Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

TARPEIA

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 430 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

TARPEIA , in See also:

Roman See also:legend, daughter of the See also:commander of the Capitol during the See also:war with the Sabines caused by the See also:rape of the See also:Sabine See also:women. According to the See also:common See also:story, she offered to betray the citadel, if the Sabines would give her what they wore on their See also:left arms, meaning their bracelets; instead of this, keeping to the See also:letter of their promise, they threw their See also:shields upon her and crushed her to See also:death. Simylus, a See also:Greek elegiac poet, makes Tarpeia betray the Capitol to a See also:king of the Gauls. The story may be an See also:attempt to See also:account for the Tarpeian See also:rock being chosen as the See also:place of See also:execution of traitors. According to S. See also:Reinach, however, in Revue archeologique, xi. (1908), the story had its origin in a rite—the See also:taboo of military spoils, which led to their being heaped up on consecrated ground that they might not be touched. Tarpeia herself is a See also:local divinity, the manner of whose death was suggested by the See also:tumulus or shields on the spot devoted to her cult, a See also:crime being invented to account for the supposed See also:punishment.

End of Article: TARPEIA

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
TARPAULIN, or TARPAULING (as if tarpalling, from ta... 		[next]
TARQUINII (mod. Corneto Tarquinia, q.v.)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries