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Romulus himself was the subject of the famous legend of the suckling she-wolf (''lupa'') that kept Romulus and his twin [[Remus]] alive in a cave on the [[Palatine Hill]] (the ''[[Lupercal]]'') after they had been thrown into the river [[Tiber]] on the orders of their wicked uncle, [[Amulius]]. The latter had usurped the throne of Alba from the twins' grandfather, king [[Numitor]], and then confined their mother, [[Rhea Silvia]], to the [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]]l convent. They were washed ashore by the river, and after a few days with the wolf, were rescued by shepherds.
Mainstream scholarly opinion regards Romulus as an entirely mythical character, and the legend fictitious. On this view, Romulus was a name fabricated to provide Rome with an eponymous founding hero, a common feature of classical foundation-myths; it is possible that Romulus was named after Rome instead of ''vice versa''. The name contains the Latin diminutive ''-ulus'', so it means simply "Roman" or "little Roman".{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=119}} It has been suggested that the name "Roma" was of [[Etruscan language|Etruscan origin]], or that it was derived from the Latin word ''ruma'' ("teat"), presumably because the shape of the Palatine Hill and/or Capitoline Hill resembled a woman's breasts. If
In contrast, [[Andrea Carandini]], an archaeologist who has spent most of his career excavating central Rome, advanced the theory that Romulus was a historical figure who indeed founded the city in {{circa|753 BC}}, as related by the ancient chroniclers, by ploughing a symbolic sacred furrow to define the city's boundary.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carandini |first=Andrea |author-link=Andrea Carandini |year=2011 |title=Rome: Day One}}</ref> But Carandini's views have received scant support among fellow scholars.
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