resentment for the child because they are so often conceived out of wedlock.
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Post by Christopher Martin on Oct 1, 2016 14:54:26 GMT
What the two of you have done is identified a classical trope of literature, that is: the abandoned child.
How many time in historical literature do we find an infant being targeted in order to circumvent an unpleasant future? Oedipus, Moses, Jesus, Romulus + Remus (just to name a few). Now, part of the reason for this is that it makes for a good story: the helpless is made a victim, but despite the odds, returns to conquer all. The other part of the reason for this is that God is a good author: pretty cool that Moses and Jesus were abandoned babies, and both of them conquered powerful empires (Egypt, the Reign of Sin) without the aid of military power!
So then part of the reason why such a ridiculous legend (e.g., being suckled by a wolf) would endure into Rome's history was the subliminal, psychological significance of the event: Rome, though targeted for death from helpless beginnings, would nevertheless conquer all. If you can make an entire civilization believe that you are fated/destined to be successful, to rise above all threats to your existence, then you create a very powerful belief: the ideology that your civilization is more than bricks and mortar, than blood and sweat. Rather, Romans believed that they were divinely ordained to be supreme, and that therefore, even though Rome might be burned and her people killed, the IDEA of Rome would endure, and would therefore eventually return to conquer all.
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