The power that overcomes conflict

Every country has its own founding myths. Ancient myths often describe tribal founders as children of God or animals suckling. Some legendary figures are portrayed as creatures that come from an egg. Romulus, the mythological founder of Rome, is believed to be a descendant of the Greek goddess Aphrodite raised by a wolf.

Jacques-Louis David, one of the leading French painters in the Neoclassical style, produced many drawings inspired by Roman mythology. “Intervention of the Sabine Women (1799)” features a war story of Rome and the Sabaeans in the founding myth of Rome.

In the early Roman era, citizenship was mostly granted to servicemen. As they needed women who gave birth to their offspring, they invited the Sabaeans, a neighboring tribe, to a party. There, they kidnapped women and killed or expelled men. When the Sabaeans invaded Rome three years later to take back their women, Sabine women served as mediators to settle the conflict. Having already been married to Romans with their own children, the women had family relationships with both sides.

The woman with her arms open is Hersilia married to Romulus. The daughter of Titus Tatius, king of Sabine, begs her husband and father to stop fighting with her children standing between them. Looking at his wife, Romulus seems hesitant to throw a spear at Tatius pulling back. He holds a shield with him as a young boy sucking wolf’s milk engraved on it. The tall fortress in the background implies the Palace of Versailles where the French Revolution broke out on July 14, 1789.

Myths are not historical records but a result of collective unconsciousness created and passed down out of necessity. In 1799, when the artist got the work done, French people felt the need to make amends with one another and heal from the years of violence and bloodshed during the French Revolution. David was an excellent court painter and political agitator. To portray the power of love that resolves conflict, he strategically chose to adopt the well-known founding story of Rome.