Romulus jeté au Tibre et Moïse jeté au Nil. Les limites d’une comparaison

Abstract

Romulus thrown into the Tiber-river has often be compared to Moses thrown into the Nile. But Romulus was so ejected out of the city and therefore spent his youth outside the regular society and among a group of shepherds ; at the contrary, Moses was saved by Pharaoh’s daughter and spent this period of his life in his palace. Romulus’ story follows the usual pattern of this kind of legend, while Moses’ case is anomalous : it can be explained as a response to the analogous story which was told about Sargon of Akkad.

Keywords

• Romulus
• Moses
• Sargon of Akkad
• rite of passage
• exposure of the future hero
• salvation from the waters