Remoria is a place associated with the legendary

founding of Rome The tale of the founding of Rome is recounted in traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves as the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous ...

Romulus and Remus In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus (, ) are twin brothers whose story tells of the events that led to the founding of the city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his fratricide of Remus. The image of a she-wolf suckling t ...

where, according to Roman tradition,Dionysus of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'', I, 85-87. Remus saw six birds land and which he chose as an

auspicious Auspicious is a Latin-derived word originally pertaining to the taking of 'auspices' by the augurs of ancient Rome. It may refer to: * Luck * Auspicious number in numerology * Eight auspicious symbols; see Ashtamangala * Auspicious wedding date * ...

location for the future city. It is also where he was buried, after being killed by his brother Romulus during a dispute. Roman historical sources provide conflicting information about the exact location of Remoria. While some sources place it on the site of the church of

Santa Balbina Santa Balbina is a Roman Catholic basilica church in located in the Aventine rione, adjacent to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. History A church at the site initially was built in the 4th century over the house of consul Lucius Fabius Cilo. ...

on the Aventine hill, others place it on a hill near the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Ri ...

, at a distance of either 5

Roman miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Englis ...

or 30

stadia Stadia may refer to: * One of the plurals of stadium, along with "stadiums" * The plural of stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance, which equals to 600 Greek feet (''podes''). * Stadia (Caria), a town of ancient Caria, now in Turkey * Stadia ...

downstream from the

Palatine hill The Palatine Hill (; la, Collis Palatium or Mons Palatinus; it, Palatino ), which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire." ...

. Plutarch identifies the summit of the Aventine as the ''auguraculum'' and the tomb of Remus but refers to it as ''Ρεμώνιον'' (''Rhemónion'') or ''Ρεμώνια'' (''Rhemónia''), noting that it was contemporaneously called ''Ριγνάριον'' (''Rhignárion''). Later generations of historians have used literary and archaeological evidence to build a hypothesis that places Remoria on the left bank of the Tiber, further south of the city. During their study on the walls of Rome, the archaeologists

Antonio Nibby Antonio Nibby (October 4, 1792 at Rome – December 29, 1839 at Rome) was an Italian archaeologist and topographer. Nibby was a critic of the history of ancient art and from 1812 in service to the Vatican worked to excavate the monuments of ...

and

William Gell Sir William Gell FRS (29 March 17774 February 1836) was a British classical archaeologist and illustrator. He published topographical illustrations of Troy and the surrounding area in 1804. He also published illustrations showing the results ...

placed the site on the location of the

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls The Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls ( it, Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura), commonly known as Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, is one of Rome's four major papal basilicas, along with the basilicas of Saint John in the ...

in the Ostiense quarter. In a 2003 essay,Filippo Coarelli (2003). ''Remoria'', ''Myth, History and Culture in Republican Rome: Studies in Honour of T.P. Wiseman ed. David Braund, Christopher Gill'', pp.41-53. the archaeologist and historian

Filippo Coarelli Filippo Coarelli is an Italian archaeologist, Professor of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Perugia. Born in Rome, Coarelli was a student of Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli. Coarelli is one of the foremost experts on Roman antiquiti ...

notes that the legendary figures of Romulus and Remus, first appearing in the historical record no earlier than the 4th century BC, were substituted into an earlier myth of the founding of Rome by the Lares, twelve sons of the deity

Acca Larentia Acca Larentia or Acca Larentina was a mythical woman, later goddess of fertility, in Roman mythology whose festival, the Larentalia, was celebrated on December 23. Myths Foster mother In one mythological tradition (that of ...

(etymologically, ''Mother of the Lares''). Remus represents the Roman plebs, thus explaining his traditional association with the Aventine hill, where the plebs staged a secession in 449 BC. By combining the figurative location of Remoria at a place associated with the plebs and the literal location at a distance of 5 miles from the ancient city (a symbolic number representing the limit of the archaic ''

ager romanus The Ager Romanus (literally, "the field of Rome"') is the geographical rural area (part plains, part hilly) that surrounds the city of Rome. Politically and historically, it has represented the area of influence of Rome's municipal government. It ...

'') on the banks of the Tiber, Coarelli argues that the location of Remoria is in the sacred grove of the goddess Dea Dia near the

Via Campana The Via Campana (Italian - ''Via Antica Consolare campana'') was one of the main roads of the Roman Empire. It begins at the Flavian Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli and ran through several ancient craters, passing the town of Qualiano and ending in Anci ...

, in the present-day zone of

Magliana The Magliana () is an urban zone of Rome, known as 15E of Municipio XI of Rome. It also the name of a neighborhood or ward of the city. Geographically, it is located on the southwest periphery of Rome, Italy along the Tiber River. The neighborho ...

on the right bank of the Tiber. During the

Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

and early Republic, the grove was an important site for auspication and haruspication in the care of the

Arval Brethren In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren ( la, Fratres Arvales, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide eviden ...

, a college of priests tracing their descent from Romulus and the sons of Acca Larentia. In this view, Romulus and Remus represent the dichotomy between the ''Urbs'' (city) dominated by the patricians and the ''Arva'' (farmlands) dominated by the plebeians.

References

{{Reflist Roman mythology Ancient Roman geography Ancient Roman religion Romulus and Remus