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By Jennifer Viegas

Romulus and Remus

May 15, 2003 — A fragment of writing by Stesichorus, a Graeco-Sicilian poet who wrote not long after Rome's founding, suggests Rome was named after a Trojan woman called Roma.

The fragment, rediscovered and embraced by growing numbers of Italians today, challenges the popular legend that Romulus was Rome's founder.

Stesichorus (638-555 B.C.) described how Roma, with her Trojan fleet, fled the war-torn city of Troy.

They arrived in a beautiful place where visitors were "enticed to dream while being caressed by the off-shore breeze." Roma and her entourage, captivated by the idyllic spot, did not desire to leave. She had all of her ships burned. The happily stranded group then named the place after Roma.

Eleanor Leach, professor of classics at Indiana University, Bloomington, told Discovery News that the story is also recounted in a 5th century historical narrative entitled "Roman Antiquities" by the Greek writer Dionysius of Halicarnassus. He referred to the woman as Rhome, which means "power" in Greek.

According to a recent report in Rome's Il Messaggero newspaper, about 1,000 people marched in support of Roma on April 21. Based on writings by the scholar Varro who lived in the first century B.C., Rome was founded on that day in 753 B.C. between 8 and 9 a.m. A yearly celebration called Parilia is observed to commemorate the event.

While Rome's early history is clouded in mythology, most people are taught the legend of Romulus and Remus. In Roman writings, these twin brothers were born in the ancient Italian city of Alba Longa. They left, hoping to establish their own city. They chose a site, built a wall around it, and Romulus named it after himself.

Plutarch, a Greek biographer and essayist who lived from approximately 46-120 A.D., popularized the myth in his work entitled "Romulus." Stesichorus was born just over a century after 753 B.C., which supporters of the Roma theory say strengthens their claims.

Not everyone agrees.

Guy Rogers, professor of history and classics at Wellesley College, told Discovery News, "Stesichorus' context, controversial in itself, suits the establishment of the Republic- circa 510 B.C.E. — much better than the traditional foundation date of Rome."

However, he added, "We do know that as early as the sixth century B.C. a place called Aeneia in Macedonia was issuing coins showing Aeneas (a Trojan hero) carrying his father Anchises from the ruins of Troy, so the legend of someone getting away from the destruction of Troy goes back that far at least."

While the myth concerning the Trojan refugee Roma appears to be garnering attention in modern Italy, ancient Rome's male leaders favored the Romulus and Remus story.

"The notion of Roma/Rhome as a daughter of Aeneas did exist in ancient texts, although it wasn't the foundation legend that the Romans preferred, especially after Julius Caesar and Augustus had claimed to be descendants of Aeneas' son Iulus, known also as Ascanius," explained Leach.

According to the Romulus and Remus legend, Iulus was related to Romulus, so the link would have given Julius Caesar and Augustus direct ties to Rome's supposed founder.

Classics scholars agree that further research, including archaeological work, is needed to determine, if possible, who was the actual namesake of Rome.