According to the legends, this is how the first generation of Roman men acquired wives: they captured them from a neighbouring tribe, the Sabines.
The Latin word for this event is raptio. This is conventionally translated into English as 'rape', but in this context it just means 'capture' or 'abduction'.
Wikipedia attributes the popularity of this subject in Renaissance and later art to its combination of "a suitably inspiring example of the hardihood and courage of ancient Romans with the opportunity to depict multiple figures, including heroically semi–nude figures, in intensely passionate struggle."
© Haydn Thompson 2017