General Notes

In Roman mythology, Amulius was the brother of Numitor and son of Procas.

His brother, Numitor, was the King of Alba Longa. Amulius overthrew himand took the throne. Amulius forced Rhea Silvia, Numitor's daughter, tobecome a Vestal Virgin, a devotee of Vesta, so that she would never bearany sons that might overthrow him. She violated her oaths of chastity bylaying with the god Mars, resulting in the birth of Romulus and Remus.

Amulius threw Rhea Silvia and her sons into the river Tiber. Theriver-god, Tiberinus found them and gave them to a she-wolf to suckle,while he married Rhea Silvia. Romulus and Remus went on to found Rome andoverthrow Amulius, reinstating Numitor as King of Alba Longa.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Ascanius was a son of Aeneas and Creusa.After the Trojan War, Ascanius escaped to Latium in Italy with his fatherand fought in the Italian Wars. Virgil's Aeneid says he had a role in thefounding of Rome as the first king of Alba Longa.

He was also called Iulus or Julus. From this name comes the Gens Julia,the Julian family to which Julius Caesar belonged.

The name Iulus was popularised by Virgil in his work the Aeneid,replacing the Greek name Ascanius with Iulus to link the Julian family ofRome to earlier mythology. The emperor Augustus, who commissioned thework, was a great patron of the arts. As a member of the Julian family,he could claim to have three major Olympian gods in his family tree, sohe encouraged his many poets to present material on his direct descentfrom Aeneas.