This month's (July-August 2007) issue of Archaeology Magazine features an article about the beginning of Rome-and, by extension, the beginning of us.

Us? Yes. We may not be literal descendents of Rome, but consider: the Roman Empire forced their particular culture on everyone else around the Mediterranean. Those people, centuries later, forced their culture on people overseas.

Rome conquered Europe-south, east, and west-as well as North Africa, the Middle East, Asia Minor. Wherever they went, they imposed their ordered way of life. Rome was the original Borg, assimilating everyone.

Our law codes come from Rome. Military organization, ideas about citizenship, urbanization, roads and transportation-all Roman in origin. The Romans were administrators. They united their conquered territories under one language, written and spoken, and controlled their empire for centuries. True, the Greeks set our basic standards for art, theatre, philosophy, and literature-but it was Rome that copied and perpetuated those standards.

Other lands and tribes had laws, customs, poems, and myths aplenty. Given the choice, we might have been happier believing in Thracian mores, Gallic science, or Ligourian gods-but we weren't given the choice. Rome won, they lost, and the wisdom of Thrace, Gaul, and Ligouria vanished.

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We trace Western civilization to Rome, which brings us back to Archaeology Magazine.

Rome's origin myth goes like this: Twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, who were suckled by a wolf, became fratricidal over who would be king. Romulus killed Remus to found the city of Rome and become its first king on April 21, 753 B.C.

The Roman historians who recorded this story do not seem to accept it as literal truth, but a respected archaeologist named Andrea Carandini does. His excavation of the Forum at the Palatine Hill in Rome led to an interview in Archaeology.

Carandini, a professor at Sapienza University who has been digging in Rome for over 20 years, found a palace and wall dating to the middle of the 8th century B.C. The palace covers 3700 square feet, and had clay and wood walls (materials which allowed dating). Ceramics and furnishings, as well as a grand entrance, were uncovered as well. Carandini has proclaimed the discoveries as proof that Romulus existed. He is now as popular in Italy as Leonardo de Caprio.

"After 750 B.C., everything was born," Carandini said. He believes that there was no slow buildup from village to town to city, "but the sudden evolution of a city that was great and remains great."

Not everyone agrees; in fact, for all his popularity and professional cachet, Carandini is definitely pushing a minority opinion. His discoveries, though, are spectacular, whether or not you believe in a historical Romulus.