PROBABLY ROMAN, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY

The Rape of the Sabine Women recalls the story of the early days of Rome when, to ensure the survival of the community, Romulus organised a festival to which he invited inhabitants of neighbouring settlements including the Sabines. At a pre-arranged signal, given by the seated figure to the right of the plaque, the Roman soldiers carried off the unmarried Sabine women. Although the Sabine men were later to attack Rome for this treachery, the Sabine women themselves came running to the scene of battle, many holding their new-born children, begging the two sides to call a truce and thus establishing peace.