Rape of the Sabine Women - part 2

War with the Sabines Many neighboring towns went to war against Romulus and the Romans because of the wrong against the Sabines but all were defeated.

The Sabines were led by their king, Titus Tatius, who almost succeeded in capturing Rome due to the treason of Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, governor of the citadel on the Capitoline Hill.

She opened the gates to the Sabines in return for “what they bore on their arms;” she believed she would receive their golden bracelets. Instead, the Sabines crushed her with their shields and she was thrown from the rock, which has since born her name, the Tarpeian Rock.

The battle went back and forth between the Romans and Sabines. At which time the women intervened to reconcile the warring parties.

“They went boldly into the flying missiles with disheleved hair and rent clothing. Running across the armies appealing to their fathers in one army and their husbands in the other to not bring a curse upon themselves by killing father-in-laws and son-in-laws. Better for us to perish than to live without one of you.”

Following the reconciliation, the Sabines and Romans agreed to form one nation with the Romans and the Sabine king, Titus Tatius, jointly ruled Rome with Romulus until his death five years later.