One of the Roman founding myths is that Romulus and Remus were descended from Aeneas of Troy, who fled the sacking of the city and eventually settled in Latium.
Virgil wrote the Aeneid just after the end of the Roman Republic though, under Augustus. Don’t know what the Republic proper thought about themselves on the subject. How well known was that myth before him?
Fairly well known, actually. It’s actually why Augustus commissioned the Aeneid; he wanted to tie himself to the existing myth as a way to justify his rule.
Why did they see themselves as a city of exiles?
One of the Roman founding myths is that Romulus and Remus were descended from Aeneas of Troy, who fled the sacking of the city and eventually settled in Latium.
Virgil wrote the Aeneid just after the end of the Roman Republic though, under Augustus. Don’t know what the Republic proper thought about themselves on the subject. How well known was that myth before him?
Fairly well known, actually. It’s actually why Augustus commissioned the Aeneid; he wanted to tie himself to the existing myth as a way to justify his rule.