The Roman historian Livy writing around 0 AD attests to “the rape of the Sabine Women”, wherein the founders of Rome kidnapped and raped women from surrounding villages, which may just be mythological but is likely a factor in this concept being so prevalent.
As a constrast, though, Madagascar was settled by a mix of Bantu and Indonesian (Austronesian) people, and genetic analysis suggests a founding group of at least 30 women from Indonesia, who almost certainly weren’t stolen from across the Indian Ocean.
Source for the whole kidnapping aspect?
The Roman historian Livy writing around 0 AD attests to “the rape of the Sabine Women”, wherein the founders of Rome kidnapped and raped women from surrounding villages, which may just be mythological but is likely a factor in this concept being so prevalent.
As a constrast, though, Madagascar was settled by a mix of Bantu and Indonesian (Austronesian) people, and genetic analysis suggests a founding group of at least 30 women from Indonesia, who almost certainly weren’t stolen from across the Indian Ocean.