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The Gods of Rome
According to the original sources, Rome was founded on April 21, 753BCE. Archaeologists have found evidence of a settlement on the Palatine hill and dated it to around 750BCE, lending credit to the original sources. Ancient Romans traced their heritage back to the twins, Romulus and Remus.
Rome's founding story began when Amulius of Alba Longa overthrow his older brother, King Numitor. Amulius murdered Numitor's sons and forced his daughter, Rhea Silvia, to become a Vestal Virgin. But Mars became infatuated by her and raped her as she slept. The resulting pregnancy produced twin boys: Romulus and Remus. Amulius ordered Rhea Silvia to be thrown into the Tiber where the God of the river, Tiberinus, rescued her and made her his wife. The twins were given to the Tiber as well, but floated along it in a reed basket. According to one legend, a shepherd found the basket when it became caught in the branches of a fig tree and took the twins home to be raised by his wife, a former prostitute, who had just given birth to a stillborn child. Another legend said the twins were suckled by a lupa, which translates to both "she-wolf" and "prostitute." Wolves are sacred to Mars. The boys were told of their parentage and returned as young men to overthrow their uncle and restore their grandfather to the throne. The twins then decided to found a city near where they'd washed ashore and chose the Palatine Hill as the location. The twins fought over the boundaries and Romulus killed Remus.
Romulus peopled his city with anyone who agreed to follow him. Consequently, the young city found itself without any women. Romulus invited the people of the neighboring city of Sabine to a harvest festival. After the feasting was well under way, the Romans attacked the Sabines and stole their women.
As Rome grew, it absorbed the populations of villages perched on seven hills. Eventually Rome conquered and assimilated the cultures of most of the rest of the Italian peninsula, including the much more culturally advanced Etruscans and Latins. From the start of its history, Rome was a culture of absorption and assimilation. Romans took the best of what they found and either kept it intact or adapted it to their own needs. This was true of all aspects of Roman culture, technology and religion.
Many of Rome's primary Gods and Goddesses were either Etruscan or associated with Etruscan deities. Later, the Roman Gods became closely associated with those of Greece, but some of the Roman Gods, Mars in particular, retained their own, distinct, identities. Here are a few of the Gods mentioned in Forged By Lightning.
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