Sabine

The Sabines (Latin "Sabini", singular "Sabinus") were an Italic tribe that lived in ancient Italy, inhabiting Latium before the founding of Rome. Their language belonged to the Sabellic subgroup of Italic languages and shows some similarities to Oscan and Umbrian. Studies have found many relationships between the Romans and the Sabines, especially in the fields of religion and mythology. In fact, many Sabine deities and cults developed in Rome, and many areas of the town (like the Quirinale) had once served as Sabine centers.

Latin-speakers called the Sabines' original territory, straddling the modern regions of Lazio, Umbria, and Abruzzo, "Sabinium". To this day, it bears the ancient tribe's name in the Italian form of "Sabina". Within the modern region of Lazio (or Latium), Sabina constitutes a sub-region, situated north-east of Rome, around Rieti. It has become a tourist destination, known for its interesting medieval villages and its production of olive oil.

Origins

According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, many Roman historians (including Porcius Cato and Gaius Sempronius) regarded the origins of the Romans (descendants of the Aborigines) as Greek despite the fact that their knowledge was derived from Greek legendary accounts. [Dionysius of Halicarnassus, "Roman Antiquities", Book 1, 11. "But the most learned of the Roman historians, among whom is Porcius Cato, who compiled with the greatest care the "origins" of the Italian cities, Gaius Sempronius and a great many others, say that they [Aborigines] were Greeks, part of those who once dwelt in Achaia, and that they migrated many generations before the Trojan war. But they do not go on to indicate either the Greek tribe to which they belonged or the city from which they removed, or the date or the leader of the colony, or as the result of what turns of fortune they left their mother country; and although they are following a Greek legend, they have cited no Greek historian as their authority. It is uncertain, therefore, what the truth of the matter is."] The Sabines, specifically, were first mentioned in Dionysius's account for having captured the city of Lista by surprise, which was regarded as the mother-city of the Aborigines. [Dionysius of Halicarnassus, "Roman Antiquities", Book 1, 14. "Twenty-four stades from the afore-mentioned city stood Lista, the mother-city of the Aborigines, which at a still earlier time the Sabines had captured by a surprise attack, having set out against it from Amiternum by night."] There was still debate among ancient historians pertaining to the specific origins of the Sabines. Zenodotus of Troezen claimed that the Sabines were originally Umbrians that changed their name after being driven from the Reatine territory by the Pelasgians. However, Porcius Cato argued that the Sabines were a populace named after Sabus, the son of Sancus (a divinity of the area sometimes called Jupiter Fidius). [Dionysius of Halicarnassus, "Roman Antiquities", Book 2, 49. "But Zenodotus of Troezen, a...historian, relates that the Umbrians, a native race, first dwelt in the Reatine territory, as it is called, and that, being driven from there by the Pelasgians, they came into the country which they now inhabit and changing their name with their place of habitation, from Umbrians were called Sabines. But Porcius Cato says that the Sabine race received its name from Sabus, the son of Sancus, a divinity of that country, and that this Sancus was by some called Jupiter Fidius."] In another account mentioned in Dionysius's work, a group of Lacedaemonians fled Sparta since they regarded the laws of Lycurgus as too severe. In Italy, they founded the Spartan colony of "Foronia" (near the Pomentine plains) and some from that colony settled among the Sabines. According to the account, the Sabine habits of belligerence and frugality were known to have been derived from the Spartans. [Dionysius of Halicarnassus, "Roman Antiquities", Book 2, 49. "There is also another account given of the Sabines in the native histories, to the effect that a colony of Lacedaemonians settled among them at the time when Lycurgus, being guardian to his nephew Eunomus, gave his laws to Sparta. For the story goes that some of the Spartans, disliking the severity of his laws and separating from the rest, quitted the city entirely, and after being borne through a vast stretch of sea, made a vow to the gods to settle in the first land they should reach; for a longing came upon them for any land whatsoever. At last they made that part of Italy which lies near the Pomentine plains and they called the place where they first landed Foronia, in memory of their being borne through the sea, and built a temple to the goddess Foronia, to whom they had addressed their vows; this goddess, by the alteration of one letter, they now call Feronia. And some of them, setting out from thence, settled among the Sabines. It is for this reason, they say, that many of the habits of the Sabines are Spartan, particularly their fondness for war and their frugality and a severity in all the actions of their lives. But this is enough about the Sabine race."]

The Legend of the Sabine Women

Legend says that Romans abducted Sabine women to populate the newly built town, the first recorded example of bride kidnapping. The resultant conflict ended only by the women throwing themselves and their children between the armies of their fathers and their husbands. The Rape of the Sabine Women ("rape" in this context meaning "kidnapping" rather than its modern meaning, see raptio) became a common motif in art; the women ending the war forms a less frequent but still reappearing motif.

Notable Sabines

*Numa Pompilius, legendary King of Rome
*Titus Tatius, legendary King of the Sabines
*Ancus Marcius, legendary King of Rome
*Quintus Sertorius
*Attius Clausus

Mythological references

*Ovid, "Fasti" (Book III 167–258)
* Ovid, "Ars Amatoria" (Book II 30–47)
*Livy, "Ab Urbe Condita" (Book I 9–13)
*Cicero, "De Republica" (Book II 12–14)
*Plutarch, "Parallel Lives" (Romulus 14–20)
*Juvenal's, "Satires" (Book III 81-85)

Popular references

"Sabine" as a feminine given name, which originally meant "a Sabine woman", has spread from Latin to various European languages, being especially common in German. Significantly, there is no similar male name; the existence of the female name seems to indicate that, whatever the veracity of the above legend (the product of a long oral tradition) there were at some time women in Roman society who were identified as being of Sabine origin.

In the 1954 MGM movie musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", the main character, a backwoodsman named Adam, encourages his six younger brothers to kidnap the women they love, citing the story of the Sabine women. All seven brothers sing a song called "Sobbin' Women" (their mispronunciation of "Sabine") as they prepare to abduct their future wives.

References