THE SABINI

In his Origines, the Latin poet Cato maintains that the roots of the Sabini – the ancient population of Magliano Sabina – are strongly related to the “Dio Sabo”. This ancient population, coming from Testruna, in the neighborhood of Amiternum, got into the valley of Rieti and got together an aboriginal population of Greek progeny.

On the other hand, according to Strabone – an other important ancient poet – the roots of the Sabini are strongly related to those of other populations such as Piceni, Sanniti, and Lucani. As soon as the Sabini crossed the Monti Sabini – the mountains circling the Sabina region – they founded villages unprovided of walls, among which Cures, the main village of the ancient and historic Sabina. They instated in several spots of this region, such as Eretum, Forum Novum, Trebula Mutuesca, and occupied that territory winding along the left bank of the river Tiber, the region covering today the territory between the Monti Sabini and the rivers Nera and Aniene. Due to this strategic position, they succeeded in developing their community.

Dionigi di Alicarnasso himself, while describing the events of Tarpea, alludes to the Sabini and reminds the reader that they dealt in gold goods. As a consequence, they were very rich and polished. They worked out a national writing, whose written fragments are preserved at the necropolis of the village Il Giglio. Moreover, they worked out a culture which was strongly influenced by the Etruscans and developed it all over the Adriatic region.