Vibia Sabina (13 August 83–136/137) was a

Roman Empress This is a list of Roman and Byzantine empresses. A Roman empress was a woman who was the wife of a Roman emperor, the ruler of the Roman Empire. The Romans had no single term for the position: Latin and Greek titles such as '' augusta'' (Greek ...

, wife and second cousin once removed to the Roman Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

. She was the daughter of Matidia (niece of Roman Emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

) and suffect consul

Lucius Vibius Sabinus Lucius Vibius Sabinus was a Roman Empire, Roman Senate of the Roman Empire, Senator who lived in the 1st century. His daughter Vibia Sabina married the emperor Hadrian. Biography Little is known about his family, but Sabinus came from a family of ...

Early life

After her father's death in 84, Sabina, along with her half-sister

Matidia Minor Mindia Matidia or Vibia Matidia or Matidia Minor (''Minor'' Latin for ''the younger'', 85 – after 161) was a Roman imperial woman in the early second century AD. She was related to several ancient Roman Emperors, as a great-niece to Trajan and ...

, went to live with their maternal grandmother,

Marciana Marciana is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Livorno, Tuscany (Italy), located in the western Elba Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian ma ...

. They were raised in the household of Trajan and his wife

Plotina Pompeia Plotina (died 121/122) was Roman empress from 98 to 117 as the wife of Trajan. She was renowned for her interest in philosophy, and her virtue, dignity and simplicity. She was particularly devoted to the Epicurean philosophical school in ...

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

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. In 128, she was awarded the title of Augusta. Sabina is described in the poetry of

Julia Balbilla Julia Balbilla (Greek: Ἰουλία Βαλβίλλα, AD 72 – after AD 130) was a Roman noble woman and poet.Plant I. M. ''Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology'' University of Oklahoma Press, 2004, chapter 43. , 9780806136219 ...

, 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 The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...

'' reports that the historian

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

, who was Hadrian's secretary, was dismissed by Hadrian from his position in 119, for "conducting imselftoward his wife, Sabina, in a more informal fashion than the etiquette of the court demanded." Meanwhile, her husband was thought to be more sexually interested in his favourite

Antinous Antinous, also called Antinoös, (; grc-gre, Ἀντίνοος; 27 November – before 30 October 130) was a Greek youth from Bithynia and a favourite and probable lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Following his premature death before his ...

and other male lovers, and he and Sabina had no children.

Death

Vibia Sabina died before her husband, some time in 136 or early 137. There is a strong ancient tradition that Hadrian treated his wife little better than a slave, and may have driven her to suicide. Hadrian's stone elegy for his wife "depicts the apotheosis, or divine ascent of Sabina in accordance with her posthumous deification on the order of Hadrian." However other sources say he had great respect for her.

Temple

According to researchers, a temple at

Elefsina Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest from the centre of Athens and is part of i ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

was dedicated to Sabina.Archaeological Site of Eleusis-Temple of Sabina
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Early life

Empress

Death

Temple

See also

References

Further reading