Romulus & Remus - Paris, France
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Metro2
N 48° 51.898 E 002° 19.434
31U E 450414 N 5412665
This 1690 sculpture is located in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.
Waymark Code: WMD8E9
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 12/04/2011
Views: 18
This 1690 marble sculpture by Pierre Bourdict is entitled "Le Tibre". There are many sculptures in France with representations of important rivers with human figures...and this work celebrates Rome's Tiber. It depicts a naked bearded man lounging on his side. There is a cornucopia near his left arm. The viewer can also see Romulus and Remus feeding from a wolf. The man holds an object...perhaps an oar?, in his left arm.
Romulus and Remus are the twin brothers who are part of Rome's foundation myth. Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"...Rhea conceived Romulus and Remus by either the god Mars or the demi-god Hercules. When the twins were born, Amulius left them to die but they were saved by a series of miraculous interventions. A she-wolf found them and suckled them. A shepherd and his wife then fostered them and raised them to manhood as shepherds. The twins proved to be natural leaders and acquired many followers. When told their true identities, they killed Amulius, restored Numitor to the throne of Alba Longa and decided to found a new city for themselves.
Romulus wished to build the new city on the Palatine Hill but Remus preferred the Aventine Hill.[2] They agreed to determine the site through augury. Romulus appeared to receive the more favorable signs but each claimed the results in his favor. In the disputes that followed, Remus was killed.[3] Ovid has Romulus invent the festival of Lemuria to appease Remus' resentful ghost.[4] Romulus names the new city Rome after himself and goes on to create the Roman Legions and the Roman Senate. Rome's population is swelled by incomers, including landless refugees and outlaws; most are men. Romulus arranges the abduction of women from the neighboring Sabine tribes, which immediately leads to war but eventually results in the combination of Sabines and Romans as one Roman people. Rome rapidly expands to become a dominant force in central Italy, due to divine favour and the inspired administrative, military and political leadership of Romulus. In later life Romulus becomes increasingly autocratic, disappears in mysterious circumstances and is deified as the god Quirinus, the divine persona of the Roman people.
The image of the she-wolf suckling the divinely fathered twins became an iconic representation of the city and its founding legend, making Romulus and Remus preeminent among the feral children of ancient mythography."