Capitoline Wolf:
The statue of Romulus and Remus, which is located at the
approach of the entrance of the Municipal Building of the City
of Rome, Georgia, was an official gift from the Roman Governor,
by order of the Italian Dictator, Benito Mussolini. The gift
was presented when Chatillon Corporation (Silk Mill), now
Celanese Corporation of America, originating from Chatillon
Corporation in Italy, was brought here in 1929, by Mr. Ugo
Mancini, Italian Manager. This presentation from ancient Rome
to Modern Rome was made on July 20, 1929, by Dr. Marco Biroli
of La Soie De Chatillon, Milan, Italy.
We do not have the name of the sculptor of the statue, but
the original, an example of Etruscan art, of which this statue
is an exact replica, stands in the Paolazzo dei Conservatori on
Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy.
The bronze plate on the marble base of the
statue bears the following inscription:
ROMAE NOVAE
AUSPICIUM
PROSPERITATIS
ET GLORIAE
LUPAM CAPITOLINAM
SIGNUM
ROMA AETERNA
CONSULE BENITO
MUSSOLINI MISIT ANNO MCMXXIX
Translation: "This statue of the Capitoline Wolf, as a
forecast of prosperity and glory, has been sent from Ancient
Rome to New Rome, during the consulship of Benito Mussolini, in
the year 1929".
In 1933 one of the twins - no one ever knew whether it was
Romulus or Remus - was kidnapped from the pedestal. Neither the
kidnapper nor the twin was ever found, but through the efforts
of the Rome Rotary Club and the International Rotary Club,
another twin was sent from Italy to replace the missing
one.
War left its mark on the Capitoline Wolf and her adopted
human babies. When Italy declared was on the Allies in 1940,
threats to dynamite and destroy the statue became so numerous
that the Rome City Commission ordered the statue removed and
stored for safety.
In 1952 a movement was started by citizens and art lovers to
restore the statue, and on September 8, 1952, after an absence
of twelve years, the 1500-pound statue of the Capitoline Wolf
was placed once more on its pedestal in front of the Municipal
Building.
Compton's Encyclopedia gives the following account of
Romulus and Remus:
The Romans were very proud of their origin,
for they believed that the father of Romulus, the mythical
founder of Rome, was Mars, the god of war.
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