The Rape of the Sabine Women

“Rape” in this story's title translates the Latin raptus, from rapere, “to seize or carry off”. The ancient accounts describe a mass abduction of young women for marriage, and this page says “abduction” for the event itself. The sources treat it as a founding-era necessity. Modern readers recognise forced marriage and sexual violence in it, and the ancient texts themselves record the women's grief and anger (Livy 1.9).

Rome, once founded, had men and no wives. Livy says the new state could match any neighbour in war, but with no women it had no hope of offspring, and no neighbour granted the right of intermarriage (Livy 1.9). The city's beginning is told on the founding of Rome page and its founder's life on the Romulus page. This page starts once the city stands.

Romulus tried diplomacy first. On the senate's advice he sent envoys to the surrounding peoples to ask for alliance and intermarriage. Livy says they were refused everywhere, in part from contempt and in part from fear of Rome's rapid growth. Envoys were often asked whether Rome had opened an asylum for women, since nothing less would win marriage on equal terms (Livy 1.9).

Romulus then chose a trick. Livy says he hid his anger and prepared games in honour of “Equestrian Neptune”, which he called the Consualia. Plutarch says Romulus announced that he had found a hidden altar of the god Consus in the Circus Maximus, a god of counsel or else an equestrian Neptune (Plutarch, Life of Romulus 14). Dionysius reports both explanations and says it is hard to tell which is true (Roman Antiquities 2.31.2-3).

Word went out to the neighbouring towns. Livy says the people of Caenina, Antemnae and Crustumerium came, and the whole Sabine population with their wives and children. Roman households hosted them. The guests toured the city and its walls and were astonished at how fast it had grown (Livy 1.9).

When the games began, a preconcerted signal was given. Livy says the Roman youth dashed in all directions to carry off the young women present. Some were taken to the leading patricians' houses. One especially striking girl was carried off by a group led by a certain Talassius, and to every question about her the answer was “For Talassius”. Livy says that is the origin of the word in the marriage rites (Livy 1.9). Plutarch gives the signal as Romulus rising, folding his cloak and throwing it round him again. He adds that the men were allowed to escape (Plutarch, Life of Romulus 14).

The families fled. Livy says the parents left in grief, accusing the Romans of breaking the laws of hospitality and calling on the god at whose games they had been betrayed. The women were as despondent and indignant. Romulus went round in person. He told them that their parents' pride in refusing intermarriage was to blame, and that they would have honourable marriage, shared property and civil rights, and children who would be free citizens. He asked them to give their affection to the men fortune had made their masters (Livy 1.9).

The numbers differ. Plutarch reports some writers giving thirty, Valerius Antias 527 and Juba 683. He also says only one married woman, Hersilia, was taken, and by mistake (Plutarch, Life of Romulus 14). Dionysius says his 683 were kept overnight without violation and brought to Romulus next day. Romulus told them the seizure was for marriage, an old Greek custom. They were married to Roman men by the customs of each woman's country (Roman Antiquities 2.30.4-6). Plutarch dates the event to 18 August, the day of the Consualia (Life of Romulus 15).

Ovid puts the abduction in the mouth of Mars. In his Fasti the god says Rome's neighbours would not marry Romans, so he told Romulus that arms would grant what prayers could not. He then has Romulus prepare a feast for Consus (Fasti 3.195-199).

The neighbours reacted in stages. The parents sent to Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines, whose was the most influential name in the region. Livy says they thought him too slow, and the men of Caenina, Antemnae and Crustumerium prepared to fight alone (Livy 1.10). Plutarch adds that the Sabines first sent envoys with moderate demands: give the women back, disown the violence and establish friendship by agreement. Romulus refused and asked for intermarriage instead (Plutarch, Life of Romulus 16).

The Caeninenses struck first, and Romulus beat them quickly. Livy says he killed their king, took the town at the first assault and hung the king's spoils on a sacred oak on the Capitol. There he dedicated the first temple in Rome, to Jupiter Feretrius, and vowed that later victors would bring their own spoils (Livy 1.10). Plutarch names the king Acron and makes the fight a single combat (Life of Romulus 16). Dionysius agrees that Romulus killed the king (Roman Antiquities 2.33.2).

