Vote Veltroni! Vote Romulus!

For a Mayor of Rome who wants to be the next Prime Minister of Italy the unearthing of 'Romulus's cave' must seem a good omen.

"Rome never ceases to stun the world with this sort of discovery'', said Walter Veltroni, commenting on the possibility that a sea-shell-decorated grotto on the Palatine Hill might be the place where his ancient predecessors celebrated the founding of their city.

It may be premature to compare Mr Veltroni to the first Emperor Augustus, whose acolytes so heavily promoted the Romulus myth. So far the Mayor is anxious only to be seen as the next Tony Blair.

But Mr Veltroni is as big a believer in bread and circuses as any ambitious Roman politico of the past. He has made himself king of the free concert and brought Elton John and Paul McCartney like gladiators to the Colosseum.

With Prime Minister Romano Prodi looking increasingly ancient himself - and Silvio Berlusconi hardly less so - the age of Veltroni looms.

The addition to his City's attractions of the cave where ancient Romans may have imagined Romulus and Remus being breast-fed by a wolf may not seem much.

But it's all useful publicity.

A good foundation myth can be made to seem quite alot - as the Augustans knew.

This early grotto bit of Rome's imagined history is much the least contentious and most politically useful part.

Romulus and Remus, abandoned twins you may recall, are swept in basket down the rushing Tiber, buffetted through virgin forests and saved by a wild animal - helped by a woodpecker in some versions.

The wolf, like the river itself (and possibly the woodpecker), is tamed by these human brothers.

Peace and harmony reign - at least while the boys are under bestial control.

Afterwards it get a bit difficult.

The boys fall out - and Remus is killed.

Livy says they become rivals for power.

Plutarch stresses their disagreement over building policy.

Dionysius blames the division of their supporters into two opposing factions.

The Mayor, whose party is already a mass of barely united factions, will not want to recall any of that.

But he will be hoping that the new discovery is at least plausibly what its finders hope.

He very much wants to 'stun the world' with another great discovery from Rome.

Ideally, the one named Walter Veltroni.

Comments

[Candadai Tirumalai]

The myth of Romulus and Remus includes two archetypes: abandoned boys who become hugely significant and brother turning against brother.
In Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar asks Mark Antony on the occasion of the Lupercalia to strike Calpurnia with the goatskin thong associated with the festival to cure her of barrenness.

[Dion Per Sona]

The name Veltroni has an Etruscan ring to it.