Consualia (Rape of the Sabine Women, Ancient Rome)
Consualia was an ancient Roman festival celebrated on August 21, marking both a harvest festival dedicated to Consus, the god of the harvest, and the anniversary of a controversial historical event known as the Rape of the Sabine Women. The festival took place in the third week of August, after the harvest, and involved ceremonies where the shrine of Consus was unveiled, along with horse and chariot racing. Historically, Consualia is linked to the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus, who, in a bid to secure wives for his new city, invited the Sabine people to the festival. When the Sabines arrived, they were ambushed, resulting in the abduction of their women—often described as virgins—while the men were killed. The number of women taken varies in accounts, with estimates ranging from about 30 to as many as 683. One notable figure among the abducted women was Hersilia, who is said to have eventually married Romulus or one of his men. This event has also influenced traditions in modern weddings, where brides are often carried over the threshold, reflecting the violent origins of their unions.
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Consualia (Rape of the Sabine Women, Ancient Rome)
Consualia (Rape of the Sabine Women, Ancient Rome)
In ancient Rome, August 21 marked the celebration of one event, the Consualia, and the anniversary of another—the infamous rape of the Sabine women, both of which are associated with Consus, the Roman god of the harvest.
The Consualia (first fruits festival) was held in the third week of August, after the harvesting and planting. Consus, who was probably also the deity of the storage bin and guardian of secrets, was the cult partner of Consiva, or Ops, the goddess of sowing and reaping. The storage bins for the harvested grains, along with a shrine to Consus, were built underground, beneath the Circus Maximus. The shrine remained covered every day of the year except for August 21, the same day that a temple would be dedicated to Consus on the Aventine hill during the third century. Although the Consualia was also decreed a day of rest for horses and donkeys, the festival featured horse- and chariot-racing, during which time the shrine of Consus would be exposed to the public.
According to Plutarch, Consus was also the god of good counsel, whose altar was underground probably to signify the privacy and concealment necessary to be an effective counselor. Consus is said to have advised the founder of Rome, Romulus, to stage a notorious event known as the rape of the Sabine women. Romulus was anxious to expand his power, and he made Rome a haven for anyone willing to settle there and recognize him as king. Outlaws, murderers, destitute men living in caves, runaway slaves, and vagabonds of all sorts flocked to Rome. Naturally, this sort of society was less than appealing to prospective wives, so in order to provide his men with women, Romulus invited members of a nearby tribe called the Sabines to attend the Consualia. The Sabines were a people who lived in the Sabine Hills of central Italy northeast of Rome, and when they came to Rome to participate in the first Consualia, the Romans ambushed them, killing the men and forcing their women into servitude as wives for Roman men. Plutarch writes that varying reports were given as to the number of women taken, with some claiming as few as 30 and others as many as 683 abducted. All of the victims were said to be virgins, except for one named Hersilia, who is purported to have married her abductor—either a Roman named Hostilius or Romulus himself. Plutarch claims that this incident gave birth to one of the most famous honeymoon traditions: “It continues . . . as a custom at this very day for the bride not of herself to pass her husband's threshold, but to be lifted over, in memory that the Sabine virgins were carried in by violence, and did not go in of their own will.”