The Capitoline She-Wolf

This Etruscan bronze sculpture created by an unknown artist in 500-470 B.C.E. (disputed) depicts the famous she-wolf savior of Romulus and Remus, the brothers from the myth of Rome's founding. The sculpture was originally just of the she-wolf alone and the infants Romulus and Remus were added during the Renaissance. In the story Romulus and Remus were twin boys who were abandoned, an act of infanticide, and then rescued and the raised by a wolf who happened upon them. The she wolf's legendary duality of ferocious wild nature and loyal nurturing of those she considered her own went on to become a common thread throughout Roman society. Though the Capitoline She-Wolf has gone on to be of disputed origins, with some making the case that it is a medieval creation, it stands and a easily recognizable relic of Rome's foundation myth.