Rhea Silvia

(Ilia) Roman A Vestal Virgin. Rhea Silvia was raped or loved by the god Mars, which resulted in her becoming the mother of Romulus and Remus, twin brothers who became the legendary founders of Rome. She was the daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa a city in Latium, or according to some legends, the daughter of the hero Aeneas, who was honored by people of Rome as the founder of their race. Not knowing who had fathered the twins, Rhea Silvia's uncle, King Amulius, who had taken the throne from his brother, Numitor, ordered that the children be taken from their mother at their birth and thrown in the Tiber River and left to die. One legend has it that Amulius imprisoned Rhea Silvia before the birth and kept her there after the birth. Another says that he tried to kill her by throwing her into the Tiber, too, but the god of that body of water rescued her and made her his wife. Meanwhile, a she-wolf found the babies and nursed them until a shepherd, Faustulus, found them and raised them with his wife, Acca Larentia (1).