Zvia Talks to Romans: Romulus, founder of Rome

That's me and my adopted mama. Just having a little snack.

In honor of Rome’s 2765th birthday, I was lucky enough to grab hold of and talk to Rome’s namesake and founder, Romulus. 

Name: Romulus, son of ‘virginal priestess’ Rhea Silvia and Mars, god of war.
Age: Let’s just say I was born back in the BCE…
Where are you from? Around the very town I founded, Rome.
When did you establish the city? April 21, 753 BCE.
That makes Rome 2765 years old! But as feisty as an 80 year old woman running for a seat on the bus…
Were you close to your parents as a child? Um…no. They abandoned my twin brother Remus and me when we were just babies.
How did you two survive? Luckily, a she-wolf found us and suckled us as her own. Then the shepherd Faustulus discovered us and took us to his home, raising us as shepherds. We stayed there until we were old enough to get into our own shenanigans (exacting revenge on our great uncle Amulius, who screwed over our grandfather, Numitor, to be specific).
Out of curiosity, how does wolf milk taste anyway? Gnarl-y.
Can you give us a brief summary of how Rome was founded? Well there are many archaeological myths, and absurd legends regarding Aeneas and the creation of Rome, but I can assure you and the readers of Young in Rome, that it was all me. I mean, Romulus… Rome… get it?
How old were you when you founded Rome? Well, it was so long ago that it’s hard to remember exactly… Allegedly, I was born in 771 BCE, so that means I was a ripe young 18 year old when I created Rome.
What made you decide to build your own city? After waging war with our great uncle, and restoring our grandfather to his former glory, my brother and I decided we wanted to build a city of our own. We wanted to create a new city, one free from all the tormented history of warring kings and the such. Anyone who wanted a second chance came along with us: mostly fugitives and slaves, we didn’t discriminate.
And how did you settle on the site of your new city? I was always fond of the Palatine Hill area, while my brother Remus was more into the Aventine Hill area. We couldn’t agree, so we said whoever saw more divine signs on his respective hill, would win. Long story short, it was me. I won.
So you got to build the city where you wanted it, and then named it after yourself. What ever happened to Remus? He kept criticizing me on how I was building the city. Basically, he was frontin’, so I took care of him. That’s all I’ll say about that.
Any tips to people out there looking to establish their own cities? Don’t let family get involved, and name it after yourself.
And how are you going to celebrate Rome’s birthday? Well there are some events planned in Rome this weekend (check out Buzz in Rome’s roundup). But mostly, I’ll be partying hardcore, Caligula style.