3 Roman Legends To Ponder
Roman legends have the particularity of offering a strange combination of human beings with fantastic natural elements and mythological animals. But they reveal much more than that.
The classical legends, mainly Greco-Roman, were intended to offer a sense of patriotism to the inhabitants of these regions. And this, by promoting impressive exploits which served both to understand the origins and history of the empire and to educate the population in the values of their time.
The most evocative Roman legends
In a way, the classical world has endured until today as a cultivated and almost exemplary element. So, like what happened in its day, many of the legends we know serve as food for thought as well.
What is certain is that these ancient legends still explain the present world to us beyond their fabulous narratives. This is due to their broad cultural and symbolic content, which is why they are used daily by psychologists and professionals from various disciplines to illustrate the world in which we live.
The wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome
With the intention of giving an almost divine origin to mighty Rome, the legend of the wolf was created. According to this legend, a wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the two founders of an empire that spanned 10 centuries of human history.
Legend has it that a maid saved the twins from death and hid them on the banks of the Tiber. They were then taken in by a wolf who breastfed them after hearing them cry. Later, the shepherd Faustulus in turn took them in and raised them with his wife, Acca Larentia.
The wolf was a sacred animal to many cultures. Including the Etruscans, a people who lived in the Italic lands before the Romans.
However, from this legend we can extract other thoughts. For example, how much our actions can change the world: Who would have guessed that the acts of kindness of this handmaid and this shepherd would give birth to one of the greatest and most powerful empires we have ever known?
Circe and King Picus
Let us now see another interesting Roman legend, that of Circe and King Picus; perhaps less well-known than the previous one, but no less striking. We meet there Picus, son of Saturn and father of Faunus, married to the nymph Canente.
Picus was a primitive soothsayer always accompanied by a woodpecker, considered a prophetic bird. This man did not love Circe, the witch of the island of Aea who she loved him. The latter therefore transformed him into a prophetic bird. It is curious that many Greco-Roman legends speak of an unrequited love with tragic end.
Today, we are learning to live better and better with our emotions. It is important to know them, to control them as much as possible and, above all, to understand them. Otherwise, rage, revenge or anger can be constant, as seen in many classic tales.
Hercules and Cacus, one of the Roman legends that makes you think
Hercules is one of the characters who marked most Roman legends. So much so that Virgil, probably the greatest Roman poet, told of his adventures to defeat Cacus, half satire, half giant. In addition, this story is sculpturally represented in Piazza della Signoria in Florence.
Virgil dreamed of creating an almost divine Roman origin. This is why he wrote the Aeneid , which recounts the adventures of Aeneas, a descendant of Troy, a city from which he escaped once it fell into the hands of the Greeks to found Rome on the Italian coast.
The giant, after stealing red oxen in the Tiber valley, is discovered by Hercules, who dismembers him in revenge. This story would be at the origin of the cult of Hercules. It is also an anthropological key to know the commercial evolution in the region.
We are once again seeing revenge, victory for the fittest, and punishment for morally wrongdoing. There is no doubt that the Roman legends, always interpreted from a contemporary point of view, allow us to reflect on equally classic themes.
Morality, ethics, revenge, justice, emotions… For thousands of years, we have tried to understand them. Will we ever get there?
Our thoughts The legend about the origin of feelings tells us the story of the good and bad qualities of human beings who came together to play hide and seek …
