Tarpeia

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).

The Sabines were however unable to conquer the Forum, its gates miraculously protected by boiling jets of water created by Janus.

A unique detail that Livy adds is the suggestion that Tarpeia was not greedily looking for gold, but was trying to trick the Sabines into giving up their weapons once she let them in.

[9] This artistic approach to the myth makes the story more relatable to Romans and served as a greater symbol of what happens when greed overtakes someone.

[10] Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi, a 2nd century BCE Latin Historian, wrote a more favorable account of Tarpeia which reported that she had no intention of betraying Rome.

Additionally, Tarpeia subsequently asked Romulus to send troops to the Capitol to correspond with her plan to capture their shields.

[10][11] Antigonos (Ἀντίγονος), a 3rd century BCE Greek author, portrays Tarpeia as innocent of treacherous behavior and a model of filial virtue.

[11] Roman historians Fabius Pictor and Lucius Cincius Alimentus also formulated their own versions of the story of Tarpeia.

However, her status as a Vestal Virgin is only explicitly established in the works of Varro and the Breviarium Vindobonense from the early 4th century CE.

[15][16] Tarpeia’s status as a Vestal Virgin both positions her as a physical embodiment of religious protection and chastity of the Roman state.

Therefore, scholars have debated if Tarpeia’s identity as a Vestal Virgin was invented to symbolically represent the unchaste nature of her act and was not actually an integral part of the story/legend.

The Sabinus Denarii closely resembles the Basilica Aemilia with an image of Tarpeia being surrounded by two Sabine soldiers with raised shields.

[18] Since Tarpeia was a Vestal Virgin, it is very significant that she dropped her water vessel when first seeing Tatius in Propertius' account.

Tarpeia is represented as the epitome of a traitorous Roman woman who betrayed her body to the state and was overcome by lust and greed.