building Rome's walls The Murus Romuli as remembered by ancient historians is described by
Rodolfo Lanciani: The text most frequently quoted in reference to the Murus Romuli is that of
Tacitus, according to which the furrow ploughed by the hero — the
sulcus primigenius — started from a point in the
Forum Boarium, marked in later times by the bronze Bull of Myron; and followed the valley between the Palatine and the
Aventine as far as the
altar of Consus, the valley between the Palatine and the
Cælian as far as the
Curiæ Veteres, the east slope of the hill as far as the Sacellum Larum. The same historian says that the
Ara Maxima of Hercules was included within the furrow, and
Dionysius states that
Vesta's temple was outside it. The furrow followed the foot of the cliffs or slopes of the Palatine, its course being marked with stone
cippi. Others affirm that the city of Romulus was square (τετράγωνος —
Roma Quadrata). The truth is that neither the walls nor the
pomerium of Romulus can be said to make a square; that a line drawn from beyond the Ara Maxima to the Ara Consi cannot be said to go "along the foot of the cliffs of the Palatine" (per ima montis Palatini); that the valley in those days was covered with water, deep enough to be navigated by canoes, so that neither a furrow could be ploughed through it, nor stone
cippi set up to mark the line of the furrow. Moreover, the same marshes extended on the southeast side as far as the Curiæ Veteres, on the northwest as far as the Temple of Vesta; and the shape of the Palatine walls was rather trapezoid, like that of a terramara of the valley of the
Po, than square like an Etruscan templum; while, lastly, the name of Roma Quadrata did not belong to the city on the hill, but to the altar described in
Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 70, which stood in front of the Temple of Apollo. Though most often believed to be purely a figure of myth, Romulus is believed by some scholars, such as
Andrea Carandini, to have been an actual historical figure. ==Modern archaeology==