Romulus is the author, now considered a legendary figure, of versions of Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...

in Latin. These were passed down in Western Europe, and became important school texts, for early education. Romulus is supposed to have lived in the 5th century.

The Romulus of medieval tradition therefore represents a number of traditional attributions of Latin manuscripts of beast fable

Beast fable

The beast fable or beast epic, usually a short story or poem in which animals talk, is a traditional form of allegorical writing. It is a type of fable in which human behaviour and weaknesses are subject to scrutiny by reflection into the animal kingdom....

s. These are based on prose adaptations of Phaedrus (1st century AD). The Romulus texts make up the bulk of the medieval 'Aesop'.

Scholars identify several strands of manuscripts:

• The Romulus Ordinarius (Romulus Vulgaris), 83 tales known in a 9th-century text;
• The Romulus of Vienna;
• The Romulus of Nilant, 45 fables, published in 1709 by Johan Frederik Nilant (Jean-Frédéric Nilant).

These prose works gave rise to versifications: the Novus Aesopus of Alexander Neckam

Alexander Neckam

Alexander Neckam was an English scholar and teacher.-Biography:Born at St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, Neckam's mother, Hodierna, nursed the prince with her own son, who thus became Richard's foster-brother...

, the verse Romulus often attributed to Gualterus Anglicus

Gualterus Anglicus

Gualterus Anglicus was an Anglo-Norman poet writing in Latin, who produced a seminal version of Aesop's Fables, in distichs, around the year 1175.-Identification of the author:...

 (Romulus of Nevelet). Further adaptation and expansion from those works built up the medieval Aesop tradition.

The Esope of Adémar de Chabannes

Adémar de Chabannes

Adémar de Chabannes was an eleventh-century French monk, a historian who wrote the first annals to have been compiled in Aquitaine since Late Antiquity, a musical composer and a successful literary forger....

 (67 fables) is now considered to come from the Romulus Ordinarius.

The Romulus Roberti (22 fables) is taken from the Anglo-Latin Romulus, with the four first tales from Marie de France

Marie de France

Marie de France was a medieval poet who was probably born in France and lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an undisclosed court, but was almost certainly at least known about at the royal court of King Henry II of England...

.