Southeast Hemicycle

This hemicycle was dominated by a statue of Romulus in the large center niche. The statue itself has not survived, but this painting from a fuller's establishment in Pompei is thought to based on the statue (or more precisely, on a statue of Romulus imitating the one in this forum that Eumachia set up in the building and courtyard she constructed in the forum of Pompeii for the fullers guild). Romulus wears the armor of a Roman general and the special shoes that were reserved for members of the patrician order. Romulus is depicted as a young man carrying a spear and a trophy, the spolia opima that he had won by killing the enemy king Akron of Caenina in the year after Rome's foundation. Romulus is present, therefore, not only as the founder of Rome, but also as the first victorious Roman general (triumphator), an example of warlike valor followed by the long lines of military heroes whose statues line the hemicycles and colonnades of the forum.