How did Rome begin?

We all know what Rome became - largest empire of the ancient world,
public bathing, gladiators, aqueducts, excellent roads and all that
- but how did it begin? Who founded it? When? And why? Mary and
Charlotte sift through the various myths that give some insight to
these questions.  Peel back the layers of history and Rome’s
origins are lost in the bog on which it was built. Archaeology
offers us evidence of Bronze Age huts, burial practice and trade
with neighbouring (and far-flung) lands, but leaves many of the big
questions unanswered. This is a problem not only for classicists,
but the countless men who apparently think of the Roman Empire
several times a day. The Romans themselves struggled with their
murky history. Even for them, the question of why they had risen to
such extraordinary power was puzzling. The thought of humble
origins sat uneasily with the grandeur and pomp of the imperial
capital. So they did what many other cultures do and made up
stories that explained their path to greatness.  If you’ve
heard of outcast babies Romulus and Remus being suckled by a wolf,
that’s just the icing on the cake. Accounts of the Romulus myth
vary wildly. In some versions, he eventually ascends to heaven as a
god. In others, he is hacked to death by his disgruntled
subjects.  Other myths point elsewhere. The “Roman race” in
Italy was founded by a Trojan exile called Aeneas, although he
didn’t actually found the city of Rome itself. Maybe, that was a
Greek called Evander, long before Romulus.  It’s easy to
dismiss these stories, but Mary and Charlotte argue that they tell
us a great deal about how the Romans understood themselves and
their city (whether there is some grain of literal truth in them,
who knows?). Most of all they point to the way that, at some deep
level, they considered themselves to be an immigrant culture -
outcasts, exiles and opportunists - searching for a better
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Mary and Charlotte’s recommended reads: There are many ancient
accounts of the origins of Rome. Best known is Book 1 of Livy’s
History of Rome which tells the story from Romulus to the last of
the seven early kings (translations in Penguin Classics or Oxford
World Classics, as The Early History of Rome and The Rise of
Rome).  For Aeneas, try Virgil Aeneid Books 2 and 8. Book 2
takes us to Aeneas’ flight from Troy. Book 8 pictures Evander, who
is then living there, showing Aeneas around the future site of
Rome).  The beginning of Mary’s SPQR, written for non
specialists, busts a few myths about the origins of the city. The
Italian archaeologist Andrea Carandini takes a completely different
approach. Try his (short) Rome: Day One. Interesting, but rather
more specialist, books are: Catharine Edwards, Writing Rome (she is
very good on the “Hut of Romulus” which supposedly was
authentically preserved in Rome for hundreds of years); T. P.
Wiseman, Remus (which has an off-beat line about the role of Remus
in Roman history, but gives an eye-opening account of all the very
different Roman traditions about the world and twins). Instant
Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole 
Executive Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Video Editor: Jak Ford
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