Antemnae raided the empty Roman land next and fell to Romulus's return attack. Livy says his wife Hersilia, moved by the abducted women's entreaties, asked him to forgive their parents and receive them into citizenship, and he agreed. Crustumerium then resisted only weakly. Colonies were planted in both places, and many of the women's parents and relatives migrated to Rome (Livy 1.11). Dionysius likewise has Romulus treat the conquered mildly, sending colonies instead of destroying the towns (Roman Antiquities 2.35-36).

The last war was the Sabines' and the hardest, because they masked their plans until war had begun. Livy says Spurius Tarpeius commanded the Roman citadel. His daughter went out to fetch water for a religious ceremony, and Tatius bribed her to let his troops in. Once inside, they crushed her under their shields. Livy gives two reasons: to make the fall of the citadel look like an assault, or as a warning that no faith is kept with traitors (Livy 1.11).

The story of her price is told two ways. In one, the Sabines wore heavy gold armlets on their left arms, and she asked for “what they had on their left arms”. In another, she expressly asked for their shields and was killed for her own bargain (Livy 1.11). Plutarch says Tarpeia wanted the armlets and got both armlet and shield from every man (Life of Romulus 17).

Dionysius records a more sympathetic version from Lucius Piso. In it Tarpeia meant to disarm the Sabines and hand them over to her countrymen. Dionysius argues the ending favours Piso, since she received a monument and yearly libations, and he tells readers to judge for themselves (Roman Antiquities 2.38-40). Plutarch says the Capitoline was called Tarpeius's hill until Tarquin dedicated it to Jupiter, and the cliff still bears her name (Life of Romulus 18).

With the citadel lost, the armies met in the valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline. Livy says the champions Mettius Curtius for the Sabines and Hostius Hostilius for the Romans fought first, and Hostilius fell. The Roman line broke and fled to the Palatine gate. Romulus, swept along, prayed to Jupiter and vowed a temple to “Jove the Stayer”. The Romans stopped as if a voice had ordered it, and Romulus charged Curtius down (Livy 1.12). Curtius escaped a marsh that Livy says was later called the Curtian lake. Plutarch says the Sabine leader's horse sank in the mud and he saved himself on foot (Life of Romulus 18).

Plutarch adds that Romulus was struck on the head by a stone and nearly fell, and that the temple of Jupiter Stator stands where the Romans first made a stand (Life of Romulus 18). Dionysius has two great battles instead of one, with Curtius rallying the Sabine centre and Romulus wounded by a stone thrown from the heights (Roman Antiquities 2.41-43).

The Sabine women ended it. Livy says the women, whose wrongs had caused the war, threw off their fear and went into the flying missiles with loosened hair and torn clothes (Livy 1.13).

The sources disagree about how it was organised. In Plutarch, Hersilia and the other women rushed through the armed men and the dead. Some carried children, some were veiled in their loosened hair, and their words moved from reproach to entreaty. The armies drew apart to make room. Plutarch says the women then carried food and drink to those who needed it and took the wounded home to nurse (Life of Romulus 19). Dionysius has the women plan it first. Hersilia proposed the embassy, the senate gave leave, and the women went first to the Sabine camp in mourning, some with infants (Roman Antiquities 2.45). Ovid has the women meet in the temple of Juno. A daughter-in-law of Mars advises them to loosen their hair and put on funeral dress, and they step between the ranks with their children in their arms. The grandfathers and fathers embrace them, and one carries a grandchild on his shield (Fasti 3.205-228).

Livy says the appeal worked at once. There was sudden silence, the leaders stepped forward to make a treaty, and the two nations became one state. The royal power was shared, and the seat of government for both was Rome (Livy 1.13). The Sabines gave Rome a second name for its people, Quirites, from their old capital Cures (Livy 1.13; Plutarch, Life of Romulus 19; Dionysius, Roman Antiquities 2.46.2). Livy says the two kings then ruled together in perfect harmony (Livy 1.13). Plutarch says the women agreed to do no work for their husbands except spinning and that the meeting place was called the Comitium (Life of Romulus 19).

The harmony did not last forever. Livy says Tatius was killed at Lavinium some years later, after his kinsmen ill-treated Laurentine envoys. Romulus grieved less than he should, whether from the insincerity of joint rule or because he thought Tatius deserved it (Livy 1.14). Dionysius says the joint reign lasted five years (Roman Antiquities 2.50.4).