<P> Romulus himself was the subject of the famous legend of the suckling she - wolf (lupa) that kept Romulus and his twin Remus alive in a cave on the Palatine Hill (the Lupercal) after they had been thrown into the river Tiber on the orders of their wicked uncle, Amulius . The latter had usurped the throne of Alba from the twins' grandfather, king Numitor, and then confined their mother, Rhea Silvia, to the Vestal convent . They were washed ashore by the river, and after a few days with the wolf, were rescued by shepherds . </P> <P> Mainstream scholarly opinion regards Romulus as an entirely mythical character, and the legend fictitious . On this view, Romulus was a name fabricated to provide Rome with an eponymous founding hero, a common feature of classical foundation - myths; it is possible that Romulus was named after Rome instead of vice versa . The name contains the Latin diminutive - ulus, so it means simply "Roman" or "little Roman". It has been suggested that the name "Roma" was of Etruscan origin, or that it was derived from the Latin word ruma ("teat"), presumably because the shape of the Palatine Hill and / or Capitoline Hill resembled a woman's teats . If Romulus was named after the city, it is more likely that he was historical . Nevertheless, Cornell argues that "Romulus probably never existed...His biography is a complex mixture of legend and folk - tale, interspersed with antiquarian speculation and political propaganda". </P> <P> In contrast, Andrea Carandini, an archaeologist who has spent most of his career excavating central Rome, advanced the theory that Romulus was a historical figure who indeed founded the city in c. 753 BC, as related by the ancient chroniclers, by ploughing a symbolic sacred furrow to define the city's boundary . But Carandini's views have received scant support among fellow - scholars . </P> <P> In contrast to the legend of Aeneas, which was clearly imported into the Latin world from an extraneous culture, it appears that the Romulus legend of the suckling she - wolf is a genuine indigenous Latin myth . The wolf was an emblem widespread among the Italic peoples . Aside from Rome, the wolf was also the ethnic emblem of the Samnites, the fierce pastoralists of the mountains of southern Italy . </P>

Who posed the greatest threat to rome and latium in the 5th century bce