“A story that was the subject of every variety of misrepresentation, not only by those who then lived but likewise in succeeding times: so true is it that all transactions of preeminent importance are wrapt in doubt and obscurity; while some hold for certain facts the most precarious hearsays, others turn facts into falsehood; and both are exaggerated by posterity.”
Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals, Book III, 19
This quote by one of Rome's greatest historians is cited by Robert Graves in his biographical novel of Roman emperor Claudius. Major historical events or "transactions of preeminent importance" are usually clouded with faint, contradictory memories that wrap them “in doubt and obscurity.” Perhaps no better example of this phenomenon is the open question: who were the real founders of Roma, the eternal city? Were they immortal like the current Italian metropolis of Rome purports to be? This "exaggeration by posterity" of immortality and invincibility stems from the aura of Rama, the universal deity.
Left: Rama, Sita, and Lakshman walking through the forest wearing simple clothes made up of tree bark and leaves, Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Place of origin: Punjab Plains near modern-day Lahore, Pakistan. Late 19th century
Right: Typical 20th century Indian artist's depiction of the same subject. Compare with the Etruscan drawings shown below from Cerveteri near Rome.
Most citizens of Rome probably did not even have enough awareness or courage to question all these made-up stories about their eternal city. As classical scholar Gilbert Highet observes, "The appellation Rome was a mystery to the Romans themselves: they did not know what meanings were concealed within it; perhaps originally it was no more than the name of a noble Etruscan family" (Ancient Rome by Robert Payne, 2005, pg. vii). Here Highet, who once chaired the Department of Greek and Latin at Columbia University, almost knocks on the door of my thesis. That 'noble Etruscan family' or clan is painted in the famous Campana plaques from Caere (modern Cerveteri, 50 km from Rome). They are currently found in their original condition at the Louvre Museum in Paris, and I will concentrate on two of these terracotta slabs (reproduced in full color without blemishes by the Archaeological Museum in Bologna as shown in my first post).
This first scene is Rama, Sita, and Lakshman walking single file during their exile in the forest. These three are collectively shown with Bharat and Shatrughna (Rama's two other brothers) in Indian religion as Rama Parivar (Rama’s exalted Vedic family), which is what Gilbert Highet unwittingly describes as Roma's eponymous, noble Etruscan family. In Hindu temples, Rama, Sita, and Lakshman are worshiped together with Rama in the middle, Lakshman on the left, and Sita on the right. Notice that these two Etruscan drawings above and below primitively depict Rama and Lakshman with their right hands upright, much like Vedic deities who recognize the prayers of devotees by raising their right hands with palms facing outward. We saw a similar gesture by Neptune in the same exhibit at Bologna, Italy, a city located in the heart of Tuscany or Etruria (land of the Etruscans).
From my point of view, this second scene is a funny but intelligible version of the ending to the Ramayana. The bearded man on the left is Rama, who once again holds a bow and arrows while wearing regular boots, thus connecting him to the man leading the march in the first painting. The shaven-faced man with wings (and winged boots) on the right is also Rama. He is triumphantly carrying Sita onto Ravana's Pushpaka vimana (airplane), which is metaphorically alluded to by his attached wings. After defeating Ravana, Rama returned with Sita to Ayodhya in the enemy's chariot-shaped plane. Notice the transition from bearded man living as an exile in the wilderness to the clean shaven lord who rescues his wife. While lying in his arms, Sita calmly gazes at her husband in a pleasant mood. Her facial expression indicates she is being saved by Rama.
The Louvre avoids displaying all of these panels on its website, except for the least controversial and enigmatic one, which is easy to dismiss as an inconsequential man at a sacrificial altar. That man, whose picture is displayed on its webpage titled "Campana slab: man before an altar", may be drinking soma juice after offering oblations in the sacred fire (Agnihotra or Yajna) and this kind of ritual activity is certainly mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana:
The oblations addressed to Indra are well given as ordained, and the flawless king Dasharatha also crushed the Soma creeper to squeeze Soma juice, and thus the mid-day savana ritual has come to pass according to sequence (1-14-6, Bala Kanda).
