The Myths of the Founding of Rome

The Myths of the Founding of Rome By tradition, the city of Rome was founded in 753 B.C.* The stories  about the founding of Rome are conflicting, but there are two main founding figures to look out for: Romulus (after whom the city may have been named) and Aeneas. It is also possible that Evander of Arcadia founded Rome. Much of the information on the founding of Rome comes from the first book of Livys history of Rome. Aeneas as Founder of Rome The Trojan prince Aeneas, an important figure linking the Romans with the Trojans and the goddess Venus, is sometimes credited with the founding of Rome as the culmination of his post-Trojan War adventures, but the version of the Roman foundation myth that is most familiar is that of Romulus, the first king of Rome.   The Romulus and Remus Myth Romulus and Remus were twin brothers, the sons of a vestal virgin named Rhea Silvia (also called Ilia) and the god Mars, according to legend. Since vestal virgins could be buried alive if they violated their chastity vows, whoever forced Rhea Silvia to enter the equivalent of an ancient convent assumed that Rhea Silvia would remain childless. The grandfather and great-uncle of the twins were Numitor and Amulius, who between them divided the wealth and kingdom of Alba Longa (a city founded by Aeneas son Ascanius), but then Amulius seized Numitors share and became sole ruler. To prevent retaliation by the offspring of his brother, Amulius made his niece a vestal virgin. When Rhea became pregnant, her life was spared because of the special pleading of Amulius daughter Antho. Although she kept her life, Rhea was imprisoned. Contrary to plan, the virgin Rhea was impregnated by the god Mars. When the twin boys were born, Amulius wished to have them killed, and so bid someone, perhaps Faustulus, a swineherd, expose the boys. Faustulus left the twins on the river bank where a she-wolf nursed them, and a woodpecker fed and guarded them until Faustulus took them into his care again. The two boys were well educated by Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia. They grew up to be strong and attractive. They say that his name was Faustulus; and that they were carried by him to his homestead and given to his wife Larentia to be brought up. Some are of the opinion that Larentia was called Lupa among the shepherds from her being a common prostitute, and hence an opening was afforded for the marvellous story.- Livy Book I As adults, Remus found himself imprisoned, and in the presence of Numitor, who determined from his age that Remus and his twin brother could be his grandsons. Learning of Remus predicament, Faustulus told Romulus the truth of his birth and sent him off to rescue his brother. Amulius was despised, and so Romulus drew a crowd of supporters as he approached Alba Longa to kill the king. The twins re-installed their grandfather Numitor on the throne and freed their mother who had been imprisoned for her crime. The Establishment of Rome Since Numitor now ruled Alba Longa, the boys needed their own kingdom and settled in the area in which they had been raised, but the two young men couldnt decide on the exact site and started building separate sets of walls around different hills: Romulus, around the Palatine; Remus, around the Aventine. There they took auguries to see which area the gods favored. On the basis of conflicting omens, each twin claimed his was the site of the city. An angry Remus jumped over Romulus wall and Romulus killed him. Rome was therefore named after Romulus: A more common account is that Remus, in derision of his brother, leaped over the newly-erected walls, and was thereupon slain by Romulus in a fit of passion, who, mocking him, added words to this effect: So perish every one hereafter, who shall leap over my walls. Thus Romulus obtained possession of supreme power for himself alone. The city, when built, was called after the name of its founder.- Livy Book I Aeneas and Alba Longa Aeneas, son of the goddess Venus and the mortal Anchises, left the burning city of Troy at the end of the Trojan War, with his son Ascanius. After many adventures, which the Roman poet Vergil or Virgil describes in the Aeneid, Aeneas and his son arrived at the city of Laurentum on the west coast of Italy. Aeneas married Lavinia, the daughter of a local king, Latinus, and founded the town of Lavinium in honor of his wife. Ascanius, son of Aeneas, decided to build a new city, which he named Alba Longa, under the Alban mountain. Alba Longa was the hometown of Romulus and Remus, who were separated from Aeneas by about a dozen generations. Aeneas was hospitably entertained at the house of Latinus; there Latinus, in the presence of his household gods, cemented the public league by a family one, by giving Aeneas his daughter in marriage. This event fully confirmed the Trojans in the hope of at length terminating their wanderings by a lasting and permanent settlement. They built a town, which Aeneas called Lavinium after the name of his wife. Shortly afterward also, a son was the issue of the recently concluded marriage, to whom his parents gave the name of Ascanius.- Livy Book I Plutarch on Possible Founders of Rome ... Roma, from whom this city was so called, was the daughter of Italus and Leucaria; or, by another account, of Telephus, Herculess son, and that she was married to Aeneas, or ... to Ascanius, Aeneass son. Some tell us that Romanus, the son of Ulysses and Circe, built it; some, Romus the son of Emathion, Diomede having sent him from Troy; and others, Romus, king of the Latins, after driving out the Tyrrhenians, who had come from Thessaly into Lydia, and from thence into Italy.- Plutarch Isidore of Seville on Evander and the Founding of Rome There is a line (313) in the 8th book of the Aeneid that suggests Evander of Arcadia founded Rome. Isidore of Seville reports this as one of the stories told about the founding of Rome.   A banishd band,Drivn with Evander from th Arcadian land,Have planted here, and placd on high their walls;Their town the founder Pallanteum calls,Derivd from Pallas, his great-grandsires name:But the fierce Latians old possession claim,With war infesting the new colony.These make thy friends, and on their aid rely.- Dryden translation from Book 8 of the Aeneid. Points to Note About the Roman Founding Legend Rome was founded on 21 April 753 B.C., according to tradition. It was celebrated in Rome with the festival of Parilia.Because a woodpecker tended to the twins, the woodpecker was sacred to Rome.In some versions of the story, Rhea was drowned and then married the river god Tiber.When Faustulus first let the twins go, they floated into the river and then washed ashore at the base of a fig tree. This was the site where they built their city.In some versions, Acca Larentalia was a prostitute.The stories of the founding of Rome are just that, stories. The legends, as a whole, are not confirmed by tangible evidence although they can be used to help interpret some bits of archaeological data. * 753 B.C. is an important year to know since some Romans reckoned their years from this beginning time (ab urbe condita), although the names of the consuls were more commonly used to pinpoint a year. When viewing Roman dates you may see them listed as xyz year A.U.C., which means xyz years from (after) the founding of the city. You might write the year 44 B.C. as 710 A.U.C. and the year A.D. 2010 as 2763 A.U.C.; the latter, in other words, 2763 years from the founding of Rome.

