The Capitoline She-Wolf (Lupa Capitolina)
This piece is a famous depiction of the foundation myth of Rome, where the twins Romulus and Remus are shown drinking the milk of a she-wolf as infants. The piece is an interesting conversation on commemoration in terms of its chronology, as the twins were a renaissance addition to the wolf piece (which itself is debated to be either an Etruscan piece from the fifth century BCE or a medieval work). No matter the timeline of the piece’s origin and creation, one thing remains certain: commemorating the founding myth of Rome is central to our social consciousness throughout centuries of time.
This piece communicates that Romulus, the founder and creator of Rome, was literally born of the nurturing and strength of a wild animal. It’s incredibly significant that the most famous depiction of this myth that we have today is not an image of Romulus as a grown and healthy man, defeating his brother for the position of leader, which would emphasize the virality and conquering nature of Rome. Instead, the symbolic founder of one of the greatest Empires on earth is depicted as a helpless infant. This commemoration of his infancy over his adulthood is purposeful, as the depiction of his relationship to the she-wolf lends him more power as a symbol than he would ever achieve on his own. Romulus literally takes a part of the she-wolf inside of him in a bodily and visceral way, and when he drinks the milk out of the wolf’s teat, he immediately becomes something super-human or human-hybrid. Romulus is remembered and commemorated constantly, not for his own personal physical or intellectual achievements, but for the moment he became more than a human and melded himself with the essence and spirit of an untamed wolf. This goes to show how much importance we place on wild animals in our commemorative pieces, as Romans use this moment to link themselves to Romulus by blood and ancestry—meaning that Rome as an empire can draw strength and super-human power from the she-wolf as well.