Julia Balbilla travels with the empress Vibia Sabina
Characters:
Theme: The travels of Hadrian and Vibia Sabina across the Roman empire
Competencies
Competence in Linguistic Communication
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Competence in cultural awareness and expressions
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > Classical culture > 3rd ESO > Classical roots of today's world. Geographical framework of Greece and Rome
Enunciation
Read and comment on a short poem by Julia Balbilla, who lived in the 2nd century AD, and map out the route of the journeys of the emperors.
1.- Memnon, son of Aurora and holy Tython, seated before Thebes, city of Zeus, or Amenoth, Egyptian King, as learned. Priests recount from ancient stories, greetings, and singing, welcome her kindly, the August wife of the emperor Hadrian.
Extract from <https://peoplepill.com/people/julia-balbilla> (Bernand y Bernand 1960 nº 31)
a.-In which city and country are the writer and the emperors located?
b.-In Greece there was a city with the same name. Find out in which region it was found and which mythical king lived there.
c.-What character of the Greek mythology does the author adress to? What other character is associated with Egypt?
d.- Find information about the reason for the visit to the Colossi of Memnon.
2.- Trace on the map of the Roman Empire the route of Hadrian and Vibia Sabina on the long journey during which they visited the Colossi of Memnon. (In case you cannot find a place name, look for help on other maps).
As early as 129 he undertook another great journey to the East, with several stays in Athens, from where he travelled to the cities of Asia Minor (Ephesus, Miletus), Lycia and then Syria, Arabia and Judea, as well as Egypt, returning from the lands of the Nile to Athens as early as 132. After another quick visit to Judea, where the war against the Israelite rebels continued, he crossed the lands of Macedonia, Messia, Dalmatia, Pannonia until he reached Rome in mid-134.
[Our own translation from: García Gual, Carlos (2023). "El emperador Adriano, un viajero incansable", en Historia National Geographic, (retrieved on 20/03/2023), <https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/emperador-adriano-viajero-incansable_7196/6> ]
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriano#/media/Archivo:Roman_Empire_125_es.svg
Observations and context
Julia Balbilla, Damo and Caecilia Trebula had their short compositions engraved in Greek on the left leg of one of the Colossi of Memnon. These travelling poets of Roman times, along with others of very different styles such as Sulpicia the elegiac, Sulpicia the satirical, Herennia Procula, Claudia Trofime and Teosebia are heirs to the poetic tradition of Sappho that began in the 7th century BC and concludes in the 4th century AD with Aconia Fabia Paulina.
When her brother, Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos, one of the first men of Oriental descent to become consul in Rome, died, Julia Balbilla built for him a funerary monument, the Philopappos, on the hill of the Muses, southwest of the Acropolis of Athens.
Description
Commentary on a poem by Julia Balbilla and locating on a map the places where Hadrian and Vibia Sabina stayed during their long journey, one of the stops of which was a visit to the Colossus of Memnon.