Thursday,
June 05, 2008
The Mythology of "Rape of the Sabine
Women"
The
ANNOTICO Report
Who
of you out there knew, that it the "Rape" really wasn't a
"rape", but a "kidnapping" that turned into a multiple love
story with an intriguing plot line and a serious lesson.
The Rape of
the Sabine Women
The Rape of
the Sabine Women (rape in this context meaning "kidnapping" (raptio ) rather than its
prevalent modern meaning of sexual violation) is an episode in the legendary early history of Rome narrated by Livy and Plutarch ('Lives' II, 15 and 19). It provided a subject for Renaissance and post-Renaissance works of art that
combined a suitably inspiring example of the hardihood and courage of ancient
Romans with the opportunity to depict multiple figures, including semi-clothed
women, in intensely passionate struggle.
Comparable themes
from Classical Antiquity are the Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs
and the theme of Amazonomachy, the battle of Theseus with the A mazons. A comparable opportunity
drawn from Christian legend was afforded by the theme of the Massacre of the Innocents.
The word rape in this
context means "abduction". It refers to an event supposed to
have occurred in the early history of
Livy is clear
that no sexual assault took place. On the contrary,
The women married
Roman men, but the Sabines went to war with the
Romans. The conflict was eventually resolved when the women, who now had
children by their Roman husbands, intervened in a battle to reconcile the
warring parties.
[They] 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."
Artistic representations (best known)
|
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (With Archives*) on:
Blog: www.AnnoticoReport.com
Italia
Italia Mia: www.ItaliaMia.com *
Topix.net:
www.topix.net/world/italy
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net