Is Álainn é an Saol : History and Art: The Abduction of the Sabine Women

Roman mythology cites April 21, 753 BC as the founding date of the city. April 21 marks the Par Ilia, Festival of Pales, Goddess of Shepherds and 753 BC, determined by Roman antiquarian Titus Atticus was adopted by the Varronian Chronology. The founders, according the mythology, were twin brothers Romulus and Remus, sons of Rhea Silvia of Alba Longa and the and the god Mars, who were abandoned at birth and raised by a she-wolf. The brothers were determined to found a city on the Palatine Hill, the location of the Lupercal Cave of their adoptive mother. However, during a quarrel, Romulus killed Remus and thus Rome was founded in the wake of fratricide, setting the stage for a violent history; one which includes the legendary "Abduction of the Sabine Women."

Following the founding, the Romans wished to ensure the future prosperity of the city but were faced with a lack of women required to provide offspring. Despite pleas to their neighboring states to allow inter-marriage, all were declined in a likely attempt to weaken the Roman settlement. Romulus then plotted a mass abduction of the women of their neighboring tribe, the Sabines, and invited several tribes to a feast where he would levy a surprise attack on Sabine men and capture the women.

The following excerpt is taken from Ab Urbe Condita Libri (From the Founding of the City), written by Roman Historian Livy (64 BC - 12 AD).

"The Roman State had now become so strong that it was a match for any of its neighbors in war, but its greatness threatened to last for only one generation, since through the absence of women there was no hope of offspring, and there was no right of intermarriage with their neighbors. Acting on the advice of the senate, Romulus sent envoys amongst the surrounding nations to ask for alliance and the right of intermarriage on behalf of his new community.…

As to the origin of Rome, it was well known that whilst it had received divine assistance, courage and self-reliance were not wanting. There should, therefore, be no reluctance for men to mingle their blood with their fellow-men. Nowhere did the envoys meet with a favorable reception….

The Roman youth could ill brook such insults, and matters began to look like an appeal to force. To secure a favorable place and time for such an attempt, Romulus, disguising his resentment, made elaborate preparations for the celebration of games in honor of "Equestrian Neptune," which he called "the Consualia."...

There was a great gathering; people were eager to see the new City, all their nearest neighbors … and the whole Sabine population came, with their wives and families. They were invited to accept hospitality at the different houses, and after examining the situation of the City, its walls and the large number of dwelling-houses it included, they were astonished at the rapidity with which the Roman State had grown.

When the hour for the games had come, and their eyes and minds were alike riveted on the spectacle before them, the pre-concerted signal was given and the Roman youth dashed in all directions to carry off the maidens who were present. The larger part were carried off indiscriminately….

Alarm and consternation broke up the games, and the parents of the maidens fled, distracted with grief, uttering bitter reproaches on the violators of the laws of hospitality and appealing to the god to whose solemn games they had come, only to be the victims of impious perfidy.

The abducted maidens were quite as despondent and indignant. Romulus, however, went round in person, and pointed out to them that it was all owing to the pride of their parents in denying right of intermarriage to their neighbors. They would live in honorable wedlock, and share all their property and civil rights, and--dearest of all to human nature-would be the mothers of freemen.

The plan was successful and the Romans secured the next generation of the nation. However, three years later, the Sabines attacked Rome in revenge. But according to legend, the abducted women, - now wed to and mothers to - Romans, intervened by physically standing between the men of the warring tribes thus preventing conflict.

Livy continues:

"Then it was that the Sabine women, whose wrongs had led to the war, throwing off all womanish fears in their distress, went boldly into the midst of the flying missiles with dishevelled hair and rent garments. Running across the space between the two armies they tried to stop any further fighting and calm the excited passions by appealing to their fathers in the one army and their husbands in the other not to bring upon themselves a curse by staining their hands with the blood of a father-in-law or a son-in-law, nor upon their posterity the taint of parricide. "If," they cried, " you are weary of these ties of kindred, these marriage-bonds, then turn your anger upon us; it is we who are the cause of the war, it is we who have wounded and slain our husbands and fathers. Better for us to perish rather than live without one or the other of you, as widows or as orphans."

The story of the abduction and subsequent intervention of the Sabine women is one of the most frequently depicted in Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, and Romantic art. Abduction themes allowed artists to merge male and female body forms, conveying a wide variety of expression. Artists could render subjects relative to surrounding space in a way to maximize opportunity to provide a three-dimensional effect. Within the same movements, we see numerous depictions of other abduction stories (Helen by Paris, Europa by Zeus, Deianira by the centaur Nessus, Persephone by Hades), but that of the Sabine Women is the most recurrent. Several artists even created as many as six known repetitions of the scene, often highlighting the evolution of their methods and styles.

A wonderful archive of works depicting the Abduction of the Sabines can be found Here.

For this post, I chose 15 of my favorite works.
*Numbers 11 and 12 (the Vincent and the David, both Neoclassical in style, are depictions of the Intervention of the Sabine women vice the Abduction. Perhaps the legend of a war avoided was more reflective of sentiment as the French Revolution began to unfold.

1. Giuseppe Porta - The Rape of the Sabine Women (approx. 1550) - Bowes Museum/London

Style: Mannerism