Roman demigod, son of Mars and Rhea Silvia; founder of Rome (April 21, 753 BCE per traditional date); first king. Killed Remus during the foundation. Disappeared during a thunderstorm at the Goat's Marsh on the Campus Martius and was apotheosed as Quirinus — see roman_quirinus entry. Iconographic prototype for the Roman augur (the lituus tradition) and for the spolia opima cult at Iuppiter Feretrius. The Casa Romuli on the Palatine was preserved and ritually maintained through the imperial period as the founder's hut. Per Beard/North/Price 1998; Wiseman, Remus: A Roman Myth (1995).