Happy Birthday, Rome!

She-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, Piazza del Campidoglio

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According to legend, Rome was founded on April 21st 753 BCE, which means that today is the Eternal City's 2,777th birthday! 

April 21st was sacred to Pales, the goddess of shepherds, and it was a shepherd called Faustulus who discovered two babes being suckled by a she-wolf. The babies were, of course, the twins Romulus and Remus. 

Although Faustulus, and his wife Acca Larentia, brought the boys up, it is the she-wolf who seems to get all the credit! 

Romulus, so the story goes, killed his brother and founded the city of Rome.  

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Mosaic, Stazione Ostiense