Founding of Rome in Livy Term Paper

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One obvious parallel between the tale of the brothers and earlier legends is that of Achilles, the great warrior who was the son of a goddess who was almost supernatural in his greatness. Another parallel is that of Oedipus, who was abandoned when he was a boy because of the fearful prophesy foretold about his future. But unlike these previous mythical characters, rather than coming to a bad end, Romulus overcomes the difficulties of his circumstances and triumphs. There are also many versions of the Roman foundation story which contain non-Greek elements, like the idea of a 'phantom phallus' impregnating the boys' mother, which could suggest a kind of immaculate conception (Wiseman 60). The death of Remus at the hands of his brother for disobediently jumping a wall is also a unique and somewhat perplexing aspect of the story: why did Romulus 'need' a twin?

Q3. To what extent is the Roman foundation legend shaped by Greek mythological motifs?

Themes of the gods' rape of mortal women, of strange a nurturing (like the god Dionysus was said to have been brought to term in Zeus' thigh and Athena sprang forth from the skull of Zeus); the abandonment of an unwanted child; and semi-divine heroes all have parallels in Greek mythology.

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The idea of a woman kept 'virgin' because it was foretold that her offspring would kill a father-figure is also seen in the heroic tales of Perseus and Hercules (Bremmer & Horsfall 43). Many ancient Greek heroes were raised unaware of their royal identity in a pastoral setting like Oedipus and Paris (Bremmer & Horsfall 32). Romulus' eventual deification -- which is present even in Livy, who stresses the founder's mortal elements -- is a common element in Greek myth, whereby great the gods intervene in mortal existence to protect their favorites, although the vision of the underworld in Roman mythology is considerably more pleasant than in traditional Greek mythology (Bremmer & Horsfall 46).

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