Everything about Rhea Silvia totally explained
Rhea Silvia (also written as
Rea Silvia), and also known as
Ilia, was the mythical mother of the twins
Romulus and
Remus, who founded the city of
Rome. Her story is told in the
Ab Urbe Condita of
Livy.
The legend
According to the legend, she was the daughter of
Numitor, king of
Alba Longa and descendant of
Aeneas. Numitor's brother
Amulius seized the throne and killed Numitor's son. Amulius forced Rhea Silvia to become a
Vestal Virgin, a priestess to the goddess
Vesta, so that she (and through her, Numitor) would have no heirs; Vestal Virgins were sworn to celibacy for a period of thirty years.
The god
Mars, however, came upon Rhea Silvia and
raped her in the forest, thereby conceiving the twins. When Amulius learned of this, he ordered Rhea Silvia buried alive and ordered a servant to kill the twins, but the merciful servant instead set them adrift in the river
Tiber. The river-god,
Tiberinus found the twins and gave them to a she-
wolf, Lupa, who had just lost her own cubs, to suckle. Subsequently, Tiberinus rescued and married Rhea Silvia. Romulus and Remus went on to found
Rome and overthrow Amulius, reinstating Numitor as King of Alba Longa.
Livy presents a somewhat rationalised version of this tale. In
Ab Urbe Condita, the Tiber had overflown and the soldiers were ordered to expose the babies to the Tiber, thinking that the muddy flooded ground would be sufficient to drown the twins. Livy also casts doubt on whether the twins were actually suckled by a wolf. Livy commented that it was believed that the wife of the shepherd who would eventually raise the twins was a prostitute known to the other shepherds as the Wolf.
That Livy's
euhemerist and realist deflation of this myth that was central to the origins of Rome wasn't general, is demonstrated by the recurrence of the theme of Mars discovering Rhea Silvia in Roman arts: the Latinists' "Invention of Rhea Silvia" appears in bas-relief on the Casali Altar (
Vatican Museums), in engraved couched glass on the
Portland Vase (
British Museum) or on a sarcophagus in the
Palazzo Mattei.
In a version presented by
Ovid, it's the river Anio that takes pity on her and invites her to rule in his realm.
Etymology
The name Rhea Silvia suggests a minor
deity, a demi-goddess of
forests.
Silva means woods or forest, and
Rea may be related to
res and
regnum;
Rea may also be related to
Greek rheô, "flow," and thus relate to her association with the spirit of the river
Tiber.
Carsten Niebuhr connected the name Rhea Silvia with 'Rea' meaning 'guilty' and 'Silvia' 'of the forest' and so assumed that Rhea Silvia was a generic name for 'the guilty woman of the forest,' for example a woman who had been raped there.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Rhea Silvia'.
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