Vibia Sabina

Names
	Vibia Sabina
Regnal name
	Vibia Sabina Augusta

Vibia Sabina
Vibia Sabina
Augusta
	Statue of Vibia Sabina (Villa Adriana, Tivoli)
Roman empress
Tenure	117 – 136/137
Born	83; Rome, Italy
Died	136/137
Spouse	Hadrian
Names
Names
	Vibia Sabina
Regnal name
	Vibia Sabina Augusta
Dynasty	Nerva–Antonine
Father	Lucius Vibius Sabinus
Mother	Salonia Matidia

Bust of Vibia Sabina (Capitoline Museums, Rome)

Vibia Sabina (83–136/137) was a Roman Empress, wife and second cousin once removed to the Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was the daughter of Matidia (niece of Roman Emperor Trajan) and suffect consul Lucius Vibius Sabinus.

Early life

After her father's death in 84, Sabina and her half-sister Matidia Minor went to live with their maternal grandmother, Marciana. They were raised in the household of Sabina's great uncle Trajan and his wife Plotina.

Sabina married Hadrian in 100, at the empress Plotina's request. Sabina's mother Matidia (Hadrian's second cousin) was also fond of Hadrian and allowed him to marry her daughter. Hadrian succeeded Trajan in 117.

Empress

Sabina accumulated more public honors in Rome and the provinces than any imperial woman had enjoyed since the first empress, Augustus’ wife Livia. Indeed, Sabina is the first woman whose image features on a regular and continuous series of coins minted at Rome. She was the most traveled and visible empress to date.^[1] In 128, she was awarded the title of Augusta.

Sabina is described in the poetry of Julia Balbilla, her companion, in a series of epigrams on the occasion of Hadrian's visit to Egypt in November of 130. In the poems, Balbilla refers to Sabina as "beautiful" and "lovely."

The Historia Augusta reports that the historian Suetonius, who was Hadrian's secretary, was dismissed by Hadrian from his position in 119, for "conducting [himself] toward his wife, Sabina, in a more informal fashion than the etiquette of the court demanded."^[2]^[3] Meanwhile, her husband was thought to be more sexually interested in his favourite Antinous and other male lovers, and he and Sabina had no children.

Death

Coin of "Sabina Augusta", found in the Buddhist stupa of Ahin Posh, modern Afghanistan.

Vibia Sabina died before her husband, some time in 136 or early 137.^[4] There is a strong ancient tradition that Hadrian treated his wife little better than a slave, and may have driven her to suicide.^[1] However other sources say he had great respect for her.

A relief commissioned by Hadrian "depicts the apotheosis, or divine ascent of Sabina in accordance with her posthumous deification on the order of Hadrian."^[5] Some 150 years later, this was reused as spolia on the so-called Arch of Portugal, and in modern times moved to the Capitoline Museums, where it is on display on the staircase of the Palazzo dei Conservatori.

Temple

According to researchers, a temple at Elefsina in Greece was dedicated to Sabina.^[6]

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Q. Marcius Barea Soranus

Q. Marcius Barea Sura

Antonia Furnilla

M. Cocceius Nerva

Sergia Plautilla

P. Aelius Hadrianus

Titus
(r. 79–81)

Marcia Furnilla

Marcia

Trajanus Pater

Nerva
(r. 96–98)

Ulpia^{[lower-roman 1]}

Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus

Flavia^{[lower-roman 2]}

Marciana^{[lower-roman 3]}

C. Salonius Matidius^{[lower-roman 4]}

Trajan
(r. 98–117)

Plotina

P. Acilius Attianus

P. Aelius Afer^{[lower-roman 5]}

Paulina Major^{[lower-roman 6]}

Lucius Mindius (2)

Libo Rupilius Frugi (3)

Salonia Matidia^{[lower-roman 7]}

L. Vibius Sabinus (1)^{[lower-roman 8]}

Paulina Minor^{[lower-roman 6]}

L. Julius Ursus Servianus^{[lower-roman 9]}

Matidia Minor^{[lower-roman 7]}

Suetonius?^{[lower-roman 10]}

Sabina^{[lower-roman 3]}

Hadrian^{[lower-roman 5]}^{[lower-roman 11]}^{[lower-roman 6]} (r. 117–138)