Bharata saw a sacrificial altar in the north-east corner having a steep descent, extensive in area and having a sacred fire burned in the hermitage of Rama (2-99-24, Ayodhya Kanda)
The Louvre's article about the Campana plaques is also revealing:
"The painted terracotta slabs from the Campana Collection come from a tomb in Caere, where they seem to have been reused. This type of covering was used to decorate the interior of civic buildings, temples, or tombs."
What this implies is that these particular terracotta slabs of Rama Parivar from Caere could have been used previously in civic buildings and Etruscan temples, in addition to tombs. The fact that they have not been rediscovered in other places around Tuscany speaks mostly to the dearth of tangible documentation on Etruscan culture. This is due "partly to the large quantity of unpublished material kept in museum reserves and thus not yet available for the reconstruction of the Etruscans’ past", as Sybille Haynes explains in her own introduction to her book Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History (2000, pg. xviii).
The Gregorian Etruscan Museum in Vatican City and the National Etruscan Museum (Villa Giulia) in Rome are the main culprits in this conspiracy to suppress evidence. If Italy had knowledgeable, secular bureaucrats, then this disturbing tale of habitual concealment of the truth would hopefully end soon. I am pessimistic because this is an inveterate practice of lying started by none other than the so-called Romans, or Latin tribes.
In the absence of a complete archaeological record, we can analyze literary clues and still come to a firm conclusion, where the hypothesis is proven beyond a reasonable doubt as required in a court of law. An absolute confirmation that Roma is Rama is practically impossible, but before I present more empirical evidence, let us examine two modern scholars' opinions on the origins of Romulus and Remus.
Robert Payne notes: “The legendary Romulus remains a mysterious figure. He left no dynasty, no body of doctrine, no tables of law. Yet some emanation of dynamic purpose was believed to flow from him after his death. In Romulus, the Romans found the symbol of an all-powerful king.” (pg. 27, Ancient Rome)
There was no body of doctrine or law for future generations to read because Etruscan literature was wiped out by the Romans, who wanted to eliminate any trace of Etruscan ancestry from memory. Ironically, although Roman law was the template for our current western judicial system, they never intended us to put their own chroniclers on trial. Take for instance, the interrogator asking Livy why Remus was invented when he is not an essential character in Rome's founding myth. Wikipedia, perhaps speaking on Livy's behalf, confesses that "the basis for Remus' name and role remain subjects of ancient and modern speculation." Romulus was manufactured from the name Roma alias Rama, the all-powerful king. Nobody understands the purpose behind the creation of the Remus character, but readers following this blog should know the explanation. Because Rama and Sita had twin sons Lava and Kush, the storytellers wanted to retain both children while distorting their relationship. The integrity of the Ramayan archetype was not completely violated but successfully changed enough to look like a separate, indigenous tradition of Rome.
Nigel Spivey's comments regarding this controversy are enlightening:
“It is not doubted, however, that the literary fabrication of Rome’s indigenous origins - the tale of Romulus and Remus - was actively promoted from the third century BC onwards. Specific Roman families had vested interests in encouraging such folklore. But the general partisan motive for this literary fabrication was to erase the memory that the foundations of the city of Rome had been laid not by Romans, but by Etruscans.” (Etruscan Art, pg. 150)
He reaches the same conclusion as me - that Etruscans were the aboriginal Italian founders of Rome - and chides the Latin Romans whose motivated lies have hoodwinked the public for over two thousand years. Before Romulus and Remus appeared in their mythology (circa 4th-3rd century BC), the dynasty of kings who ruled Rome were primarily Sabines (Numa Pompilius) in the 7th century and Etruscans (Lucius Tarquinius Priscus) in the 6th century. How could Latin tribes be the only pioneers of Roman civilization when many of their early monarchs were from different ethnic groups? To counter this obvious discrepancy, Spivey believes that later Roman historians “came up with a comforting non-Etruscan ancestry for these Tarquins (dynasty of Etruscan kings who ruled Roma from 616 to 509 BC). They claimed that the first Tarquinius was the son of an exiled Greek aristocrat called Demaratus." (pg. 59)
Remember that Numa Pompilius introduced the cult of Janus or Ganesh during his reign. Lucius Tarquinius almost certainly promoted Lord Rama because the Campana panels found in Cerveteri (ancient Caere) are dated to the late 6th century (550-525 BC), near the end of the Tarquin period. Once the Latin Romans overthrew the monarchy in 509 BC, Etruscan contributions were minimized and gradually destroyed through conquest of major cities in Etruria like Caere, Tarquinia, and Veii. The mythical Romulus, who supposedly preceded Numa Pompilius as Rome's first ever sovereign, is really just a representative figure for the divine incarnation of God whom the Etruscans knew and loved - Rama. The Orientalizing period, as it is vaguely described, began right around the time of Rome's founding years in the 8th century. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it ranged from 750 to 575 B.C. and the University of Pennsylvania gives a timeline of 730-580 B.C. Thus, the extant literary and physical evidence of Indian Vedic influence on Italian civilization, however sparse, should coincide fairly well with this expected time frame. I will continue presenting such pieces of empirical evidence in future posts. Thanks for reading and feel free to share any of your own relevant insights in the comments section.
Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals, Book III, 19
This quote by one of Rome's greatest historians is cited by Robert Graves in his biographical novel of Roman emperor Claudius. Major historical events or "transactions of preeminent importance" are usually clouded with faint, contradictory memories that wrap them “in doubt and obscurity.” Perhaps no better example of this phenomenon is the open question: who were the real founders of Roma, the eternal city? Were they immortal like the current Italian metropolis of Rome purports to be? This "exaggeration by posterity" of immortality and invincibility stems from the aura of Rama, the universal deity.
Left: Rama, Sita, and Lakshman walking through the forest wearing simple clothes made up of tree bark and leaves, Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Place of origin: Punjab Plains near modern-day Lahore, Pakistan. Late 19th century
Rome is the only ancient city known to have been founded on a specific date, April 21st, in the 8th century (753-728 B.C.) which is unanimously accepted. What happened during that short time frame is debatable, because virtually everything except the date is open for interpretation. It is quite remarkable that we as inquisitive people do not ask why there is seemingly pinpoint accuracy with Rome's beginning date, but practically no reliable information (other than ridiculous myths) about the details of that day, week, month, or year. First of all, it is not by accident that ancient Rome has this unique distinction of an exact founding date, but western scholars would have us believe it was sort of an accident - a fortuitous collaboration between Romulus and a mysterious guardian of animal flocks and their human caretakers.
Its manifestation was the archaic agricultural festival Parilia, which commemorated Pales, a nondescript deity of uncertain gender who was a patron of shepherds and their livestock. Ovid, a Roman poet of the Imperial period, hinted that this pastoral celebration, which also took place annually on April 21, predates the founding of Rome when people were living off the land as real shepherds. It is reasonable to claim that rural festivals such as Parilia (also known as Palilia) existed before the city of Roma was inaugurated, but this does not prove that Romulus (or whoever was the founder) chose to lay the foundation of the city in honor of Pales. This obscure god, as I discussed in the "Satyr Pan" post, is an indirectly related character (Krishna), who like Rama, is the Hindu god Vishnu directly incarnating himself on earth to redeem mankind.
Its manifestation was the archaic agricultural festival Parilia, which commemorated Pales, a nondescript deity of uncertain gender who was a patron of shepherds and their livestock. Ovid, a Roman poet of the Imperial period, hinted that this pastoral celebration, which also took place annually on April 21, predates the founding of Rome when people were living off the land as real shepherds. It is reasonable to claim that rural festivals such as Parilia (also known as Palilia) existed before the city of Roma was inaugurated, but this does not prove that Romulus (or whoever was the founder) chose to lay the foundation of the city in honor of Pales. This obscure god, as I discussed in the "Satyr Pan" post, is an indirectly related character (Krishna), who like Rama, is the Hindu god Vishnu directly incarnating himself on earth to redeem mankind.
By connecting a popular spring extravaganza with Rome's birthday, contemporary writers during the height of Roman power could whitewash the true reasons why Rome was founded on April 21st. The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth & Religion (2003, pg. 406) admits that Parilia got identified as the birthday of Rome only by the time of the Late Republic (147-30 BC). Kathleen Daly echoes the same sentiment, when she remarks that Parilia "fell on the same day (April 21) in later years when people celebrated the founding of Rome" (pg. 109, Greek and Roman Mythology, A to Z, 3rd edition, 2009).