Mali Music essays

Mali Music essays The Empire of Mali Introduction In its peak, the people of Mali occupied land as far west as the Atlantic Ocean. They also traveled as far east as Gao, the capital of the Songhai, as far south as the Niger bend, and as far north as the Sahara desert. They built a great empire between 1240 and 1337 that underwent a course of slow decline until the seventeenth century. History The empire of Mali originated from a small country known as Kangaba. Its people where known as the Mandingo (they have also been called the Malinke and the Mandinka). After the breakup of Ghana, the Sosso, who had caused the breakup, were still in power. Apparently Sundiata, an heir to the Mandingo throne raised an army and defeated the Sosso in the battle of Kirina. Afterward, Sundiata established the empire of Mali. He converted to Islam for support of the Muslim peoples. When Mansa Musa came into power, in the early 1300s, the empire reached its height. Mansa Musa traveled through Cairo on his pilgrimage to Me cca. It is said that he gave away so much gold that it dropped in value in Cairo for 12 years. Afterward the empire slowly declined, until, in the 1600s it was no more than it had been originally when it originated: the small kingdom of Kangaba. Government The government of Mali was a dictatorship. The dictator, who had the title of Mansa, was the sole secular and religious leader of his people, though not he did not enjoy the same power as Egyptian Pharaohs did. The base of government was located in the capital, known as Niani. It was once written by a traveler that a person could travel safely without fear of harm, and that the people of Mali hated injustice and the Mansa did not tolerate injustice at all. The military branch of government was constant. There was a standing army of professional soldiers, so that Mali was ready for a battle without having to raise an army every time. Religion The religion in Mali was divided between two groups. The mer ...

