The Legacy of Romulus 753 to 717 BC

A Sculpture of the She-Wolf that according to legend
suckled the infant twin founders of Rome Romulus
and Remus.   

Rome owed her expansion to her military prowess.  Victory in war more than diplomacy, cultural or economic dominance marked the Roman way.  What makes for victory in war?  What were the tactics that Romans employed?  How did the Romans organize themselves to succeed in war?  Was the Roman Army distinct from its neighbors?  An examination of the military record of King Romulus, first King of Rome demonstrates its distinct and unique character that is still present today.

The Army of Romulus evolved from a gang of companions and tuffs, to bands of armed shepherds, to enrollment of 3,000 men and the creation of the first legion.  The military history of Romulus consists of a war against the usurper in Alba Longa, a civil war with his brother Remus, the war among the Sabines.

     

The war started over a grazing dispute between shepherds. Alba Longa lies south east of Rome on Mount Albanus and Lacus Albanus. A plain of 12 miles separates Alba Longa and the seven hills of Rome.  The opening engagement resulted in the capture of Romulus’ brother Remus.  Romulus with the aid of his foster father Faustulus organized a raid on Alba Longa in order to liberate his brother Remus.  Romulus killed the usurper, their grand-uncle Amulius the so-called king of Alba Longa. Rather than rule it himself or jointly with his twin brother Remus, Romulus restored his imprisoned grandfather Numitor brother to Amulius to the throne of Alba Longa.

We find an auspicious beginning in the first two military engagements.  There is no closer sibling relationship than that of twins.   Twins not only share the same womb, same parents and familial upbringing but also share the same dimensions.  It is said that identical twins communicate between each other without words. 

One can justify the killing of Amulius, grand Uncle to Romulus and Remus.  His violent death served as grim justice to the attempted infanticide of Romulus and Remus, the imprisonment of their mother or the usurpation of their grandfather’s throne. Romulus and Remus could also justify murdering Amulius in terms of settling the grazing dispute between the shepherds of Alba Longa and those of Rome. Romulus and Remus could also justify the blood spilled in Alba Longa as the necessary consequence in the struggle for freedom and independence in the face of naked tyranny.  One easily reaches these unstated conclusions after reading Livy, Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus - the co-mingled record of legend, mythology and history.

A Production Still from the movie "Universal Empire"
depicting a Marian Army circa 87 BC.

The military record of Romulus, first king of Rome bears his brother.  Fratricide wrapped in the blanket of Liberty with chilling frequency echoes over and over again in the history of Rome. 

The writings of Livy, Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus with general agreement record the civil war among the twin brothers Romulus and Remus as one of primacy in governing the city of destiny. Plutarch states “the first houses numbered no more than a thousand[1]” with Romulus and his followers on the Palatine and Remus and his followers on the Aventine that he had dubbed Remonium.  Attempts to solve the crisis by appealing to Numitor[2] and divination failed.    Remus was killed for mocking the walls of Rome when he leaped over.  The ancients are evasive as to who dealt the death-blow.  All three sources concede that Celer may have killed Remus and yet do not discount that Romulus probably killed his brother and certainly regretted it.  Fastulus, Romulus’ foster father and Fastulus’ brother, Pleistinus, Romulus’s uncle had been killed in battle resisting the kingship of Romulus.  The ancients record Romulus’ guilt and regret.

Romulus commissioned a war against the Sabines.  The grazing lands laid in the balance in the war with Alba Longa.  The kingship of Rome laid in the balance in the war with Remus.  The control and domination of the Sabine women laid in the balance in the war with Sabines.  During Festival of Neptune the Equestrian, King Romulus lured his neighbors to the Circus Maximus and then at an appointed signal kidnapped over 300 women to make wives out of them.  Plutarch cites 2 different sources that estimate the number of captured Sabine women to be twice the legendary 300[3].

Whatever the figure, three cities, Caenina, Antemnae and Crustumerium attack Rome separately and meet defeat.  Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus report upon the arrival of the Sabines army in Rome, the daughter of the Capitoline Governor, Tarpeia betrayed the city.  Expecting a bribe of gold bracelets, the Sabines reward Tarpeia’s treachery with death flinging her body over the rock.  A desperate struggle ensues and according to the ancients, the Sabine women intervene to beg a peace between the two peoples. 

Romulus waged long but successful wars against the Crustumini, Veii and Fidenae.  Each brokered peace yielded some territorial concession.  Upon the death of Numitor, Romulus inherits the community Alba Longa.

The final military adventure in Romulus’ life is the nature of his death.  The ancients recount the myth that Romulus escaped the fate of all flesh by some Olympian ascension much like Elijah, Enoch or Mary the mother of Jesus Christ.  Plutarch himself casts some doubt upon his pointing to senatorial assassination.  No coup d’etat succeeds without the tacit support of some elements within the military.

