Romulus and Remus are the twins credited with the founding of Rome in 753 BCE. According to the legend, the twins are the sons of Mars and the vestal virgin Rhea Silvia. The twins were abandoned. They were found under a wild fig tree (Ficus ruminalis), where they were suckled by a she-wolf and fed by a woodpecker. The shepherd Faustulus adopted the twins. They become leaders of a warlike band of shepherds and founded the city on the site where they had been nurtured.
A later quarrel breaks out where Romulus slays his brother Remus. Romulus reigns alone until he suddenly disappears in a storm. He is thereafter worshipped as a god under the name of Quirinus.
