Sabines

Sabines , ancient people of central Italy, centered principally in the Sabine Hills, NE of Rome. Not much dependable information on them can be gathered. They were probably Oscan-speaking and therefore may be classed among the Sabelli. From the earliest days there was a Sabine element in Rome (the story of the rape of the Sabine women to supply wives for the womanless followers of Romulus is a legend explaining this fact); many Roman religious practices are said to have Sabine origins. Rome was involved in numerous wars with the inland Sabines; Horatius is supposed to have defeated them in the 5th cent. BC, and Marcus Curius Dentatus conquered them in 290 BC The Sabines became (268) Roman citizens. The Samnites were possibly a branch of the Sabines.

Sabines Ancient people of central Italy. They inhabited the Sabine Hills ne of Rome, and part of the early Roman population was Sabine in origin. After sporadic fighting, the Sabines were conquered in 290 bc and gradually Romanized.

Sabines A tribe native to the foothills of the Apennines north-east of Rome. According to tradition they joined the earliest settlement of Rome in the 8th century BC. Legend relates how the Romans abducted the Sabine women during a festival; an army was raised to take revenge but the women appeared on the battlefield with new-born babies and the two sides were reconciled. They became Roman citizens only after conquest.