Romulus and Remus

We started a unit on Ancient Rome today. The assignment was to make a 6-panel story and/or cartoon about the founding of Rome. The students really like this assignment because they get to re-word the legend (as long as it's school appropriate) and draw pictures. Typically, my students are pretty talented artists. For those of you who don't know the story it goes like this (more or less).

Mars, the God of War, and Rhea (a vestal virgin) had twins named Romulus and Remus. Rhea's father, Numitor, was king. Numitor's brother, Amulius, overthrew his brother and forced Rhea to become a vestal virgin so she would not have any more heirs. Then, he took the babies and threw them in to the Tiber River (that's in Italy).

The babies washed ashore where they were found by a she-wolf who suckled them. Later, a shepherd (Fastulus, I believe) found them and raised them. When they were older, Romulus and Remus discovered who they really were, killed their great-uncle and restored their grandfather to the throne.

Later, the twins decided to build a city of their own, but they argued over its location. They finally settled on Palatine Hill, where the she-wolf had found them. When it came time to decide who would rule the city, they argued again. But this time Romulus killed his twin brother Remus and became king of the city the brothers founded. This city was called Rome, which is named for Romulus. Romulus ruled Rome for 40 years.