About immigration in human resource management Essay

About immigration in human resource management - Essay Example Immigration may affect the federal budget, since the government has to establish a tight security between the borders. This increases the output in the labor market and help in boosting the economy. Immigration of human resources has various pros and cons. Among the pros, there is the diversification of ideas. The federal government may also incur more expenses in its budget for enforcing a law that the employers have to know the background of their new employees. The immigration policies on verification of any new employees to an organization would be a huge cost of the federal government. Therefore, the federal government would require making of a clear process through which only the cleared immigrants could be employed. The process would increase the expense of the government to the Department of Homeland Security. Though this process would be expensive to enforce, its evasion to new employees would reduce the revenue collected by the government. This is because employees that were not authorized to work would be non-taxable and therefore reduce the government revenue.Impact of policy changes to employers Immigration of human resources would also have both positive and negative impact on the employer. This happens due to change of employment policies that workers have to be authorized. In the past, the authorization of workers decreased the number of workers who worked in the agricultural farms. It affected the labor supply and, therefore, the few immigrants who qualified to get jobs in the agriculture firms.

Mandatory Voting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Quality Analysis I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Quality Analysis I - Essay Example Apple is also involved in the marketing of mobile communication and media devices with other peripherals and associated accessories (Lashinsky, 2012). Among the products produced by Apple Inc., the Apple personal computers have been one of the greatest successes that the organization has made in the past. The Apple Smartphones exhibit a number of qualities that put them way ahead of other competing organizations, within the stiff market arena. The qualities of Apple Smartphones that put them ahead in terms of competition from the many smartphone manufacturers include the unique operating software (OS), which has the ability to resist virus attack. Viruses are some of the greatest concerns of many smartphone users today, most especially in reference to data loss, which is one of the greatest problems that majorities of the users face today. Additionally, Apple Smartphones use very unique software that are never used by any other type of computer system, therefore, preventing the problem of software piracy, ideally, one of the greatest currently in the Information Technology industry (Lashinsky, 2012). In conducting a SWOT analysis for Apple Inc., it is clear that the greatest strength contributing to the organization’s success is innovation. Apple Inc. has been able to create unique products, which have brought the market forward, especially in terms of design and competition (Cruikshank, 2006). With products such as the Smartphones and the iPhones, the organization has been able to bring technology to the mainstream, enabling it build a brand name that beats all the rest in the market arena. Despite such great success, Apple Inc. has one great weakness in terms of its pricing. It is substantively clear that the prices of most of Apple’s products are very exploitative, with a majority of critics arguing that the organization only concentrates in gathering immense wealth in cash terms from its customers, without any little concern for theirs economic status

The pearls illusion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The pearls illusion - Essay Example The author dexterously manoeuvres the plot of the book so that the readers can identify with the more selfish nature of the man who relish the failures of the downtrodden and even make efforts to subdue and overpower the dreams of the poor so that the rich can become richer and continue to maintain that status. The book portrays the ‘ambitions’ of protagonist ‘Kino’ which are intrinsically linked with providing his son with education and a better life. The book shows how the simple wishes of the man, especially the ones who are poor, turn into ambitious ventures when confronted with the surreal realities of the time. The author has used the story telling mode to convey the changing moods of the protagonist and has profusely used the surreal elements to weave the magic in the ordinary life of the hero. Steinbeck, in this powerful book, has shown the irony of the pursuit of superficial material gains that blinds the man to the most important objective of life, of being happy. Through the character of Kino, author skilfully takes the readers through the experiences of day to day struggle of a poor man and shows how he develops the illusionary desires and ambitions to overcome his poverty so that he can provide a more comfortable life for his son and family. ‘Bu t the pearls were accidents, and the finding of one was luck’ becomes the powerful motive of the protagonist to dream. The book is a story of Kino and his wife Juana who go to the sea in search of ‘pearl of the world’ so that they can provide proper treatment for their son, who is bitten by the poisonous scorpion. They find the most coveted pearl and thereon begins the saga of the dramatic events that turn their lives upside down. Everybody in the small village is attracted to the pearl and wants a share of the riches that it represents. The people like the doctor, who had earlier refused to treat Coyito, Kino’s son and the

Rapid dissemination of images has had an impact on artists Essay

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