The Myth About The Abduction Of The Sabine Women

One of the most exciting Roman mythologies and legends and well-known stories from the time of ancient Rome is still taught in Italian classrooms. The legend surrounds Romulus' founding of the city in the eighth century BC, at the beginning of Rome. Males were the only people living in Rome at first, chiefly Latins, Italics, and robbers. Fear was temporarily caused by the lack of a female population among the Emperors, the Senate, and the city. Because of their terror, the Romans took women from the nearby cities and made them their wives. Both their family and the city's inhabitants would benefit from this.

The plan was rejected by all female residents of the adjacent towns, so the Senate came up with Neptune Equester, a festival with lots of Neptune God-related events and games. The closest population to Rome was the Sabines, and they disapproved of sending their women there. However, both men and women from the Sabines were drawn to the event. The Romans started fighting with Sabine males, kidnapped some 30 Sabine women, and forced them into marriage, which is how it all went wrong. Romans took the family as well as the female. In the past, kidnapping or abduction was a common occurrence rather than an isolated incident. The wife of Romulus, Hersilia, a Sabine woman, ended the war that this kidnapping caused between the Romans and the Sabines. The kidnapped ladies were initially hesitant, but eventually came to accept the Romans as their husbands.