Rome uncovers its founding moment | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited#article_continue

Rome uncovers its founding moment

Documents from the 16th century indicated that Lupercale's location was known and accessible then, but it has been lost for centuries, and is now thought to be rediscovered

The ancient Romans maintained the Lupercale as a monument to the mythological founding of the city. They believed it to be the cave where the she-wolf nursed Romulus and Remus. Of course they also believed one could divine the future from bird shit, so ...

Anyway, the point is not that this is the really the cave where the infants were suckled, but that the ancient Romans celebrated it as such, much as today's Romans celebrate cheesy dubbed movies. In fact, the two celebrations are connected. Each year, the ancient Romans would hold a massive theatrical re-creation of the founding of their city, in which actors from all over the world would mime their roles, while other actors would dub the lines from offstage.