s they grew up, being sons of Mars, theyturned out to be very athletic and natural leaders, especially of the local boys. When theboys grew up, they heard the story of Numitor and Amulius. With their local friends, theyattacked Alba Longa, killed Amulius, restored their grandfather to the throne, and freedtheir mother. After restoring Numitor to the throne, the boys decided to found a city onone of the seven hills near where their basket wasfound by the wolf. This was a naturalspot for a city. Accounts Livy, "Not without good reason did gods and men choose thisspot as the site of a city, with its bracing hills, its [spacious] river by means of which theproduce of inland countries may be brought down and inland supplies obtained; a sea nearenough for all useful purposes, but not so near as to be exposed to danger from foreignfleets; a district in the very center of Italy, in a word, a position singularly adapted by anature for the growth of a city." (Nardo, 12) The two boys couldn't decide betweenthemselves which hill to start on, so they decided that whoever saw a vulture first couldpick. Remus saw the first vulture and five others, and Romulus saw twelve. Remus hadrightfully won, but Romulus claimed he should pick since he saw more vultures. Heborrowed a plow and team, and plowed a furrow around the Palatine hill. He told hisbrother that was where the city would be, and if Remus crossed the line, he would bekilled. Contemptuous Remus immediately crossed the line, and Romulus killed him.Romulus later said he regretted killing his brother, but life goes on. Hebuilt his city on thePalatine Hill, and called it Rome. When Romulus founded Rome in 753 BC, he madehimself the king. Being a brand new city, it had very few people. Romulus built up thepopulation by allowing anybody who wanted to live there, including criminals who flockedto the city. This caused a shortage of women. To get some, the Romans hosted athleticgames and invited their ne...
