The Wolf Suckling Romulus and Remus
This bronze statue relates to the myth that a she-wolf nursed the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, the offspring of the war god Mars and the future founders of Rome. Romans treasured this story because it meant that Mars loved their city so dearly that he sent a wild animal to nurse its founders after a cruel tyrant had forced their mother to abandon the infants. The myth also taught Romans that their state had been born in violence: Romulus killed Remus in an argument over who would lead their new settlement. The wolf is an Etruscan sculpture from the fifth century B.C.E.; the babies were added in the Renaissance. (Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy / Scala / Art Resource, NY.)