Tarpeia

This article is about the Vestal Virgin. For the place, see Tarpeian Rock. For the crater on the asteroid Vesta, see Tarpeia (crater). For other uses, see Tarpeia (disambiguation).
Reverse of a denarius (89 BCE) depicting the torture of Tarpeia
Reverse of a denarius (19-18 BCE) of Augustus showing Tarpeia crushed by the soldiers' shields

In Roman legend, Tarpeia (/tɑːrˈpiːə/; mid-8th century BCE), daughter of the Roman commander Spurius Tarpeius, was a Vestal Virgin who betrayed the city of Rome to the Sabines at the time of their women's abduction for what she thought would be a reward of jewelry. She was instead crushed to death by Sabine shields and her body cast from the southern cliff of Rome's Capitoline Hill, thereafter called after her the Tarpeian Rock (Rupes Tarpeia).[1]

  1. ^ Sanders, H. (1904). Roman historical sources and institutions. Macmillan. pp. 1–47.