tribal confederation · Italy

Sabines

800 BCE – 290 BCE (approx.) · capital Cures

Italic people of the hills north-east of Rome, central to Roman foundation legends, who were absorbed by Rome in the early 3rd century BCE.

Origins

The Sabines lived in the central Apennines and the hill country between the Tiber and the Aniene from the early 1st millennium BCE. Ancient writers saw them as the parent stock of several Sabellian peoples, such as the Samnites and Picentes, who were said to have left Sabine land in 'sacred springs' of migration.

Rule and society

Sabine society was rural, made up of villages and small towns such as Cures, Reate, Nursia and Amiternum, with a reputation in Roman eyes for austere virtue. They spoke an Osco-Umbrian language known only from glosses. In Roman legend the abduction of the Sabine women led to joint rule between Romulus and the Sabine king Titus Tatius, and Rome's second king Numa Pompilius came from Cures. The Claudii were said to descend from Attus Clausus, who moved to Rome around 504 BCE.

Decline and legacy

Manius Curius Dentatus conquered the Sabines in 290 BCE. They received citizenship without the vote, and full citizenship in 268 BCE, an early and complete absorption into the Roman state. Their land was later part of Augustus's Regio IV, and the name survives in the Sabina district north of Rome.

Connections (1)

More states of Italy →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sabines. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sabines
MLA
“Sabines.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sabines. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Sabines.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sabines.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sabines’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sabines (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