It all started with the family estate of René Chateaubriand, which I visited in France, in the small town of Combourg. There on the wall hung his diploma, issued at the end of the 18th century by the academy of arts. The academy’s logo was something peculiar (see photo).
I began to investigate. It turned out that it was a drawing based on the sculpture “Capitoline Wolf”, which in turn reflects the legend of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome.
According to the legend, they were the children of the daughter of the local king at that time, Numitor, Rhea Silvia, and the god Mars. Numitor’s younger brother, Amulius, ordered the infants to be thrown into the Tiber River in a basket, while their mother was locked in a dungeon. However, the basket washed up on the Palatine Hill, where the infants were found and nursed by a she-wolf. They later grew up, killed Amulius, restored Numitor to the throne, and later became the founders of Rome. Incidentally, the name of the city comes from one of the brothers, Romulus.
There are several versions of this she-wolf in various variations. During the time of Benito Mussolini, the Capitoline Wolf was used as a propaganda symbol, embodying the fascist regime’s aspiration to revive the Roman Empire.
Another interesting story is associated with the Roman bronze sculpture – until 2006 it was dated to the 5th century BC, but in 2006 radiocarbon analysis showed it to be from the 13th century. So now there’s a debate.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 