The Casa Romuli: Classical Significance

The hut of Romulus held great significance for the Romans centuries ago. Back at the height of the Roman Empire, this simple hut served as a reminder to the Romans of their humble origin, as remarked by the elder Seneca: 

"Unroll the family tree of any nobleman you like: you will arrive at low 
birth if you go back far enough. Why should I list individuals? I could use 
the whole city as my example...Can you reproach the Romans? They 
could conceal their humble origins but instead they make a display of 
them and do not regard all this as great unless it is made obvious that it 
rose from a small beginning" (Edwards 38). 
Here the elder Seneca clearly shows how the poor man was the creator of Rome, not rich noblemen like the senators that ruled it during his time. Romans like the elder Seneca seemed to appreciate the old, poor ways of their ancestors. Virgil adds his comment of the humility of Romulus' hut in The Aeneid: 

"They drew near the home of Evander-the house of a poor 
man...Evander said: 'Victorious Hercules himself stooped to cross my 
threshold. This palace welcomed him. Have the courage, guest, to look 
down on wealth and make yourself too worthy of divinity. Enter with 
charity towards my humble estate" (Edwards 32).
In this passage Virgil comments on how easy it would be for the Romans to pretend like they came from the gods and divinity. Virgil wants his fellow Romans to keep their origins in mind so that they do not forget it. Dionysius says this of the hut of Romulus in The Roman Antiquities of Halicarnassus:

"One of these, called the hut of Romulus, remained even to my day on 
the flank of the Palatine hill which faces towards the Circus, and it is 
preserved holy by those who have charge of these matters; they add 
nothing to it to render it more stately, but if any part of it is injured, either 
by storms or by the lapse of time, they repair the damage and restore the 
hut as nearly as possible to its former condition."

It is easy to see that the citizens of the Roman Empire greatly appreciated the small monument, since they were very careful to restore it to its original state each time it was damaged. The hut of Romulus was a means for the Romans to connect with their rustic past that was so very different from the Rome and its emperors that they were so familiar with (Edwards 39).

The ruins of a village of huts, one of which is the hut of Romulus.

The hut of Romulus was not only important to the common Romans; it held great significance to the emperors as well. Dio says that "the hut of Romulus was important to Caesar, who had his military headquarters on the Palatine Hill because Romulus lived there (Edwards 33). Caesar saw significance in Romulus' former dwelling and chose the Palatine Hill for the implications that it would pass onto his character. Caesar's heir, Augustus, also used the location of the hut to make a claim about himself. Catharine Edwards says that:  

"Comparisons between Augustus and Romulus may have begun as 
early as 43 BCE. Indeed, instead of Augustus, Octavian is said to have 
considered calling himself Romulus. The proximity of their dwellings 
reinforced the implication that Augustus was Romulus' heir, the new 
founder of Rome" (Edwards 33).

The juxtaposition of Augustus with the location of the hut of Romulus must have had a strong effect, since Augustus was being compared to Romulus sixteen years before the start of his rule. Indeed, the noblemen of Augustus' time in the Roman Empire lived vastly different lives than that of Romulus. Edwards says "Not far from the splendid complex built by Augustus, which included his own house, as well as the temple of Apollo and the libraries, was a modest rustic construction referred to as the hut of Romulus" (Edwards 32). Roman history is very interesting in the fact that buildings like Augustus' complex and great temples existed very near to this small hut that was amazingly the beginning of an entire empire.

Augustus, the Roman ruler after Julius Caesar's assassination. Formerly known as Octavian, he tried to associate himself with Romulus,the founder of Rome. 

Despite frequent destruction to the hut of Romulus, the monument was still valued by the Romans. Dio's narrative explains that the hut was so important in religious rites that even though those ceremonies tended to cause fire damage, they were still carried out there instead of at another, lesser location (Edwards 34). The Romans clearly had a different opinion on authenticity, since the frequent renewal of the hut's materials quickly decreased its original authenticity. Edwards says that, in fact, "constant renewal of the hut could also function as a demonstration of concern for the preservation of those values with which it was associated. Roman moralists were not overly preoccupied with authenticity" (Edwards 34). Instead of trying to preserve the original structure, the Romans felt that the importance of the hut was appreciated when they carried out rituals, even if they contained worrisome fire. The Romans seemed to have the same thought as Cicero: that the originality of the materials in the hut did not matter as much as how the hut looked; it was better to have to replace the historical materials so that the hut looked as new as possible, without signs of age (Edwards 35).