The Origins of Rome from Cassius Dio to the Suda Lexicon: Romulus and the she-wolf

Cassius Dio’s Roman history was a landmark for Byzantine historiography. However, due to the fragmentary knowledge of the books devoted to the origins of Rome, it is difficult to assess the historian’s contribution in rewriting the mythi- cal origins of Rome in Byzantium. The analysis of one episode, the one relating to the prodigious survival of Romulus (and Remus) through the intervention of the she-wolf, is proposed as a case study. While through a citation of Eustathius of Thessalonica we know that certainly Dio wrote about it, that same episode is not always handed down in Byzantine historiography, as it is evidenced by Malalas’ Chronographia and the authors who used him as their source. Eventually, it is proposed that at least a double tradition on the mythical survival of Romulus could be identified in Byzantine historians. It is possible that for both traditions historical works belonging to the Severan age, written in Greek, were consulted in Byzantium.