The Curii were an ancient and much respected patrician family. One of them, Manius Curius Denatatus, defeated Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, in a major battle in the early third century B.C.
From the earliest days there was a Sabine element in Rome (the story of the rape of the Sabine women to supply wives for the womanless followers of Romulus is a legend explaining this fact); many Roman religious practices are said to have Sabine origins. Rome was involved in numerous wars with the inland Sabines; Horatius is supposed to have defeated them in the 5th century BCE and Marcus Curius Dentatus conquered them in 290 BCE and in 268 BCE the Sabines became Roman citizens.
The Curii were an ancient and much respected patrician family. One of them, Manius Curius Denatatus, defeated Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, in a major battle in the early third century B.C.
