Talassio

Talassio! was an ancient Roman wedding call. The call is handed down in Livius Ab Urbe Condita (1.9.11) and Plutarch ( Quaestiones Romanae 31) , among others . Livy states that the reputation is for the robbery of the Sabine womenoriginated. In the wild turmoil that arose after the Romans attacked the Sabine women, a particularly beautiful Sabine woman was led away by a group of Romans. This had previously been selected for a particularly important Roman citizen named Talassius. In order to indicate to everyone who approached this woman that she was already taken, those who led her away kept shouting the word “Talassio!”. Later, a wedding call developed from this, which Roman bridegrooms called when they carried their bride over the doorstep of the common house after the marriage.

literature

• Robert Harari and Gilles Lambert: Dictionnaire de la mythologie grecque et latine, Grand livre du mois, Paris 2000.