Most citizens of Rome probably did not even have enough awareness or courage to question all these made-up stories about their eternal city. As classical scholar Gilbert Highet observes, "The appellation Rome was a mystery to the Romans themselves: they did not know what meanings were concealed within it; perhaps originally it was no more than the name of a noble Etruscan family" (Ancient Rome by Robert Payne, 2005, pg. vii). Here Highet, who once chaired the Department of Greek and Latin at Columbia University, almost knocks on the door of my thesis. That 'noble Etruscan family' or clan is painted in the famous Campana plaques from Caere (modern Cerveteri, 50 km from Rome). They are currently found in their original condition at the Louvre Museum in Paris, and I will concentrate on two of these terracotta slabs (reproduced in full color without blemishes by the Archaeological Museum in Bologna as shown in my first post).
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Rama (bow & arrow), Sita (Tulsi plant), Lakshman (spear)Louvre Museum, Paris, France |
This first scene is Rama, Sita, and Lakshman walking single file during their exile in the forest. These three are collectively shown with Bharat and Shatrughna (Rama's two other brothers) in Indian religion as Rama Parivar (Rama’s exalted Vedic family), which is what Gilbert Highet unwittingly describes as Roma's eponymous, noble Etruscan family. In Hindu temples, Rama, Sita, and Lakshman are worshiped together with Rama in the middle, Lakshman on the left, and Sita on the right. Notice that these two Etruscan drawings above and below primitively depict Rama and Lakshman with their right hands upright, much like Vedic deities who recognize the prayers of devotees by raising their right hands with palms facing outward. We saw a similar gesture by Neptune in the same exhibit at Bologna, Italy, a city located in the heart of Tuscany or Etruria (land of the Etruscans).
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Rama carries Sita away from Lanka, Louvre Museum, ParisBook Source: Etruscan Painting by Massimo Pallottino |
From my point of view, this second scene is a funny but intelligible version of the ending to the Ramayana. The bearded man on the left is Rama, who once again holds a bow and arrows while wearing regular boots, thus connecting him to the man leading the march in the first painting. The shaven-faced man with wings (and winged boots) on the right is also Rama. He is triumphantly carrying Sita onto Ravana's Pushpaka vimana (airplane), which is metaphorically alluded to by his attached wings. After defeating Ravana, Rama returned with Sita to Ayodhya in the enemy's chariot-shaped plane. Notice the transition from bearded man living as an exile in the wilderness to the clean shaven lord who rescues his wife. While lying in his arms, Sita calmly gazes at her husband in a pleasant mood. Her facial expression indicates she is being saved by Rama.
The oblations addressed to Indra are well given as ordained, and the flawless king Dasharatha also crushed the Soma creeper to squeeze Soma juice, and thus the mid-day savana ritual has come to pass according to sequence (1-14-6, Bala Kanda).
Bharata saw a sacrificial altar in the north-east corner having a steep descent, extensive in area and having a sacred fire burned in the hermitage of Rama (2-99-24, Ayodhya Kanda)
The Louvre's article about the Campana plaques is also revealing:
"The painted terracotta slabs from the Campana Collection come from a tomb in Caere, where they seem to have been reused. This type of covering was used to decorate the interior of civic buildings, temples, or tombs."
What this implies is that these particular terracotta slabs of Rama Parivar from Caere could have been used previously in civic buildings and Etruscan temples, in addition to tombs. The fact that they have not been rediscovered in other places around Tuscany speaks mostly to the dearth of tangible documentation on Etruscan culture. This is due "partly to the large quantity of unpublished material kept in museum reserves and thus not yet available for the reconstruction of the Etruscans’ past", as Sybille Haynes explains in her own introduction to her book Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History (2000, pg. xviii).
The Gregorian Etruscan Museum in Vatican City and the National Etruscan Museum (Villa Giulia) in Rome are the main culprits in this conspiracy to suppress evidence. If Italy had knowledgeable, secular bureaucrats, then this disturbing tale of habitual concealment of the truth would hopefully end soon. I am pessimistic because this is an inveterate practice of lying started by none other than the so-called Romans, or Latin tribes.
