A sequence of scholarly lectures that critically assesses the sources and methods for reconstructing Rome's early history, surveying annals, pontifical records, fasti, commentaries, family chronicles, poetic traditions, and later historiography. It traces how foundation legends and numerical chronologies arose, evaluates ancient historians and forged or fragmentary authorities, and analyzes traditions about the city’s origins and early institutions, including the Romulus–Remus narratives and Alban chronology. The lectures also discuss auxiliary disciplines such as geography and philology and emphasize methodological caution in separating legend from plausible historical development.