Eric K.

@ambr0zie Yes, I did understand your meaning, that Remus was less important to the extent that there are no (known) depictions of him individually... I didn't mean to imply that you didn't know he was fundamental to the foundation myth (although rereading what I wrote too early in the morning, I can see how you would think that's what I meant; apologies). So, to clarify, what I meant to say is that while Remus doesn't get the individual treatment in art and coinage, and therefore seems less important (your point, on which I agree), Wiseman managed to make a strong case in his book for how Remus became much more important in 1st c. BCE literature (at least) as a launching point for discussing / understanding the sort of internecine strife between Romans and Romans in the civil wars, and Romans and their Italian allies in the Social War (and the subsequent tensions / PTSD fallout down to the end of the 1st c BCE.... if I remember correctly)... among many other good ideas that he discusses therein. On a related note, retired FSU Classics prof., John Marincola, at one point (early 2000s) was working on similar ideas with respect to Vergil's treatment of the conflict between Aeneas and the Trojans (ancestors of the Romans) and Italians (represented esp. by Turnus) and the tragedy / futility of that conflict (esp. in Aeneid book 12) and how it was a way to talk about the still palpable fallout from the Social War in an oblique way (as an allegorical precursor; note that in his earlier poetry he talks about losing family property in the triumviral appropriations to satisfy land-hungry veterans of the civil wars of the 40s). I hope this makes sense; or, at least more sense than my initial, too-early-in-the-morning, pre-caffeinated response.

@ambr0zie, Remus was, in fact, a crucial character in the myth of Rome's founding. Roman historian T. P. Wiseman wrote an important, book-length treatment on this very topic nearly three decades ago: Remus: A Roman Myth, Cambridge University Press (September 7, 1995). Here is a blurb on the book: "This is an account of the foundation legend of Rome, how the twins Remus and Romulus were miraculously suckled by a she-wolf, and how Romulus founded Rome and Remus was killed at the moment of the foundation. What does the story mean? Why have a twin, if he has to be killed off? This is the first historical analysis of the origins and development of the myth, and it offers important insights into the nature of pre-imperial Rome and the ways in which myths could be created and elaborated in a nonliterate society." Along with coin depictions, images of the statue groups of Romulus and Anchises et alii from the Forum Augustum were found painted on either side of the door of the house of M. Fabius Ululitremulus in Pompeii. If these are accurate depictions, then the coin type of Hadrian (and the same type repeated without the Romulo Conditori legend under Antoninus Pius) may represent a celator's slight modification to more closely assimilate the "Mars striding along with trophy" type that first appeared under the Flavian emperors on sestertii, etc. In any case, these two paintings (the one on the right is a modern artist's capturing of the original as found in the early 20th c.) provide a good idea of what the statues looked like in the Forum Augustum with their applied coloration. (quoting from my chapter in Urban Dream & Realities, A. Kemezis, ed., Brill 2014): Figures 11–12. Matching frescoes of Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius-Iulus fleeing Troy, and Romulus carrying spolia opima. Found in the late 19th c. in Pompeii (Pompeii IX.13.5). These images likely represent the statue groups created for the Summi Viri monument in the Forum Augustum, Aeneas standing at the head of the Julian line of ancestors, Romulus at the head of Rome’s triumphators. These images are based on photos originally published in Della Corte (1913) 144–145, figs. 1 and 2, as found in the House of M. Fabius Ululitremulus on the Via dell’ Abondanza. Also worth noting is that a cointype of Alexander Severus, thought to depict Romulus as Mars, is a dead ringer for the depiction seen above from Pompeii (except for the position of the head facing forward instead of to the right):