She-wolf (Roman mythology)
In the Roman foundation myth, a she-wolf was an Italian wolf who nursed and sheltered the twins Romulus and Remus after they were abandoned in the wild by decree of King Amulius of Alba Longa. She cared for the infants at her den, a cave known as the Lupercal, until they were discovered by a shepherd, Faustulus. Romulus would later become the founder and first king of Rome. The image of the she-wolf suckling the twins has been a symbol of Rome since ancient times and is one of the most recognizable icons of ancient mythology.
The Capitoline Wolf, arguably the most famous statue of the She-Wolf.
The she-wolf on a coin of the late Roman republic (c.77 BC)
The controversial Mirror of Bolsena.
Romulus and Remus. An early silver didrachm (6.44 g). c. 269–266 BC
The founding of Rome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several hilltop villages during the Final Bronze Age or early Iron Age. Prehistoric habitation of the Italian Peninsula occurred by 48,000 years ago, with the area of Rome being settled by around 1600 BC. Some evidence on the Capitoline Hill possibly dates as early as c. 1700 BC and the nearby valley that later housed the Roman Forum had a developed necropolis by at least 1000 BC. The combination of the hilltop settlements into a single polity by the later 8th century BC was probably influenced by the trend for city-state formation emerging from ancient Greece.
Capitoline Wolf, sculpture of the she-wolf feeding the twins Romulus and Remus, the most famous image associated with the founding of Rome. According to Livy, it was erected in 296 BC.
Romulus and Remus on the House of the She-wolf at the Grand Place of Brussels
Funerary urn of the Villanovan culture, precursor to Etruscan civilization
Model of archaic Rome, 6th century BC