Long before Rome became an empire, it was a story. Alfred John Church brings the legendary founding of the Eternal City to life with the vivid storytelling and scholarly precision that made him one of the Victorian era's most beloved classical adapters. Here are the tales that shaped Roman identity for a thousand years: the wandering Aeneas, refugee from Troy, who carries his gods and his grief to Italian shores; the twins Romulus and Remus, suckled by a she-wolf, whose fierce rivalry ends in murder and founds a city destined for greatness; the wise king Numa, who speaks with the goddess Egeria, and the warriors and tyrants who follow. These are not mere myths but thevery bedrock of Western civilization, the narratives that Romans told themselves about who they were and why they mattered. Church retells them with dramatic flair and historical awareness, preserving the raw power of Livy's original Latin while making these ancient voices speak to modern readers. For anyone curious about where our civilization's stories begin.
