458 Parshia Lee-Stecum
2010: 18–19). Even a single ethnic affiliation might be used to project a variety of mean-
ings. The Virgilian Latins sprout hardy from the land of Latium itself, and the lineage
of the king who eventually gives his name to the people connects him by blood to the
divine, eponymous founders of other Italian peoples: Sabines, Picenes, and Italians gen-
erally (Toll 1991, 1997). The Latins of Dionysius of Halicarnassus confirm the Greek
(and specifically Arcadian) cultural heritage of the Romans and further legitimize their
place in the broader Hellenistic world. The mythic pre-history of Rome already provided
the Roman ruling class with a rich and flexible range of ethnic identities to draw upon
and inhabit. Immediately following Romulus’ foundation, the options are expanded even
further.
The first ethnic expansion of Rome comes early in Romulus’ reign. Soon after Rome’s
foundation, Romulus augments the paltry population of his new city by use of an insti-
tution that has come to represent the wider permeability of Roman identity:
Meanwhile the city was growing with more and more ground absorbed within the walls.
However, the extension of the walled area was disproportionate to the size of the popula-
tion and based more on hope for the future. To ensure that this large city would not be
empty...Romulus opened an asylum in the place now enclosed between two groves on the
slope [from the Capitol]. A large mob from neighbouring peoples fled to this place, with
no distinction made between free-born and slave. All were eager for a fresh start. This was
the first addition of strength (robur) on Rome’s path to greatness.(Livy 1.8.4–6; see also
Dionysius of Halicarnassus 2.31; Plutarch,Romulus14; Cicero,Republic2.12)The Asylum draws to Rome the manpower (robor) that will precipitate its future power
(Lee-Stecum 2008: 74–5). By attracting immigrants of unknown status and origins, the
Asylum contributes in ways that cannot be measured to the further ethnic diversity of
Rome. However, while the asylum-seekers may not directly contribute to the ethnicity
of the Roman elite, and their very anonymity makes specific ethnic identification impos-
sible, the immediate consequences of the Asylum are another matter. Distrust of the
mixed status and shady origins of the asylum-seekers on the part of neighboring com-
munities leads directly to the subjugation (in part) of another ethnic group, although
this subjugation is represented as integration within the Roman community.
The rape of the Sabine women and subsequent mixing of Roman and Sabine popu-
lations has general and specific implications for the ethnicity of the Roman ruling class,
and for the interconnectedness of elite ethnicity and Roman imperial ideology (Livy 1.9,
Dionysius of Halicarnassus 2.31, Plutarch,Romulus13–14, Cicero,Republic2.12, Ovid
Ars Amatoria1.110). Livy’s account of the rape gives special prominence to involvement
by the elite of Romulus’ new community. The “leading Senators” (primores patrum)
hire men to target and abduct the most beautiful among the Sabine women on their
behalf (Livy 1.9.11). The narrative of the Roman–Sabine integration juxtaposes and
partly identifies forced intermarriage with political treaty forged through war. While
the rape is initiated in response to the refusal of other nearby Italian communities to
intermarry with the Romans, it is represented by the Romans as a “marriage,” and