Rhea (orRea)Silvia (Latin:[ˈreːaˈsɪɫu̯ia]), also known asIlia,[1] (as well as other names)[a] was the mythical mother of the twinsRomulus and Remus, who founded the city ofRome.[3][4] This event was portrayed numerous times in Roman art.[5] Her story is told in the first book ofAb Urbe Condita Libri ofLivy[6] and inCassius Dio'sRoman History.[7] The Legend of Rhea Silvia recounts how she was raped byMars while she was aVestal Virgin, resulting in the twins,[4] as mentioned in theAeneid[8] and the works ofOvid.
Symbolic representation of the Rhea Silvia myth on a sarcophagus in thePalazzo Mattei. Most of the elements of the story can be found in the scene. The central figure,Mars, strides over Rhea Silvia being put to sleep bySomnus pouring the juice of sleep on her from a horn. The wolf, the personification of the river, the temple ofVesta, are all present.
According toLivy's account of the legend, she was the daughter ofNumitor, king ofAlba Longa, and descended fromAeneas. Numitor's younger brotherAmulius seized the throne and killed Numitor's son, then forced Rhea Silvia to become aVestal Virgin, a priestess of the goddessVesta. As Vestal Virgins were sworn to celibacy, this would ensure the line of Numitor had no heirs. Rhea, however, became pregnant with the twinsRomulus andRemus by thegodMars.[4]
According toPlutarch, she believed this because she saw her children being cared for by a woodpecker and a wolf – animals sacred to Mars.[9] The account says that Rhea Silvia went to a grove sacred to Mars to get water for use in thetemple[10] where she encountered Mars who attempted to rape her, she ran into a cave to escape him but to no avail. Mars then promised that her children would be great.[11] These claims of her children's paternity were, however, doubted by the Roman historian Livy.[12]
Vesta, to show her displeasure at the birth of Rhea Silvia's children, caused the holy fire in her temple to go out, shook her altar, and shut the eyes of her image.[13] According to Ennius, the goddess Venus was more sympathetic to Rhea Silvia's plight.[14]
When Amulius learned of the birth he imprisoned Rhea Silvia and ordered a servant to kill the twins. But the servant showed mercy and set them adrift on the riverTiber, which, overflowing, left the infants in a pool by the bank. There, ashe-wolf (lupa), who had just lost her own cubs, suckled them.[15] Rhea Silvia was herself spared from death due to the intercession of Amulius' daughter Antho.[16][17] An early Latin tradition, related by Ennius, says she was thrown into the Tiber on the orders of King Amulius.[18]However, according to Ovid, Rhea Silvia ultimately threw herself into the Tiber.[19]
Romulus and Remus overthrewAmulius and reinstated Numitor asking in 752 BCE. They would then go to foundRome.[20][21]
Despite Livy'seuhemerist and realist deflation of this myth,[citation needed] it is clear that the story of her seduction by Mars continued to be widely accepted. This is demonstrated by the recurring theme of Mars discovering Rhea Silvia in Roman arts: In bas-relief on the Casali Altar (Vatican Museums), in engraved couched glass on thePortland Vase (British Museum), or on asarcophagus in thePalazzo Mattei. Mars' discovery of Rhea Silvia is a prototype of the "invention scene" ("discovery scene") familiar inRoman art; Greek examples are furnished byDionysus andAriadne or Selene andEndymion.
ThePortland Vase features a scene that has been interpreted as a depiction of the "invention", or coming-upon, of Rhea Sylvia by Mars.[22]
In theMuseo Nazionale Romano there is a depiction of Rhea Silvia sleeping during the conception of Romulus and Remus in a Relief.[23]
In an article by Rosanna Lauriola, Rhea Silvia is held up as an example of how rape victims in Roman myths are valued more as the mothers and catalysts for change than as individuals in their own right.[28]
A paper by Revika Gersht and Sonia Muryink divides the images of Rhea Silvia's conception by Mars into as many as seven different types.[5]
InDavid Drake's science fiction story "To Bring the Light", thetime travelling protagonist meets a completely human Rhea Silvia, a sympathetic peasant living in a small shepherd community onPalatine Hill in what would become the city of Rome.[29]
InRick Riordan's novelThe Mark of Athena, Annabeth Chase meets Rhea Silvia and the god of the river Tiber in the forms of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck's characters from the movieRoman Holiday.[30]
Rhea Silvia is the central character inDebra May Macleod's historical fiction novelRhea Silvia (2022).[31]
^Albertson, Fred C. (1987). "An Augustan temple represented on a historical relief dating to the time of Claudius".American Journal of Archaeology.91 (3):441–458.doi:10.2307/505365.JSTOR505365.S2CID192982339.
^Mathisen, Ralph W. (2019).Ancient Roman Civilization: History and sources. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 246.
^Mathisen, Ralph W. (2019).Ancient Roman Civilization: History and sources. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 363.
^Cornish, F. W.; Postgate, J. P.; Mackail, J. W. (1913). Goold, G. P. (ed.).Catullus. Tibullus. Pervigilium Veneris. Loeb Classical Library 6 (Revised ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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