This is part of a larger project I am working on. These are just raw reactions to the text as I read it. For the final discussion, check out my Substack.
Chronologically, two of Plutarch’s first pair of lives deal with Theseus and Romulus, figures that may or may not have ever really lived. Both were important to the founding images of Athens and Rome. Both also came from semidivine origin.
As the legend goes, Theseus was born in Greece. He was a contemporary of Hercules and sought to imitate him, wandering around trying to find wrongs to right and challenges to overcome. One of the more famous legends involved the Labyrinth, the minotaur, and the liberation of Athens from Cretan domination, with an assist by Daedalus (of winged fame). Another involved him picking a fight with the Amazons while in the Black Sea and then leading the defense of Athens when thousands of female warriors show up big mad. So, overall, net neutral benefits to Athens so far.
Most importantly, he encouraged the residents of Attica to move into Athens from the countryside and set them up into three classes: the smartest, the wealthiest, and the masses, which then became the foundation of the Athenian democracy.
He then went back to being a little more trouble than he was worth, capturing the legendarily beautiful Helen from the Peloponnesians, whose brothers Castor and Pollux invaded Attica looking for here. By this point, Theseus had fled to neighboring Euboea and died, however. Later, after he appeared above the beaches of Marathon during the Athenian battle against the Persians, the Athenians brought back to Athens what they claimed were his bones and worshiped him as one of the founders of the city and its democracy.
Similarly, Romulus was instrumental to Rome’s self-identity both as a city and as a republic. Romulus and his brother Remus were abandoned at birth and raised by a wolf who fed them from her own milk. Later, grown up, they fought against the tyrant of Alba and then left to form their own city. There was a dispute over the exact location where they should place the city and Romulus, or one of his followers, killed Remus.
Needing more population for the city, Romulus and the Romans raid the neighboring Sabine community for women. In a later battle precipitated by this, the Sabines lost and ended up forced to join Rome. Romulus established the early republic and its system of tribes, based on the children of the Sabine women, and he lead them in military conflicts against other neighboring cities.
Eventually, he too seems to have been more trouble than he was worth. He began to act more tyrannically and ignored the Senate and other people of Rome. He “disappeared” during a thunderstorm and the Senate quickly moved to deify him to calm down speculation of what had happened.
Both leaders were part of the theological and civic religions of their cites. This ordained the systems of government as something more than just political decisions. They also set a standard for military prowess and promoted individual martial skills. These were still warrior societies with little in the way of military organization.
If you’re interested in the final discussion of the book, check out my Substack.
The History Doctor 
Leave a comment