Archaeologists' findings may prove Rome a century older than thought

[n2doc]

It is already known as the eternal city, and if new archaeological findings prove correct Rome may turn out to be even more ancient than believed until now.

Next week, the city will celebrate its official, 2,767th birthday. According to a tradition going back to classic times, the brothers Romulus and Remus founded the city on 21 April in the year 753BC.

But on Sunday it was reported that evidence of infrastructure building had been found, dating from more than 100 years earlier. The daily Il Messagero quoted Patrizia Fortini, the archaeologist responsible for the Forum, as saying that a wall constructed well before the city's traditional founding date had been unearthed.

The wall, made from blocks of volcanic tuff, appeared to have been built to channel water from an aquifer under the Capitoline hill that flows into the river Spino, a tributary of the Tiber. Around the wall, archaeologists found pieces of ceramic pottery and remains of food.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/13/archaelogists-find-rome-century-older-than-thought

[truebluegreen]

1. Wasn't aware that anyone really bought the Romans' claim

for the foundation of "Rome" in 753 BCE...a settlement, sure, but not Rome/Romulus & Remus etc.

[TexasProgresive]

2. Perhaps it's the den of their wolf foster mother.

Last edited Tue Apr 15, 2014, 12:01 PM - Edit history (1)

And perhaps she was not a wolf but wore wolf skins. Ya nevah know with myths how to separate truth from what is not.

[On the Road]

3. I Had Never Heard That Interpretion Before

Perhaps it is what Tom Robbins was referring to when he wrote:

This is the room of the wolfmother wallpaper. The toadstool motel you once thought a mere folk tale, a corny, obsolete, rural invention. This is the room where your wisest ancestor was born, be you Christian, Arab, or Jew. The linoleum underfoot is sacred linoleum. Please remove your shoes. Quite recently, the linoleum here was restored to its original luster with the aid of a wax made from hornet fat. It scuffs easily. So never mind if there are holes in your socks. This is the room where your music was invented. Notice the cracked drumhead spiked to the wall, spiked to the wolfmother wallpaper above the corner sink where the wayward wife washed out her silk underpants, inspecting them in the blue seepage from the No Vacancy neon that flickered suspiciously out in the thin lizard dawn. What room is this? This is the room where the antler carved the pumpkin. This is the room where the gutter pipes drank the moonlight. This is the room where moss gradually silenced the treasure, rubies being the last to go. Transmissions from insect antennae were monitored in this room. It's amazing how often their broadcasts referred to the stars. A clue: this is the room where the Painted Stick was buried, where the Conch Shell lay wrapped in its adoring papyrus. Lovers, like serpents, shed their old skin in this clay room. Now do you remember the wallpaper? The language of the wallpaper? The wolfmother's blood roses that vibrated there? Enough of this wild fox barking. You pulled up in the forest Cadillac, the vehicle you claimed you'd forgotten how to drive. You parked between the swimming pool and the row of blackened skulls. Of course, you know what room this is. This is the room where Jezebel frescoed her eyelids with history's tragic glitter, where Delilah practiced for her beautician's license, the room in which Salome dropped the seventh veil while dancing the dance of ultimate cognition, skinny legs and all.

[TexasProgresive]

4. Thanks for posting that.

I was just attempting a bit of irony based on the myth that Romulus and Remus were the great grandsons of the king of Alba- their mother was a temple virgin whose twin boys were sired by the god Mars. Like a lot of these stories there uncle the king order them killed but the man charged with the job just couldn't do it and just abandoned them on the Tiber. A she wolf found them and nursed them, a woodpecker fed them and a shepherd and his wife raised them.

I've never read Tom Robbins- Looking at a list of his novels that must be from Skinny Legs and All. The imagery is nearly psychedelic.