Na tropach wilczyc(y). Lupa Romana zagubiona we współczesnym mieście albo o niejednoznaczności symboli
Tracing the Female Wolf(ves). Lupa Romana Lost in the Modern City or Remarks on the Ambiguity of Symbols

Summary/Abstract: In contemporary Rome, passers-by and tourists may often note graffiti by anonymous writers which recurrently features the phrase (La) lupa. In this paper, I discuss various possible readings of such inscriptions, citing associations with the story of the origins of Rome, specifically the episode from the childhood of the twins Romulus and Remus, sons of Rhea Sylvia and Mars. They are said to have been cared for by Acca Larentia or she-wolf (lupa), which saved them from death. I draw on selected ancient texts, with particular reference to the Origo gentis Romanae, a work with layered, multiple variants of the founding stories, in which the fate of Romulus and Remus depends on supernatural or natural events, while the lupa herself is a wolf or a harlot. Then, based on the sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf, I outline the potential of iconographic devices to symbolise the different traits of the Roman She-Wolf, all of which harboured positive implications for the descendants of Mars.

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