In the absence of a complete archaeological record, we can analyze literary clues and still come to a firm conclusion, where the hypothesis is proven beyond a reasonable doubt as required in a court of law. An absolute confirmation that Roma is Rama is practically impossible, but before I present more empirical evidence, let us examine two modern scholars' opinions on the origins of Romulus and Remus.
Robert Payne notes: “The legendary Romulus remains a mysterious figure. He left no dynasty, no body of doctrine, no tables of law. Yet some emanation of dynamic purpose was believed to flow from him after his death. In Romulus, the Romans found the symbol of an all-powerful king.” (pg. 27, Ancient Rome)
There was no body of doctrine or law for future generations to read because Etruscan literature was wiped out by the Romans, who wanted to eliminate any trace of Etruscan ancestry from memory. Ironically, although Roman law was the template for our current western judicial system, they never intended us to put their own chroniclers on trial. Take for instance, the interrogator asking Livy why Remus was invented when he is not an essential character in Rome's founding myth. Wikipedia, perhaps speaking on Livy's behalf, confesses that "the basis for Remus' name and role remain subjects of ancient and modern speculation." Romulus was manufactured from the name Roma alias Rama, the all-powerful king. Nobody understands the purpose behind the creation of the Remus character, but readers following this blog should know the explanation. Because Rama and Sita had twin sons Lava and Kush, the storytellers wanted to retain both children while distorting their relationship. The integrity of the Ramayan archetype was not completely violated but successfully changed enough to look like a separate, indigenous tradition of Rome.
 |
Rama Parivar, the Eponymous Ancestors of RomaFrom left to right: Lakshman, Rama, Sita, BharatHanuman and Shatrughna kneeling with hands folded |
Nigel Spivey's comments regarding this controversy are enlightening:
“It is not doubted, however, that the literary fabrication of Rome’s indigenous origins - the tale of Romulus and Remus - was actively promoted from the third century BC onwards. Specific Roman families had vested interests in encouraging such folklore. But the general partisan motive for this literary fabrication was to erase the memory that the foundations of the city of Rome had been laid not by Romans, but by Etruscans.” (Etruscan Art, pg. 150)
He reaches the same conclusion as me - that Etruscans were the aboriginal Italian founders of Rome - and chides the Latin Romans whose motivated lies have hoodwinked the public for over two thousand years. Before Romulus and Remus appeared in their mythology (circa 4th-3rd century BC), the dynasty of kings who ruled Rome were primarily Sabines (Numa Pompilius) in the 7th century and Etruscans (Lucius Tarquinius Priscus) in the 6th century. How could Latin tribes be the only pioneers of Roman civilization when many of their early monarchs were from different ethnic groups? To counter this obvious discrepancy, Spivey believes that later Roman historians “came up with a comforting non-Etruscan ancestry for these Tarquins (dynasty of Etruscan kings who ruled Roma from 616 to 509 BC). They claimed that the first Tarquinius was the son of an exiled Greek aristocrat called Demaratus." (pg. 59)
Remember that Numa Pompilius introduced the cult of Janus or Ganesh during his reign. Lucius Tarquinius almost certainly promoted Lord Rama because the Campana panels found in Cerveteri (ancient Caere) are dated to the late 6th century (550-525 BC), near the end of the Tarquin period. Once the Latin Romans overthrew the monarchy in 509 BC, Etruscan contributions were minimized and gradually destroyed through conquest of major cities in Etruria like Caere, Tarquinia, and Veii. The mythical Romulus, who supposedly preceded Numa Pompilius as Rome's first ever sovereign, is really just a representative figure for the divine incarnation of God whom the Etruscans knew and loved - Rama. The Orientalizing period, as it is vaguely described, began right around the time of Rome's founding years in the 8th century. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it ranged from 750 to 575 B.C. and the University of Pennsylvania gives a timeline of 730-580 B.C. Thus, the extant literary and physical evidence of Indian Vedic influence on Italian civilization, however sparse, should coincide fairly well with this expected time frame. I will continue presenting such pieces of empirical evidence in future posts. Thanks for reading and feel free to share any of your own relevant insights in the comments section.
