Sabines

Attributes: | +30% Melee Damage

The **Sabines** are a medium-sized Sabellic faction located in an elongated, mountainous territory in the central Apennine Mountains, containing parts of southern Umbria and Picenum.

Its starting neighbours are the Marsi, Umbri, Picentes, Rome and Veii.

The Sabines are notable for being the only faction deemed difficult enough to play as to receive a small warning in the faction selection screen, stating that they have "a difficult start with limited resources available."

### In-game Description

"The Sabines are a Sabellic people of inland Italy said to be descendents of either an Umbrian group, or Spartans who left Greece in anger over the severe laws of Lycurgus, which would explain their warlike, frugal ways to the ancient writers who posit that theory. There was a large Sabine population in what would become the site of Rome at its founding, and war between the Sabines and Rome was frequent. It is said that in its earliest days, Rome abducted a large number of Sabine women as wives, but in the ensuing war, the women stepped between the armies and forced them to make a peace which lasted as long as their kings reigned."

### Starting Cities

* **Amiternum**: Amiternum is a Sabine city originally located in the Apennine Mountains that would later move down to the nearby plains, towards the source of the Aterno river.
* **Reate**: Reate, modern Riete, is a Sabine city located near the Velino River on fertile lands. Under Roman rule, a nearby lake would be drained to enrich the land further, and it would become a valuable part of the Via Salaria.
* **Trebula**: Trebula Mutusca is one of two Sabine towns named Trebula, though it is sometimes simply called Trebula as the other Trebula, Trebula Suffenas, is much smaller. Trebula Mutusca hosts a temple to Feronia, a Sabine goddess of health and fertility that would later be adopted by the Romans.
* **Nursia**: Nursia (modern Norcia) is a plains village of the Sabines located near the Sordo River. It grew in prosperity since the late 6th century BCE, but was not walled until the Romans conquered it in 290 BCE. Though loyal to Rome through the Punic Wars, it would serve as the heart of a Sabine rebellion in 42 BCE.
* **Asculum**: Asculum, also known as Ausculum, is an inland city of the Sabines surrounded by three mountains. Rome would later build the Via Salaria through it to connect Rome with the salt mines of the Atriatic.

### Strategy

The Sabines' starting territory is hard to defend and not very rich in resources, with many of the resource buildings being located in contested locations that could easily be raided by the AI factions.

To offset your vulnerable economy, the Sabines are given one of the strongest combat bonuses in the game. This makes your brigades superior to those of your fellow Sabellic and Latin neighbours and even capable of going toe-to-toe with the Etruscans, who normally have superior stats in the early game.

The Umbri and Marsi are your most immediately threatening neighbours. For the early game, it will probably be a good idea to make a truce with the one while conquering the other in order to gain a deeper territory with fewer exposed resources and secure some economic breathing room.

It can be beneficial to not immediately claim one or both of the cities of Trebula and Asculum, as this will create borders with the Picentes, Rome and Veii and it may be better to have fewer factions to deal with in the earliest part of the game. Additionally, these cities are on the fringes of your rather elongated starting territory and can be hard to defend initially, so it can be a good idea to make sure the borders of the central part of your territory are fully secure before incorporating these peripheral cities.

It may be wise to increase your tax income through the economic Skill Tree in the early game, to offset the slightly limited resource availability in your starting territory.

### Trivia & History

* The Sabines were one of Rome's earliest opponents, coming into conflict with the Romans as early as the 8th Century BC during the reign of the legendary king Romulus, most notably during the Roman abduction of Sabine women. Rome and the Sabines are recorded as intermittently waging war from the 7th to early 5th Centuries BC.
* Early relations between Rome and the Sabines weren't exclusively hostile, however, as many of the southernmost Sabines voluntarily migrated to the city of Rome and assimilated into the Roman population, and Rome's legendary 2nd and 4th kings Numa Pompilius and Ancus Marcius were said to be of Sabine origin themselves. Various notable families of later Roman history traced their roots back to Sabine origins, such as the Claudii, Aurelii, Flavii and Valerii.
* The Sabines were conquered by Rome in 290 BC just after the end of the 3rd Samnite War, probably in retaliation for having assisted the Samnites in their campaigns into Etruria.
* The faction's icon is taken from ancient coins depicting the goddess Diana Lucifera holding two torches. Lucifera, which translates to 'lightbringer', was an aspect of the goddess Diana that was associated with moonlight. Despite later becoming conflated with the Greek goddess Artemis, Diana originated as a native Italic deity, perhaps of Sabine origin.