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{{Infobox person
| name = Faustulus
| image = Faustulus - Mosaic de Font de Mussa - Museu de Prehistòria de València.JPG
| caption = The [[Font de Mussa Mosaic]]. A 1st or 2nd century Roman mosaic depicting Faustulus wielding a crook. Found in [[Benifaió]] (Valencia, Spain) and currently held in the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia.
| birth_date = c.  ?
| birth_place =
| death_date = 753 BCE
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| nationality = [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latin]]
| occupation =
| office =
| opponents =
| children =
}}

{{Short description|Shepherd who found the infant twins Romulus and Remus}}
In [[Roman mythology]], '''Faustulus''' was the shepherd who found the infant [[Romulus]] (the future founder of the city of Rome)<ref>{{Cite web|last=Garcia|first=Brittany|date=18 April 2018|title=Romulus and Remus|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Romulus_and_Remus/|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> and his twin brother [[Romulus and Remus|Remus]] along the banks of the [[Tiber|Tiber River]] as they were being suckled by the she-wolf, [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|Lupa]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Livy|title=From the Foundations of the City|pages=Book 1, Section 4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Plutarch|title=The Parallel Lives|pages=6}}</ref> According to legend, Faustulus carried the babies back to his sheepfold for his wife [[Acca Larentia]] to nurse them.<ref name=":0" /> Faustulus and Acca Larentia then raised the boys as their own. Romulus later [[Battle of Alba Longa|defeated and killed]] King [[Amulius]] of Alba Longa, with the help of Faustulus, and his brother '''Pleistinus'''. Romulus and Remus set out to build their own city, but then had a falling-out. In the ensuing skirmish, Faustulus and Pleistinus were killed. Romulus went on to found [[Rome]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Livy|title=From the Foundations of the City|pages=Book 1, Section 6}}</ref>

== Representation in Livy's ''From the Founding of the City'' ==
The Roman historian [[Livy]] details the story of the infants Romulus and Remus in his work ''[[Ab urbe condita (Livy)|Ab urbe condita libri]]'' (From the Founding of the City). According to Livy, after the rape of the Vestal Virgin [[Rhea Silvia]], who later claimed Mars as the father (either out of truth or for the respectability that came of divine providence, as Livy points out), [[Amulius|King Amulius]], the twin's great-uncle, ordered the infants put into a basket and sent down the [[Tiber|Tiber River]] to their deaths by drowning. In this year, the Tiber had flooded and as such, carried the boys into a flatland. When the water receded, it dropped the boys on a flat piece of land where the she-wolf, known as [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|Lupa]], found and nursed them. According to Livy, some shepherds referred to Acca Larentia as the 'she-wolf' because of her sexual promiscuity, and this may be how the tale of the twins suckling at the teat of the she-wolf came to be. Either way, Faustulus carried the infants back to his sheepfold where he presented the children to his wife to rear. Faustulus and Acca Larentia raised the boys as their own, and they grew to be shepherds. According to Livy, Faustulus was aware of the royal lineage of the twins from the beginning, writing:

<blockquote>From the very beginning Faustulus had entertained the suspicion that they were children of the royal blood that he was bringing up in his house; for he was aware both that infants had been exposed by order of the king, and that the time when he had himself taken up the children exactly coincided with that event.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 1, chapter 1|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi0011.perseus-eng1:1|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref></blockquote>Faustulus withheld his knowledge of the twin's lineage, choosing instead to wait "until opportunity offered or necessity compelled."<ref name=":1" /> According to Livy, necessity came first, as Remus had been captured by [[Numitor]], the former King, a descendant of [[Aeneas]], father of Rhea Silvia, and maternal grandfather of Romulus and Remus.<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Fasti, book 4|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi007.perseus-lat1:4|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Faustulus revealed the true nature of the twin's birth to Romulus. At the same time, Numitor realized the boy he held in custody was his grandson Remus, and so a plan was hatched to slay King Amulius. Romulus gathered a band of shepherds and, combined with Remus's forces from the house of Numitor, attacked and killed the king. The twins declared the death of the tyrant and named their grandfather king. According to Livy, this was followed by a "shout of assent...from the entire throng [which] confirmed the new monarch's title and authority."<ref name=":1" />

== Representation in Plutarch's ''Parallel Lives'' ==
Greek philosopher, biographer, and essayist [[Plutarch]], addresses Faustulus in his section, ''The Life of Romulus,'' in his work ''[[Parallel Lives]].'' Plutarch largely follows Livy's description of Faustulus in his work, ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri|From the Founding of the City]],'' while offering some additional information and contending ideas. Plutarch notes that the servant whom King Amulius ordered to set the twins down the Tiber was referred to by some as Faustulus. Plutarch also claims that Numitor most likely knew of Faustulus and Acca Larentia's raising Romulus and Remus, and "secretly aided the foster-parents in their task."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Plutarch • Life of Romulus|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Romulus*.html|access-date=2020-12-08|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> According to Plutarch, Faustulus was at one point brought before Numitor to confirm the livelihood of the boys.<ref name=":2" />

== Etymology ==
Faustulus' name being tied to that of ''faunus'' is generally rejected by the scholarship, with many detailing how Faustulus is derived from ''faveo'' (Latin: befriend, support, back up). The name Faustulus is further derived from ''favestos'', as the "verbal adjective underlying his name, must be linked to the religious sense of ''faveo'' expressed in the ritual formula ''favete linguis"''<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Noonan|first=J. D.|date=1993|title=Daunus/Faunus in "Aeneid" 12|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25010986|journal=Classical Antiquity|volume=12|issue=1|pages=111–125|doi=10.2307/25010986|jstor=25010986|issn=0278-6656|url-access=subscription}}</ref> meaning 'be silent'. These Latin roots help to explain why Faustulus remained silent about the nature of Romulus and Remus' lineage for so long. Many have historically viewed Faustulus as a "wolfish" character, but this has no historical or etymological basis, and is generally thought to be the result of popular association of fauna and Faustulus.<ref name=":3" />

== Death ==
According to Plutarch, Faustulus, along with his brother Pleistinus, was killed in the same skirmish that resulted in Romulus slaying his brother Remus before the founding of the city of Rome.<ref name=":2" />

== Representations in art ==
<gallery>
File:Mignard - The Shepherd Faustulus Bringing Romulus and Remus to His Wife.jpg|Painted in 1654 by French artist, [[Nicolas Mignard]], this example of late 17th century French art depicts Faustulus presenting the infants Romulus and Remus to his wife (their adoptive mother), Acca Larentia. This work is housed in the Dallas Museum of Art.
File:Cortona Romulus and Remus Given Shelter by Faustulus 01.jpg|This 1597 work by [[Pietro da Cortona|Pietro de Cortona]] depicts the presentation of Romulus and Remus to his wife, Acca Larentia. This work is housed in the Denon wing of the Louvre.
File:Romolo e remo.jpg|''[[Romulus and Remus (Rubens)|Romulus and Remus]]'' by Peter Paul Rubens, 1615. One can view Faustulus (right) approaching the infants Romulus and Remus as they are suckling at the teat of the she-wolf. Housed in the [[Capitoline Museums|Pinacoteca Capitolina]] in Rome.
File:Lupa Capitolina, Rome.jpg|[[Capitoline Wolf|The Capitoline Wolf]] housed in [[Capitoline Museums|Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy]], depicts the she-wolf, Lupa, suckling the mythical founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Roman religion}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:8th century BC in the Roman Kingdom]]
[[Category:Fictional shepherds]]
[[Category:Characters in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:She-wolf (Roman mythology)]]

Faustulus - Revision history

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