Rhea Silvia’s Family Tree

About Rhea Silvia →

Family

• Mars(spouse),Remus(child),Romulus(child)— Consort

  Mars visited the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia and fathered the twins Romulus and Remus, who would go on to found Rome.

• Numitor(parent)

  Numitor, king of Alba Longa, was the maternal grandfather of Romulus and Remus through his daughter Rhea Silvia. The twins restored him to his throne after overthrowing the usurper Amulius.

• Tiberinus(spouse)— Consort

  After Amulius cast Rhea Silvia into the Tiber for breaking her Vestal vow, the river god Tiberinus caught her in his waters and took her as his bride.

  ⚠ Livy (Ab Urbe Condita 1.4) records that Rhea Silvia was imprisoned, not cast into the river. The Tiberinus marriage tradition derives from earlier poets Ennius and Naevius, preserved in Servius's commentary.

Associated with

• Alba Longa

  Rhea Silvia was a princess of Alba Longa's royal house, forced by the usurper Amulius to become a Vestal Virgin. Her union with Mars produced Romulus and Remus, through whom Alba Longa's bloodline founded Rome.

• Amulius

  Amulius forced his niece Rhea Silvia into the order of Vestal Virgins to prevent her from bearing heirs who might reclaim Numitor's stolen throne — a precaution undone when Mars fathered twins upon her.

• Vesta

  Rhea Silvia was forced to become a Vestal Virgin by her uncle Amulius, making her a priestess of Vesta. Her violation by Mars and subsequent motherhood of Romulus and Remus was a grave breach of Vesta's sacred chastity.