Before Caesar crossed the Rubicon, before lions ate Christians, and before 27-year-old CrossFit

bros man-splained Marcus Aurelius to their tender dates, there were two brothers, a whore,

and a hill that started the greatest civilization in history, the Roman Empire.

I'm Shalyn Lester, and this is crowned and canceled, the podcast where we unpack historical

scandals for the real world strategy we can use today.

If you have ever sat around a tense family dinner glaring at your sibling for being literally

the worst and somehow getting away with it, or maybe even getting rewarded for their ridiculousness,

like, yeah, no, keep my asshole sister on the Verizon family plan.

I'll just eat ramen all week.

No, sure, that's fine.

Trust me, you're not alone.

The foundation of Rome comes down to exactly this dynamic between two brothers.

And if you know a little bit about Rome, my very favorite subject,

you may be thinking I'm referring to Romulus and Remus.

But actually, a different set of feuding siblings is where the story really starts.

The year was 794 BC and Alba Longa, the capital of Italy's Latium region.

But at this time, no single Italy existed. That came a lot later. Instead,

you had tribal territories, Etruscans to the north, Greeks to the south, and red-necky little hill

clans in the middle, in places like Alba Longa, and they pass the time pretty much squabbling

with each other, as rednecks are wont to do. And in case you really like context and you're

curious about what was happening around the rest of the world, the Olmec Empire had started in modern-day Central America. Homer had written the Iliad and the Odyssey in Greece, and the Zhao dynasty was kicking in China. And over in India, the Vedic era was underway. And if you're into Vedic astrology, yes, this is your jam. But where we're

at? We're dealing with a city that was founded by Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, the legendary

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