Storie di figli del focolare

Antonino Caratozzolo

Abstract:

This paper analyses some legendary tales about the birth of several heroes – Romulus and Remus, Servius Tullius and Caeculus – from an anthropological point of view. These tales share the motifs of miraculous conception and birth tied to the hearth. I emphasize the role that the hearth plays in these tales and, in a more wide-ranging view, reconstruct the web of connections that in Greek and Roman culture link the igneous element – fire, hearth, firebrands, sparks, torches, coals and ovens – with sexual meanings.