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Who Were the Sabine Women?

 Following the founding of Rome, the residents of the newly established city encountered a problem. They wanted their new city to endure through the ages, to be a beacon of strength, however, it occurred to them that they were all men. In order to raise children to inherit the city, they needed to find some women to marry. This is the story of how the Romans met their wives.

To his credit, Romulus began the search for wives in a very reasonable way. He sent people to the surrounding cities to inquire about creating an alliance and intermarrying. However, the men of those cities were hesitant to entrust their daughters to the men of some new city which hadn’t yet proven itself to be a safe or stable place. The offer of an alliance was rejected by every city in the area. 

Of course, this made the Romans quite angry since they believed themselves to be the strongest city of them all. They came up with a new strategy. Livy tells us:


Romulus, concealing his resentment, made ready solemn games in honour of the equestrian Neptune, which he called Consualia. He then bade proclaim the spectacle to the surrounding peoples, and his subjects prepared to celebrate it with all the resources within their knowledge and power, that they might cause the occasion to be noised abroad and eagerly expected. Many people —for they were also eager to see the new city —gathered for the festival, especially those who lived nearest, the inhabitants of Caenina, Crustumium, and Antemnae. The Sabines, too, came with all their people, including their children and wives. They were hospitably entertained in every house, and when they had looked at the site of the City, its walls, and its numerous buildings, they marvelled that Rome had so rapidly grown great. (Livy 1.9)


All of the cities that had rejected them still harbored curiosity. They wanted to see the new city for themselves, and didn’t see any reason to turn down the offer of attending games. But, the Romans had another reason for inviting everyone to their city. As the show began, the Romans sprang into action. They ran through the crowd, each man catching whatever woman happened to be in his path as he ran. Soon, the Romans had captured many women, and the remaining visitors were caught by surprise and enraged. The Romans had violated the rules of hospitality, and they needed to pay for what they had done.

Meanwhile, Romulus spoke to the captured maidens and told them it was their fathers’ 

fault for not allowing the Romans to marry willingly, and that the men would take really good care of them since they had been captured in this way. Additionally, Livy also states that “His arguments were seconded by the wooing of the men, who excused their act on the score of passion and love, the most moving of all pleas to a woman's heart” (Livy 1.9). While this sentiment isn’t still held today, that men can be excused from insane acts due to “passion and love,” back then, the women of captured cities were often forced into slavery. In this case, these women were captured and feared the worst, but were told they were actually just going to be the wives of their captors and would be treated kindly by their new husbands. Back then, this was about the best they could have hoped for in this kind of situation.

The Romans settled in with their new wives and continued working on building up their new city. Meanwhile, the other cities who had been wronged plotted their revenge.

The cities of Caenina, Crustumium, and Antemnae each tried to invade Rome, but in each case, the Romans managed to subdue them. This resulted in some people from these cities deciding to move to Rome to join the new city. After everyone else had failed, the Sabines were ready to retaliate.

The battle was fierce. The Sabines managed to win small victories over the Romans. At 

some points in time, the Romans seemed to be about to lose, but Romulus would rally them together and the battles continued. Eventually, the women intervened. 

From their perspective, the battles were raging on due to them. They felt great responsibility for the fighting since they were central to the cause of the conflict. Despairing at watching their husbands fight their fathers, they decided to try to stop the fighting. 

In the midst of battle, the women ran onto the battlefield and pulled apart the fighters, pleading for them to stop. Livy’s account states:


Then the Sabine women, whose wrong had given rise to the war, with loosened hair and torn garments, their woman's timidity lost in a sense of1 their misfortune, dared to go amongst the flying missiles, and rushing in from the side, to part the hostile forces and disarm them of their anger, beseeching their fathers on this side, on that their husbands, that fathers-in-law and sons-in-law should not stain themselves with impious bloodshed, nor pollute with parricide the suppliants' children, grandsons to one party and sons to the other. “If you regret,” they continued, “the relationship that unites you, if you regret the marriage-tie, turn your anger against us; we are the cause of war, the cause of wounds, and even death to both our husbands and our parents. It will be better for us to perish than to live, lacking either of you, as widows or as orphans.” It was a touching plea, not only to the rank and file, but to their leaders as well. A stillness fell on them, and a sudden hush. Then the leaders came forward to make a truce, and not only did they agree on peace, but they made one people out of the two. They shared the sovereignty, but all authority was transferred to Rome. (Livy 1.13)


The fighting ended, peace was established, and the population of Rome doubled. All of these events culminated in the idea that Rome was powerful, even in the beginning, and that when the Romans needed something, they would find a way to get it, no matter what. 

Though it is difficult to determine the accuracy of Livy’s account, it makes for a fascinating story.  Whether or not the events occurred exactly how Livy states, it is one of few stories that center around women and their power to influence the events happening around them. For that reason, it is a worthwhile story to take note of.


All references to Livy were pulled from the translation found here.


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