The Sabine Women

In the early history of Rome, the young city was overpopulated with men. And without a significant amount of women, the future of Rome, would die out. To fix this, the Romans invited all of their neighbors, the Sabines, to a party to honor the God Neptune. During the celebration, all of the women were snatched from their families and taken as a wives by Roman men. The Sabine males, were extremely angry and went back home to plan their revenge. Time passed, and the Sabine women "gave their hearts" to the Roman men and created families of their own, half Roman and half Sabine. But the Sabine men had not forgot and one day they returned to reclaim their women and a war began.

In the end, it was the Sabine women who were the ones to bring peace to Rome, they convinced there fathers to stop the fighting because in fact it, was the future of there grandchildren, who were half Roman and half Sabine that were put in danger by the war.

At the time that David, painted this piece, the French Revolution was over and France was full of chaos and confusion. David is using a classic Roman story, to question the importance of war, and whether it actually creates a better life for the people or not. What I think comes across, is that war does not create a better future and it is the peaceful and loving qualities of women, that states should run upon.

This painting, because it is a classical representation can be used not only to represent the French Revolution, but it can be used to represent all wars and violence because it asks for peace, not war, to create a better future.