Antinous^{[lower-roman 12]}

Julia Balbilla?^{[lower-roman 13]}

C. Fuscus Salinator I

Julia Serviana Paulina

M. Annius Verus^{[lower-roman 14]}

Rupilia Faustina^{[lower-roman 15]}^{[lower-roman 16]}

Boionia Procilla

Cn. Arrius Antoninus

L. Ceionius Commodus

Appia Severa

C. Fuscus Salinator II

L. Caesennius Paetus

Arria Antonina

Arria Fadilla^{[lower-roman 17]}

T. Aurelius Fulvus

L. Caesennius Antoninus

L. Commodus

Plautia

unknown^{[lower-roman 18]}

C. Avidius Nigrinus

M. Annius Verus^{[lower-roman 15]}

Calvisia Domitia Lucilla^{[lower-roman 19]}

Fundania^{[lower-roman 20]}

M. Annius Libo^{[lower-roman 15]}

Faustina^{[lower-roman 17]}

Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)^{[lower-roman 17]}

L. Aelius Caesar^{[lower-roman 18]}

Avidia^{[lower-roman 18]}

Cornificia^{[lower-roman 15]}

Marcus Aurelius
(r. 161–180)^{[lower-roman 21]}

Faustina Minor^{[lower-roman 21]}

C. Avidius Cassius^{[lower-roman 22]}

Aurelia Fadilla^{[lower-roman 17]}

Lucius Verus
(r. 161–169)^{[lower-roman 18]} (1)

Ceionia Fabia^{[lower-roman 18]}

Plautius Quintillus^{[lower-roman 23]}

Q. Servilius Pudens

Ceionia Plautia^{[lower-roman 18]}

Cornificia Minor^{[lower-roman 24]}

M. Petronius Sura

Commodus
(r. 177–192)^{[lower-roman 21]}

Fadilla^{[lower-roman 24]}

M. Annius Verus Caesar^{[lower-roman 21]}

Ti. Claudius Pompeianus (2)

Lucilla^{[lower-roman 21]}

M. Plautius Quintillus^{[lower-roman 18]}

Junius Licinius Balbus

Servilia Ceionia

Petronius Antoninus

L. Aurelius Agaclytus (2)

Aurelia Sabina^{[lower-roman 24]}

L. Antistius Burrus (1)

Plautius Quintillus

Plautia Servilla

C. Furius Sabinus Timesitheus

Antonia Gordiana

Junius Licinius Balbus?

Furia Sabina Tranquillina

Gordian III
(r. 238–244)

(1) = 1st spouse
(2) = 2nd spouse
(3) = 3rd spouse
  Reddish-purple indicates emperor of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty
  lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned
  grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants
  bluish-purple indicates emperors of other dynasties
dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
Small Caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)

Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

↑ Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
↑ Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
1 2 Levick (2014), p. 161.
↑ Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
1 2 Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
1 2 3 DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
1 2 Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
↑ Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
↑ Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
↑ Suetonius a possible lover of Sabina: One interpretation of HA Hadrianus 11:3
↑ Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
↑ Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2–5, etc.
↑ Julia Balbilla a possible lover of Sabina: A. R. Birley (1997), Hadrian, the Restless Emperor, p. 251, cited in Levick (2014), p. 30, who is sceptical of this suggestion.
↑ Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
1 2 3 4 Levick (2014), p. 163.
↑ It is uncertain whether Rupilia Faustina was Frugi's daughter by Salonia Matidia or another woman.
1 2 3 4 Levick (2014), p. 162.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Levick (2014), p. 164.
↑ Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
↑ Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
1 2 3 4 5 Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
↑ The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed in HA "Marcus Aurelius" 24.
↑ Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
1 2 3 Levick (2014), p. 117.

References:

DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 2015-04-14.
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2.
Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

References

1 2 Brennan, Corey (2018). Sabina Augusta. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190250997.
↑ Historia Augusta 11.3
↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
↑ Opper, Thorsten. Hadrian: Empire and Conflict, Harvard University Press, 2008, p. 205. ISBN 0-674-03095-8
↑ Annelise Freisenbruch, Caesars’ Wives: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Roman Empire (London and New York: Free Press, 2010), 170.
↑ Archaeological Site of Eleusis-Temple of Sabina

Authority control databases
International	FAST ISNI VIAF 2 3
National	Spain France BnF data Catalonia Germany Israel United States Vatican
Artists	ULAN
People	Deutsche Biographie
Other	IdRef

Early life

Empress

Death

Temple

See also

Nerva–Antonine family tree

References

Further reading