Capitoline Wolf, Rome

Overview

Replica of the capitoline she-wolf at the northern corner of Palazzo senatorio, Rome, Italy

The Capitoline Wolf is a famous bronze statue representing a scene from the legend of the founding of Rome. It shows the she-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus. The famous statue became one of the symbols of Rome. A replica is located on the left of the Palazzo Senatorio in Piazza dei Campidoglio, and the original has been housed in the Capitoline Museums since 1471.

Legends

According to the legends, the Roman state was founded by the mythical Romulus, the first king of Rome. Romulus and his twin brother Remus were sons of Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, the former king of Alba Longa and descended from the Trojan hero Aeneas and Latinus, the mythical founder of the kingdom of Latium. Numitor had been usurped by his brother, Amulius, who ordered the two brothers to be thrown in the Tiber River. Instead, the servants left the two babies by the river, where a wolf mother found them and tendered to them with her own cubs until a herdsman and his wife found and adopted them. After reaching adulthood, they killed Amulius and reinstated their grandfather Numitor as king. They found the city of Rome on the hills where they grew up, traditionally assumed to be on April 21, 753 BC. Remus was killed in a conflict with his brother though, and Romulus became the king of the newly established city of Rome.