THE discovery seven metres below the Roman Forum of the remains of a “royal palace” dating to the eighth century BC proves that the founding myths of Rome have a basis in fact, according to a leading Italian archaeologist.

According to legend, Rome was founded in 753BC by the twins Romulus and Remus, who united the Latin and Sabine communities to form a Roman kingdom. After the reigns of six kings — three Sabine and three Etruscan — the Republic emerged in the sixth century BC, followed 500 years later by the Roman Empire.

Traces of eighth-century Iron Age huts from the time of Romulus have been found on the Palatine Hill. However, Andrea Carandini, professor of archaeology at Rome University, said this had misled scholars into supposing that the Rome of Romulus and Remus was a community of shepherds and farmers living in watle-and-daub huts.

In fact, there was a “huge and impressive” royal palace in the Forum below, next to the Temple of the Vestal Virgins. Carandini said he had been able to date both the temple and the adjoining palace to the eighth century BC. Scholars previously held that both were built at least a century later.

Professor Carandini, who has been excavating in the Forum for more than 20 years, said that he had also uncovered a paved floor, suggesting an open space for public gatherings, and an oval structure where the Vestal Virgins kept three “eternal flames” burning. “It seems that a fully fledged city was in operation as early as the middle of the eighth century, with a king and religious rites,” he said.

It had been thought that the first king of Rome to organise a state religion was Numa Pompilius in the seventh century BC, and that the marshy valley below the Palatine Hill only became a drained and paved forum under the Etruscan Kings.

Valerio Massimo Manfredi, the archaeologist and historical novelist, said Professor Carandini’s theory was “revolutionary”. He told Il Messaggero, the Rome daily, that it was now clear that “the Roman Forum . . . already existed in the time of Romulus. This is a case of archaeology supporting myth and tradition”.

Professor Carandini said the royal palace — entered through a “monumental” colonnaded porch — had covered 345sq m, with an open courtyard in the centre of the complex. The palace — rebuilt several times after fires — survived until the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD. Its ruins were later stripped to provide building materials in Renaissance times.