This book reveals artistic strategies through which ancient paintings, mosaics, architecture, sculpture and other media, in dialogue with ancient texts, unfolded Rome’s foundation myths to elicit new meanings and perspectives.

The reader will develop a new awareness on the multitude of ways in which ancient Romans thought about their own origins. Over 75 colour images, some of objects rarely published or displayed in museums, allow direct engagement with novel representations of familiar stories. Insightful interpretation of the images, coordinated with textual and historical evidence with translations, will guide the reader through various foundation myths, including the stories of Romulus and Remus, the She-wolf, Aeneas, and the Sabine women.

Imagining Rome’s Foundation in Ancient Visual Culture is suitable for students and scholars of classics, Roman and Italian history, and art history, as well as general readers interested in the mythology of Rome’s origins.

Jeanne Pansard-Besson is an opera director, dramaturge and librettist working in Europe and the UK. She completed her doctorate Visualising Rome’s Foundation Myths at the University of Cambridge (King’s College).

Marden Fitzpatrick Nichols is Associate Professor and Chair of the Classics Department at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., USA. She is the author of Author and Audience in Vitruvius’ De architectura and How to Make a Home: An Ancient Guide to Style and Comfort.