Statue of the "wolf" who nursed Romulus and Remus

The statue of the Capitoline wolf (Latin Lupa Capitolina) is an Etruscan bronze sculpture, according to stylistic features dating from the V century BC and stored in Rome since ancient times.

The first mention of the Capitol she-wolf is in Pliny’s Natural History. He writes that the sculpture stood in the Roman Forum near the sacred fig tree. Cicero already writes that the sculpture was located on Capitol Hill and was once struck by lightning.

The sculpture depicts a wolf feeding milk to two babies – Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. The bronze statue of the Capitol Wolf is sometimes attributed to Master Vulka. A strong beast, firmly clinging to the ground with tense front paws and turning its face with a bare mouth, as if protecting the babies Romulus and Remus, whose figurines were placed under the belly of a wolf.