>
> --- Charles Brown <charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
> wrote:
>
> > Did they find evidence that Mars really exists ?
> > He'd still be alive
> > since he's immortal.
>
> I'm Mars. Somebody please tell Bush that if he wants
> to prevail in Iraq, all he's got to do is sacrifice
> some goats, and I am his man, ahem, merciless deity of war.
Livy tells the story that the archaic Latin for wolf, was also the archaic slang term for prostitute. In other words classical writers attempted to "histoisize" the legend in precisely the manner that Charles is doing. She-wolf = prostitute.
Several interesting points about the historicity of the legend. The legendary place on the Palatine where the sacred hut of Romulus was maintained until about 6th Century CE, goes back to the Bronze age settlements (in central Italy approximately 800 BCE) which is the traditional date of Romulus's founding of Rome. In other words, the ancient legend that became a founding myth of Rome, may have some core of historical factuality. In fact a lot of the archaeological evidence indicates this.
As for the report itself it is mostly tourist promotion hype: What I mean is that properly reported it is added evidence that the Ancient Romans had made detailed observations of their surroundings in order to fit _their+ current facts around the ancient legends. Their current facts included geology, oral history, written records, and physical evidence we would today call "archaeological". They tried very hard to historicize their legends and myths because during the expansive Republican periods it was important for their own self-legitimation... and later for the foundation of Augustan ideology.
Jerry