According to the legend, described by the Roman historian Titus Livius, Rhea Sylvia, beloved sole daughter of the so called “Denominator” King of Alba Longa and, simultaneously, a vestal virgin within God Mars’ Temple, is said to have suddenly become pregnant “out of the blue Moon” with Mars, the wolf-god, and eventually delivers twin boys. Her powerful uncle Amelia, apparently not “buying” her explanation, orders his servants to throw the bastards into the Tiber River. However, designated executioners would prove to have a heart and decide to better abandon both babies into a floating basket, going down the wild river’s stream only to be, subsequently, found by a “She-wolf”, meaning a woman from a neighboring wolf-named tribe, probably the Samanite tribe of the Lucani.

A similar legend is found in Central Asia, in several variants, where the marriage between a supernatural wolf and a princess gave birth to a population or to a dynasty. Most probably, the Romans adopted this legend from east.

According to the legend, Romulus established a place of refuge for exiles and outlaws on the Capitol . Most probably, all of them were “wolf people” coming from Thrace and Dacia. Servius informs us that this asylum was under the protection of the god Lucoris who was identified with Lykoreus of Delphi, himself a wolf-god.
Every year on February 15 ancient priests killed a dog and two goats and smeared the foreheads of two boys from noble families with the sacrificial blood as part of the Lupercalia celebration.The ceremony survived until A.D. 494, when Pope Gelasius put an end to the tradition.

Rhea Sylvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus, being a vestal virgin, lived into the temple of Vesta, located also on the Palatine hill, just as the cave where she give birth to her twins.

The capture of the Sabines originates from the practice of the wolf-people to capture their wives.
After Romans raped their women, the Sabine tribes attacked Rome and in order to survive, the Romans asked their Sabine wives to intervene to prevent the seizing of the city. In accordance with a treaty drawn up between the two peoples, Romulus accepted the Sabine king Titus Tatius as his co ruler. Titus Tatius’ early death left Romulus sole king again, and after a long rule he mysteriously disappeared in a storm.
The capture of the Sabines remained in the custom of simulated capture in the Roman marriage ceremony. This custom is present today in the Romanian marriage ceremony, where the groom has to pay for having back the kidnapped bride.