Rape of the Sabine Women

One of my new Roman Republic coins has a reverse dedicated to the legend of the rape of the Sabine women. Too bad the reverse is not better centered. Now I need to find the sister coin to this where Tarpeia is buried to the waist in shields.

L. TITURIUS L.F. SABINUS AR Denarius; GENS TITURIA
OBV: Head of Tatius facing right, SABIN behind, palm below chin
REV: Two Roman soldiers, each holding a woman in his arms, L.TITVRI in ex.
Struck at Rome, 89 BC
3.8g, 20mm
Cr344/1b, Syd 698a, Tiituria 2


From Wikipedia:

The legend of the Sabine women

Legend says that the Romans abducted Sabine women to populate the newly built Rome. The resultant war 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 sexual violation, see raptio) became a common motif in art; the women ending the war forms a less frequent but still reappearing motif.

According to Livy, after the conflict the Sabine and Roman states merged, and the Sabine king Titus Tatius jointly ruled Rome with Romulus until Tatius' death five years later.

 

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Cool piece. I had to have one when I first saw it. Cost was a trade but worth it to me.


L. Titurius L.f. Sabinus. (89 B.C.)
AR Denarius
O: Bare head of King Tatius right, SABIN downward behind, TA in monogram before;
R: Two Roman soldiers running left, each bearing a Sabine woman in his arms, L·TITVRI in ex.
Rome
19mm
3.87g
Crawford 344/1a,RSC I Tituria 2, Sydenham 698a, SRCV I 249

 

[video=youtube;1Ob2iKO7IHk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ob2iKO7IHk[/video]

 

Cool coins, fellas ...

Bing => you are definitely concentrating on the ol' RR's, eh? (you are getting a very cool collection) ... keep-up the good work!!

:high5:

 

Another nice addition to your Roman Republic set. Nice pickup!

I still have yet to get a RR coin. lol

 

Now with a title like that I had to click on the thread. I applaud you for "educating" us on the correct use of the word "rape." As for the coin you posted, I'd buy it for the reverse. Mat's great and this denarius is a must have for the ancient coin collector. Its the kind of stuff you just don't see everyday. Very nice coin for real and wonderful background.

I wouldn't let steveX6 know they exist.

 

NM he already knows....

 

A-Noob => the rape of the Sabine "sheep" is a whole nuther' thread!!




... man, I'm never gonna live that PAN-thingy down, eh?

 

...nah man.

 

Pan thingy????????

 

I dunno. It seems I'm like an insect being drawn to the light when it comes to RR coins. And not just any RR coin. The reverse has to have a story to tell. Of course, I find I'm looking for Imperial coins with interesting reverses as well.

 

Yah, I'm a big fan of the interesting RR's as well ... although I haven't snagged one in a while (I've been kinda all over the place with my choices during the last few months ... it's been a lot of fun!!)

 

A very interesting, and important, event in the history of the Romans.

Julius Caesar's first marriage with Cornelia was confarreatio, which includes a nod to this event, where he would have had to pull his bride from her mothers arms.


Great Historical Pickup Bing! :thumb:

:thumb:

 

I don't have one of these with the TA monogram on the obverse. Some palm types also have APV which is supposed to mean Argento Publico (from public silver). There is a very rare one with neither TA or palm which did not make most of the standard references but explains why some books will call the OP coin a Tituria 1. The Tarpeia type also comes in the three variations (I only have the palm). The numbers on these get confused according to whose book you read as well.

The same moneyer also issued a large series with Victory in biga reverse and one of a large series of minor types in exergue. Mine has a boat and is catalogued as Tituria 10/12 in Banti but Tituria 6 in Seaby, Roman Silver Coins (1978 edition).

Today's mail brought my latest excessive purchase, the 9 volume set of Corpus Nummorum Romanorum by Banti. It covers the Republican moneyer coins to excess taking 26 pages to list Tituria variations. That includes 33 illustrated specimens of the rape coins. My first use of it was for this thread and I discovered the listing differences between Seaby's RSC volume 1 and Banti although both are based on Babelon's numbering system. It will take me a while to learn to use the books. I wonder if I would be financially better off keeping them in perfect shape since I am sure that it will be a while before anyone does a coverage of the subject quite that extensive again. These are dated 1980 to 1982. I'll probably write a review of them in a few months but they seemed a reasonable purchase for someone who likes Republicans.

Yes, my APV rape scene is a fourree.

 

Interesting coins Doug and I'll be interested in your review of Banti.

 

Wow, great RR rape-collection, Doug ... huh, for some reason I thought you weren't too keen on collecting Roman Republicans, because you usually refer to them as being a bunch of random ol' chariots (or something along those lines?) ...

=> but I should never be surprised, for you always seem to come outta the wood-work with an example of pretty much every single coin posted!!


:bow:

 

I am not thrilled by the endless series of chariots unless they are pulled by snakes or have something otherwise special. Similarly I have enough Roma heads unless the reverse is interesting (not just different) but I love the really different Republicans and regret you have driven up the price of some of the best to a place out of my reach. Not so random examples of common but different types:



Steve, really, I have many of the common cheap coins. At least 75% of your collection is not in mine because you buy nicer coins than I did when I was your age. At least 75% of my collection consists of cheap junk you would not ever consider buying. Where we overlap is the popular, common but interesting stuff.

 

Nice coins everyone. I was going to comment about the other scenes, but of course Doug beat me to it and posted pics. I have especially loved the one where the lady is killed by the soldiers shields.

 

Very cool!

 

Doug, I have two of the coins you displayed in your last post, but now I need to find the others. They're all great with wonderful reverses like what I look for in a RR or even what I look for in the Imperial coins. To be sure, there are a few RR's with racing bigas I find interesting, but by in large, I find them as boring as many of the Imperial reverses that are used over and over.