A vintage illustration depicting Tarpeia’s punishment.
There are several Vestal-related subjects that are heavily depicted in art—Mars and Rhea Silvia, the interment of a Vestal Virgin—and the punishment of Tarpeia is another one. From the frieze on the Basilica Aemelia (included below, in Hall Two of the Gallery) to ancient coins (also included here in the Gallery), poor Tarpeia’s fate is unforgettable.
According to legend, Tarpeia was a Vestal Virgin who, during the earliest years of Rome, betrayed the city by opening the gates to the Sabine army in exchange for the gold they wore on their arms. Unfortunately for Tarpeia, this wasn’t their gold cuffs, but their shields—and the invading soldiers beat her death with them for being a traitor. Afterward, the Romans name an execution site after her—the high cliff of the Tarpeian Rock, from which criminals were thrown to their death (it’s a tourist site today).
Tarpeia’s story is a complex one, and strongly intertwined with the stories of the Abduction of the Sabine Women and the eventual peace between the Sabines and the Romans, negotiated by the Sabine women themselves. It’s all fascinating, and is the subject of my novel Tarpeia: Book Two in The First Vestals of Rome trilogy.