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Essentially important for the myth of Rome is its beginning: Aeneas, who escaped from Troy, became the forefather of the city - and a culture that was always ready to adopt strangers and foreign habits. Rome saw itself as an open city, and its openness was the basis of the Roman Empire as a world power. So, the civil rights for example, were not bound to the origin, but were also awarded for special achievements.
In this stimulating and multifaceted study, Florence Dupont shows the many facets of the origin myth of Rome. The author proposes a wide approach: From Aeneas and his representation by Virgil to the question whether the roman concept of an open city can serve as a model for a contemporary open society: Rome as a model of a Europe, which rather welcomes strangers instead of excluding them!