An Ancient Tribe of Werewolves

RomulusandRemusHey readers, today we’re going to take a small dip into the very vast and expansive world of Roman mythology to discover a tribe of werewolves. But before we get to the werewolves we first need to touch on Romulus and Remus, who, as you may or may not know are the founders of Rome.

These twin-brothers were the supposed sons of the god Mars (aka Ares) and the priestess Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numitor. As soon as the baby boys were born they were abandoned and left for dead in a remote part of the forest. It was there that they were found by a she-wolf, who instead of killing them, nursed them with her own milk and took care of them with the help of a woodpecker. After some time Romulus and Remus were then discovered by Faustulus, a shepherd, who brought the children to his home. Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia, raised the boys as their own.

When the boys grew up they killed Amulius, the king of the land and reinstated Numitor, their grandfather, as King of Alba Longa, then they decided to make a city of their own and they chose the place where the she-wolf had nursed them for their new home. Romulus began to build walls on the Palatine Hill, but Remus mocked them because they were so low. He leaped over them to prove this, and Romulus in anger killed him. Romulus then continued the building of the new city, naming it Roma (Rome) after his own name and that’s how Rome came to be.

Now to the werewolf bit – Once Romulus built his city, it is said that he then divided the people into three tribes, which bore the names Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres. The Luceres are the werewolves I’m talking about. It is believed that the Luceres were possibly a tribe of werewolves, which were also said to be a group of wild or insane people. Many scholars have argued that the first of the Luceres were lupine werewolves with powerful and cruel chiefs that terrorized the native people in the area. But of course, we don’t know for sure.

What we do know is that the pages of our mythology books claim that the Luceres tribe could very well have been a group of fearsome werewolves.

– Moonlight

By moonlight

One of the writers for werewolves.com, as well as vampires.com.

15 comments

  1. i was wondering i am a werewolf and i have rilly high body heat like i could go outside in the freezing cold without a shirt and be as warm as can be. is anybody els thats a werewolf the same way?

  2. I’m reading about Romulus and Remus in social studies right now, and you have some incorrect information about them. You should back up your information!

    1. Excuse me but all of my info came from many books, not one, but many. No history book is the same, which is scary when you think about it.

  3. Luceres (equites century) is a Latin word of Etruscan origin [lrp 48, rah 59]
    see luxre < luxere [g/lb85: 54 cit. A. Modigliano].

    " (…) These three peoples, after their amalgamation, became three tribes ; the Latins were called Ramnes or Ramnenses; the Sabines, Tities or Titienses; the Etruscans, Luceres or Lucerenses. The name of Ilamnes undoubtedly comes from the same root as that of Romus or Romulus, and in like manner that of Tities is con nected with Titus Tatius. The origin of the third name is more doubtful, and was a disputed point even in antiquity. Most ancient writers derived it from Lueumo, which etymology best agrees with the Etruscan origin of the tribe, as Lucumo was a title of honour common to the Etruscan chiefs, Others suppose it to come from Lucerus, a king of Ardea (Paul. Diac. s. v. Lucereses, p. 119, ed. Miiller), a statement on which Niebuhr principally relies for the proof of the Latin origin of the third tribe ; but we think with the majority of the best modern writers, that the Luceres were of Etruscan, and not of Latin, descent. Each of these tribes was divided into ten euriae, as the legend states ; but that they derived their names from the thirty Sabine women is of course fabulous. In like man ner each curia was divided into ten gentes, which must be regarded as smaller political bodies, rather than as combinations of persons of the same kin dred. For further information the reader is referred to the several articles on these subjects in the Dic tionary of Antiquities."

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