ESSAYS ON WOMEN & GENDER IN ANTIQUITY

Jacques-Louis David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women (1799)

 

 

            We’ve all heard of Greek, Egyptian, and Roman myths. How they explained seasons, medical theories, sexual beliefs, origins, and various other manifests of human existence. Charter myths are on the same level as simple myths, but serve a specific purpose: they explain, or set a foundation for, certain institutions within antiquity, while pretending to be historically accurate with no fantastical setting. Some examples would be the story of Isis and Osiris, Persephone, and the Sabine myth- the latter of which will be the topic of this paper. Specifically, what the treatment of these women had to do with the political storm of the time- as reflected upon by the historians Livy and Ovid, and by the laws set down by the Emperor Augustus.

So what exactly is the story of the Sabine myth? More accurately called the Rape of the Sabines (which could be interpreted as either sexual assault or kidnapping/abduction), this myth has its roots in Roman origin stories. According to tradition, the first communities of Rome had no women. As the little city grew from refugees and landless peoples, intermarriage soon became a widespread issue within the community. But while Romulus’ neighbors suggested he harvest wives from the surrounding prisons and communities; female vagabonds who were the counterparts to his men!- the leader of Rome had other ideas in mind. Instead of fugitives and criminals wed within the walls of his city, he has his men abduct the women of the unwary neighboring Sabines while they feasted celebration of Neptune’s Consualia within the walls of Rome. “Ideologically the myth of the ‘Rape of the Sabines’ combines the ritual of marriage by capture with a guarantee of the purity of Rome’s first mothers”. Later, when the enraged parents staged war against the Romans, the women allegedly rushed out between them with their newborn children. “Marriage had made them Roman” (Fantham 217), and they felt compelled to act out their roles as mediators between husbands and fathers- as the ideal woman who put family, community, and therefore the State first.

Of course, this myth, though firstly a portrayal of Roman conquest and supreme dominance, eventually became an embarrassment for writers attempting to show the empire in a positive light by way of laws known as the Rights of the Fathers (in a general sense; as fathers were always head of family). passed by the Emperor Augustus in his regeneration of Roman families after the civil war. The Lex Iulia was one such law within these rights, which “punishes the offense of seduction when a [male] person, without the use of force, deflowers a virgin” (Fantham 306), as well as dealing with adultery by making it a state crime (though women couldn’t technically declare their husbands adulterers). These in turn prove that, within the context of the current societal beliefs and parameters, the Sabine women were forcibly carried into a situation in which their father’s rights and authority were violently overturned in favor of the Roman community; appearing to contradict Augustan effort to fortify family values and foundations.

Knowing this, we now look at two accounts of this myth by “sophisticated Augustan writers” Livy, the patriotic historian; and Ovid, the skeptical love-poet; and how they describe and therefore comment upon this charter myth. To start with the loyal Livy’s version, and to get right to the point: he mentions that, after being set upon by Romulus’ men, the women were “no less than indignant [than their grossly deceived parents]”, and were apparently quite easily assuaged by Romulus himself. He instead blamed their own parents, who were “too proud to allow intermarriage with their neighbors” and that they should not fear, for “as married women they would share all the fortunes of Rome, all the privileges of the community, and they would be bound to their husbands by the dearest bond of all: their children” (Fantham 218). The writer wraps all this up in a nice tidy bow by concluding that the intense love the men claimed to have had drove them to commit these acts, and that the women’s hearts were touched and gave in. While most of this tones down an incredibly frightening scenario for these women, who were torn from their families, it is actually quite important that Romulus deemed them an important part of Roman community; persuading them to accept their fate and winning their help, something he needed in order to create a working community.

Now to Ovid, who took the story in a more humorous light, creating a satirical poem with darker undertones that speak deeply of what could very possibly be the “truth” of this myth. While it is difficult to look past the morbidly playful tones, one must read between the lines quite heavily in order to understand the message he is attempting to send. He sets the scene; the action starts off quickly as the king signals and the men eagerly spring forth into the crowd of girls, “as timorous doves flee eagles, as a lambkin/Runs wild when it sees the hated wolf,/So this wild charge of men left the girls all panic-stricken”. Disturbing though it may be, it could actually be surprisingly realistic; all suffering “the same nightmare”, some girls pulled their hair, froze in place, were dismayed, silent, cried out for mother, wailed, gaped, fled; and all were carried off for plunder. Ovid appears to show the scene through the eyes of the men, proclaiming that the women “contrived to make panic look fetching”, and has them state such things as “Why spoil those pretty eyes with weeping?”. No matter her resistance; “Project Rape was on” (Fantham 218).

We then can’t help to see that Ovid as clearly making fun of and criticizing Augustus. Though he was banished by the Emperor Augustus himself for a poem during the emperor’s reign, he may have just been a rebel and humorous pundit of sorts, making the terrifying fate of the Sabine women a plot device to poke fun at the fact that that very myth embarrassed the very empire it used to so proudly be a part of. Livy, on the other hand, appears to soften the blow against the empire, providing a reasonable and propaganda-like interpretation of the course of events; twisting it to suit the needs of the new empire. Though I may be biased as a feminist who knows quite a bit of Greek and Roman mythology, it does appear that both writers are quite biased- one writing a satirical critique; the other, a patriotic reinterpretation.