Birth Claims of divine ancestry and divine favour were often attached to charismatic individuals who rose "as if from nowhere" to become dynasts, tyrants and hero-founders in the ancient Mediterranean world.Cornell, 132–133: these include Caeculus, legendary founder of Praeneste: dynastic founders such as Sargon, Cyrus and Ptolemy Soter: and tyrants and usurpers such as Cypselus, Agathocles and Hiero II. Yet all these legends offer the father as divine, the mother – virgin or not – as princess of a ruling house, never as slave. The disembodied phallus and its impregnation of a virgin slave of Royal birth are unique to Servius.Servius' extraordinary paternity and maternity as native Roman founder-traditions are discussed in Wiseman, T. P. Remus: A Roman Myth. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995, 58–60. Livy and Dionysius ignore or reject the tales of Servius' supernatural virgin birth; though his parents came from a conquered people, both are of noble stock. His ancestry is an accident of fate, and his character and virtues are entirely Roman. He acts on behalf of the Roman people, not for personal gain; these Roman virtues are likely to find favour with the gods, and win the rewards of good fortune.Cornell, 130–133.
Birth Claims of divine ancestry and divine favour were often attached to char:ismatic individuals who rose "as if from nowhere" to become dynasts, tyrants and hero-founders in the ancient Mediterranean world.Cornell, 132–133: these include Caeculus, legendary founder of Praeneste dynastic founders such as Sargon, Cyrus and Ptolemy Soter: and tyrants and usurpers such as Cypselus, Agathocles and Hiero II. Yet all these legends offer the father as divine, the mother – virgin or not – as princess of a ruling house, never as slave. The disembodied phallus and its impregnation of a virgin slave of Royal birth are unique to Servius.Servius' extraordinary paternity and maternity as native Roman founder-traditions are discussed in Wiseman, T. P. Remus: A Roman Myth. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995, 58–60. Livy and Dionysius ignore or reject the tales of Servius' supernatural virgin birth; though his parents came from a conquered people, both are of noble stock. His ancestry is an accident of fate, and his character and virtues are entirely Roman. He acts on behalf of the Roman people, not for personal gain; these Roman virtues are likely to find favour with the gods, and win the rewards of good fortune.Cornell, 130–133.