The change from nomadic to settled life that began in the Fertile Crescent around twelve thousand years ago occurred centuries later in Southern Europe. However, by the fifth millennium BCE, material culture, including thousands of rock engravings in the Val Comonica region of north-central Italy, indicates a highly developed way of life based on agrarian settlements (Durando 2001, 27–28). By this time several primitive settlements had developed on the Palatine and Esquiline Hills, which were eventually incorporated into the city of Rome (Rogers 2007, 18). By the first century BCE Rome had developed into a sprawling empire stretching from the northern boundary of England to the highlands of Afghanistan. Myths and legends of Rome's origins may have been passed down for centuries with written versions proliferating during the reign of the first emperor, Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE), following his successful establishment of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) after centuries of conflict and war, especially with the rival North African power at Carthage. Explanations for the triumph of Rome took the form of stories of its ancient founding. The empire soon came to be seen as rooted in the most distant, glorious past known: the time of Troy immortalized in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. In its fully developed form, however, the legends that emerged were invented, its heroes fictional, its history a cluster of narratives for which little evidence has been found. Works responsible for these legendary origins were composed by the historian Livy (59 BCE–17 CE) and the poets Virgil (70–19 BCE) and Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE). These remain among the greatest literary works of classical times.

By the first century BCE, a legend of Romulus as the eponymous founder of Rome had been known and celebrated for centuries. According to this story, the twins Romulus and Remus had been born from a mating of the god Mars and a mortal woman, then abandoned and brought up by wild animals. Rome's founding is traditionally dated to 753 BCE, but the source of the legend is unknown, though it achieved iconic form in the bronze Capitoline Wolf sculpture that may date to the fifth century BCE. The earliest recorded version traces to the late fourth or early third century BCE, more than four hundred years after the alleged founding occurred.