“Armies do not fight wars; nations fight wars. War is not a military activity conducted by soldiers, but rather a social activity that involves entire nations.”[4]  Pop stars, politicians, athletes, celebrities and yes, even soldiers represent the cultures that culled them.  Commanders win battles due to critical split second decision-making.  War rewards courage and punishes cowardice.  Just as commerce remunerates good management over bad, war requites good generalship over the poor or mediocre. 

Wars are not won on a budget.  Victory often yields not often to the superior economic power. Rome did have an economy.  The ford of the Tiber afforded Rome prime real estate on the trade routes connecting Latium to Etruria.  The plains surrounding the seven hills of Rome afforded the Romans agriculture and grazing lands for livestock.  The Romans gathered and traded salt. Further, Rome though by its own accounts attracted the scum and unsavory men from all over Italy, the immigration provided pools of men for labor – both free and slave.  Given the desperate nature of the first men of Rome, it is plausible that such men incline toward indolence and dissipation.  The counterpart cannot also be discarded, that desperate men are closer to necessity and therefore have a creative and industrious inclination.  Rich or poor, the men of Rome had one thing in common: they were rejects.  No doubt that common link bound them culturally. Accounts from Plutarch and Livy both point the city states of Caenina, Antemnae and Crustumerium feared to the growing economic power of Rome enough to go to war. However, history demonstrates that bold leaders win the day against men of good coin.  One need only read Plutarch’s Life of Crassus to see that bared out.

A modern day look at Mount Albanus

Frederick Thomas Jane said of Alexander of Macedon: “An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.”  The circumstances, technology, terrain and tactics of a battle may change.  The maxims of war do not change.  One side must kill and destroy the army that opposes it.  It does so through having more courage, better leaders, resources and the foresight to effectively employ them to the end.  It is just that simple.

A view of Mount Albanus from Lake Albanus

An act of courage is an individual decision culminated over a lifetime of love, discipline and boldness.  Though Armies decorate the soldier for his heroism on that day for this battle, his parents, his family name and his community share in his honor.  The Romans that acted courageously in the face of numerous Sabines, Etruscans or Alba Longans, did so because they came from a superior culture.  It is true in Brennus’ day just as it is true in Vietnam.

The wars of Romulus predated the phalanx.  The record does not state nor does current archeological support the idea that any of the communities in Greece or Italy fought using the phalanx. Like the men of today and of the near and distant, the Romans fought in groups on some ground they knew as in defending Rome from the Sabines or on ground they did not know like when Rome sacked Crustumerium.  It is plausible given the rogue character of these early Romans many of them hand some experience in national or private combat. 

Prior to the Sabine War, on the advice of his grandfather Numitor, King Romulus instituted a number of political reforms that decentralized his power.   Because Numitor of Alba Longa, a man who was never a subject of Rome suggested these reforms, one cannot say certainly that similar institutions didn’t exist in neighboring states.  What is certain that the decentralization of decision-making and power marked the Roman way for thousands of years in the military and in government.  That both the government endured and the military succeeded in victory after victory, it follows that such a decentralization contributed to their success.  Such a success found itself in the kingship of Romulus.  These decisions include the establishment of the senate composed of the 100 leading men of Rome.  These leading men made up the Roman nobility.  Romulus created the first legion made up of 3,000 foot and 300 horse.  He built the first walls and citadels. 

Following the Sabine War, Romulus created more institutions to better govern his realm.  After an abortive attempt at co-equal kingship with the Sabine King Tatius, Romulus divides the courts into three tribes giving the tribes autonomy in religion, law and conscription.  Further Romulus breaks these tribes into ten curiae and those curiae divided further into ten gentes.     Romulus established a personal bodyguard of 300 horsemen.  These institutions served as the ascendant to the popular assemblies, the tribunate, concepts of Roman liberty and in the regal bodyguard the seeds of tyrannical dictatorship.

Though we cannot compare Rome to its neighbors such as Alba Longa, Veii or Fidenae.  Against near eastern and Aegean neighbors, it was distinct, successful and enduring.  The legacy of Romulus still touches us to this day.


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[1] Bernadotte Perrin, Plutarch's Lives: The Life of Romulus Loeb Classical Library edition The Text on LacusCurtius The University of Chicago, accessed 13 July 2011; available from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Romulus*.html

[2] Earnest Cary, Dionysius of Halicarnassus: Roman Antiquities Book I Chapters 72 - 90 Loeb Classical Library edition The Text on LacusCurtius The University of Chicago, accessed 13 July 2011; available from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1D*.html

[3] Bernadotte Perrin, ibid. 14:6

[4] Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling, A failure in generalship.  Armed Forces Journal. accessed 14 July 2011: available from http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2007/05/2635198

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