"Rome was not built in a day," according to the age-old saying. Legend has it that Rome was founded 2,766 years ago. And, without coincident, archeologists have discovered traces of early settlements that old on the Palatine Hill, one of Rome's seven hills. But what events transpired to form a people called Romans with a capitol city described by Ovid (and other Roman writers) as "the eternal city"?

The myths have been told and retold through the generations, and many of these myths were depicted by artists throughout the centuries.

In this illustrated presentation, Lou Markos, Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities, scholar in residence and professor in English at Houston Baptist University, tells the stories of the foundation of Rome — from Aeneas to the Punic Wars — with reference to the most notable and comprehensive depictions: A fresco cycle by late-16th- and early-17th-century Italian artists in the Palace of the Conservators, now one of the Capitoline Museum buildings.