The traditional and legendary founders of Rome were Romulus and Remus, twin brothers said to be the sons of Mars, the god of War, and a vestal virgin named Rhea Silvia. The brothers agreed to found a city of outcasts and criminals, and then fell to fighting on its precise location resulting in Romulus killing Remus in a fit of rage. Romulus is credited with being the first king of Rome, reigning for nearly forty years, and being taken up into the heavens and deified as Quirinus, the god of Roman character and strength.
Their mother, Rhea, was the daughter of Numitor, the once king of Alba Longa who had been dethroned by his brother Amulius. Amulius forced Rhea into becoming a chaste priestess, afraid she would one day produce an heir who would take his throne. The god of war is said to have visited the virgin Rhea in the temple and sired the two boys.
Amulius imprisoned Rhea and ordered the death of Romulus and Remus, but the servant ordered to do the job did not have the heart for it and placed them in a basket upon the Tiber River. Rescued by the river god Tiberinus, the boys were nursed by a wolf and fed by a woodpecker, until the shepherd Faustulus found them and took them under his care. It is said by some historians that Faustulus' wife, whose name could be translated as "wolf", suckled the boys.
The boys grew strong and handsome, noble and brave, and were known for defending their home and neighbors against thieves and brigands, gaining quite a reputation.
Their adoptive father, Faustulus, was a shepherd of Amulius, the usurping king, and he and others became engaged in conflict with shepherds of Numitor, the deposed king. Romulus and Remus joined the fight on the side of Amulius and led victories against Numitor's men. In retaliation, some of them ambushed Remus and captured him to take to Numitor.
The former king recognized the young man for whom he was, and embraced his grandson. During this time, Romulus had gathered a force of men and was marching to the city to rescue his brother. While Romulus attacked the city from outside the walls, Remus led an uprising within the city itself, and Amulius was killed. The city offered the crown jointly to the twins, but they refused it, declaring their grandfather Numitor to be the rightful king.
At the age of eighteen, unwilling to live in a city they did not rule, the brothers set out to found their own, bringing with them the outcasts of Alba Longa, and any others who wanted a second chance, including criminals, runaway slaves and outlaws.
When they reached Palatine Hill, the twins argued where to found the city. Romulus won the argument and began building defenses, while Remus mocked his efforts. To prove they were inadequate, Remus jumped over the barricade, which was considered a bad omen. Romulus killed him instantly with a rock.
He then named the city Rome, after himself (although modern scholars who believe the whole story is myth say the name Romulus was actually derived backwards from the name Rome), and finished building his city.
Romulus is credited with establishing the senate, creating the class of patricians, and forming the Roman legions. With his city organized, Romulus realized the outcasts and misfits that populated his city were without women. To solve the problem, he invited the neighboring Sabine tribe to a festival, at which he and his men forcibly abducted about 700 Sabine maidens to take as brides.
Perhaps understandably, the men of Sabine were not happy about the loss of their women, and a series of battle ensued. Romulus conquered a few Sabine cities during the conflict, but his gains were nearly lost when Tarpeia, a daughter of one of the legion commanders, became enamored of the Sabiens and opened a gate of the city for them.
Harsh fighting resumed. The Romans repulsed the Sabiens from the city with heavy losses, and during a lull in the fighting, while both sides regrouped, the Sabine maidens rushed out onto the battlefield and begged the Roman husbands and Sabine fathers to make a peace. The Sabiens and the Romans listened to the women and merged their cultures, and Romulus and Titus Tatius, the leader of the Sabine, reigned as co-rulers until Tatius' death five years later, at which point Romulus was sole king.
Romulus and the Romans conquered much of the surrounding territory during his rule, but many of his people felt that he was taking too much power for himself, and was restricting the authority of the Senate. When he disappeared during his thirty-eighth year as ruler while reviewing his troops in a thunderstorm, it was rumored, according to the historian Plutarch, to be engineered by the senate, though witnesses saw him being taken bodily into the heavens, and instructing the Romans that henceforth he would be known as the deity Quirinus.
Mostly regarded as a mythology, some historians believe there may be a historical basis for the story of Romulus and Remus.