Faustulus

Romulus and Remus being given shelter by Faustulus, oil by Pietro da Cortona.

In Roman mythology, Faustulus was the shepherd who found the infants Romulus and Remus, who were being suckled by a she-wolf, known as Lupa, on the Palatine Hill. He, with his wife, Acca Larentia, raised the children.^[1][2] In some versions of the myth, Larentia was a prostitute (in Latin a lupa, 'she-wolf'). The name Faustulus was later claimed by a Roman family, one of whom minted a coin showing Faustulus with the twins and she-wolf. Sextus Pompeius Fostlus issued a silver denarius in about 140 BCE that showed, on the reverse, the twins being suckled by a dangerous wolf with the shepherd Faustulus to their left.

Gallery

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  Faustulus, as seen in the Font de Mussa mosaic at Prehistory Museum of Valencia.

Notes

1. Livy I.4
2. Carroll, Michael P. "The Folkloric Origins of Modern "animal-Parented Children" Stories." Journal of Folklore Research. 21.1 (1984): 63-85. Print.