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Rhea Silvia
(341 words)

[German version]

(also Rea Silvia). Poetically also Ilía (for identity of both: Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,76,3 i.a.). Mother of Romulus [1] and Remus. She is mentioned for the first time in Naevius (cf. Serv. Aen. 1,273; 6,777) and in Ennius (Ann. 29,34-50), apparently as the daughter of Aeneas [1]. Later sources, however, identify her as the daughter of Numitor and thereby move the founding of Rome several generations away from Aeneas and the ruin of Troy. The main version of the myth is essentially to be found in Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,76-79 and Liv. 1,3 f.: king Amulius of Alba Longa forces h…

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Käppel, Lutz (Kiel), “Rhea Silvia”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1021880>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510



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