BEGINNING
Roman mythology offers two accounts of the founding of Rome. The myth of Romulus and Remus is best known from its account in the work of Livy, a Roman historian of the 1st century B. C.. The twins Romulus and Remus were the sons of the god Mars and a mortal woman named Rhea Silvia. When they were infants, their great uncle set them adrift on the Tiber River to die. Because the great uncle had stolen royal power from the twins' grandfather, he did not want the boys to survive to challenge his right to power. But a female wolf found Romulus and Remus and cared for them until a shepherd discovered them. The shepherd and his wife took the boys in and raised them as their own children. Years later, after returning their grandfather to his throne, the boys decided to start a city of their own. However, the two quarreled, and in the ensuing brawl, Remus died. In some versions of the story, Romulus killed him; in other versions, Romulus's followers did so. After his brother's death, Romulus named the new city Rome and became its first king. According to Varro, the date that Romulus founded Rome was 753 B. C.