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Show HOLY CITY'S FOUNDATION: Rome Completes Celebration Cele-bration in Honor of 2,663 Anniversary of Its Birth Rise and Fall of the Once Great City Rome April 19 The city of Rome has Just completed tho celebration of the two thousand six hundred and sixty-third anniversary of its foundation. founda-tion. This places the birth ot the city in the vear R C. 11 ttas Marcus Terenaina Varrone who first advanced ho theory found, ed upon patlenl research, that the cornerstone of the city that In after years tame to h known as the mifl-iress mifl-iress ni tho world, was laid at the end of the third year of iho aixth Olympiad, In other words. T.'io years before the birth of Christ. Andenl Romans used to celebrate the city s anniversary by fetes in honor of the Coddr-BS Pale, protectress of shep-herds shep-herds These observances were sup-pored sup-pored to have lnen originated by Romulus Ro-mulus himself. Then ".ater came the "Ludl Seculares," or FeastJ of the. Century, held .it thr. beginning of each new century. In 1 900 King! Humbert and Qu.f-n Marghcrita took part in these observances. Ii a an interesting fact that while Rome has been a city for all these 2663 years, on one occasion she was j Utterl; bereft of inhabitants ThU W! - carlv in the middle ages The haiharians were expected. Word was sent out that, insomuch as no de-Or.se de-Or.se could he made, everybody, men, woman and children, should move ap the river Not a soul was left within I the city limns for more than twenty- tour nours I'nder Augustus the population of Rome numbered nearly six millions. Then it went dovn to the minimum limit of 18,000, In the middle ages, to rise slowly again until It is nox 540,000 This is an increase of about 15,000 yearly for the last ten years The supposition of most people that the word Roma comes from Romulus is erroneous Romuv:s comes from Roma The original colonj was called call-ed Roma, from Rumon, river, meaning mean-ing "The town of the river," and its head, or leader, wa- Romulus 'The man of the town of the river" So that after all Romulus did exist, though Remus is still to be accounted for. |
