Geographical classification

Europe > Spain

Socio-cultural movements

Antiquity > Roman culture > Empire

Groups by dedication

Rulers > Empresses / Queens / Noblewomen

Character
Busto

Vibia Sabina

Gades or Rome 86 ‖ Rome 137

Period of activity: From 100 until 137

Geographical classification: Europe > Spain

Socio-cultural movements

Antiquity > Roman culture > Empire

Groups by dedication

Rulers > Empresses / Queens / Noblewomen

Context of feminine creation

Gades (Cádiz) belonged to Baetica, the Roman province of Hispania.

The role of the empresses of the Antonine dynasty was not as visible as that of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, but they were the ones who legitimized the power of their husbands by granting it as a dowry. Plotina, Marciana, Matidia the Elder and Sabina held a public status and represented a series of private and domestic roles with public significance. Later, the Faustinas participated in politics: Faustina the Elder issued coins and promoted the education of women in Rome, and Faustina the Younger was the first empress to receive the title of mater castrorum, as Julia Domna of the Severan dynasty would later do. 

Review

Vibia Sabina was the daughter of Matidia the Elder and the grandniece of Trajan. At the age of eleven she married the future emperor Hadrian for political convenience. She accompanied her husband on trips around the empire and was friends with the poetess Julia Balbilla, who was a member of their entourage. Despite being a beloved woman, she was mistreated by her husband, and refused to have children with him. She had a key role in the succession of Hadrian, helping him adopt the future Antoninus Pius.

Activities

English

Spanish

Catalan

Justifications

  • Influential and highly educated empress, although unfairly overshadowed by the figure of her husband.
  • Had forward ideas regarding marriage and motherhood.

Biography

She was born around the year 86 AD, daughter of Matidia the Elder and Lucius Vibio Sabino, of consular rank. Her mother Matidia the Elder was the niece of emperor Trajan. Sabina, along with her grandmother, her mother, and her half-sister, Matidia Minor, lived and were educated in the family home of Trajan and his wife, Pompeia Plotina.
She was distinguished from a young age for her refined beauty, and she married Hadrian in the year 100 at the request of empress Plotina and Matidia the Elder. That marriage reinforced the imperial aspirations of Hadrian, who would succeed Trajan in 117 AD.
Their marriage, however, was not a happy one. They did not have children because, it was said, Sabina used contraceptive methods to avoid having offspring, since, for her, to have children with Hadrian would have meant "harming the human race".
But the truth is that she was victim of mistreatment by her husband. The first beatings and rapes came on the wedding night. Lucia Vibia Sabina was 11 years old and her cousin, 23. It was two decades before they became empress Sabina and emperor Hadrian.
Sabina was strong-willed and independent, and her beliefs about marriage constantly clashed with the emperor.
She surrounded herself with musicians and artists who proliferated at court, turning it into a great cultural center, where she became a much-loved empress as well.
It is said that between 119 and 122 approximately, the empress had intimate relations with the historian Suetonius, which led to the official historian's fall from grace and consequent expulsion from the imperial court circa 122.
In 128 she was granted the title of Augusta. She died in 137, before her husband. The reason for her death is unknown. There are rumors that she was poisoned by Hadrian, who would have ordered this to avoid her feeling the pleasure of surviving him, but there is no evidence that this was the case.

Cabello, Diana (2017). “Vibia Sabina”, Blog: Los mensajes de Clío, (retrieved on 14-05-2021). <http://losmensajesdeclioyotrashistorias.blogspot.com/2017/09/vivia-sabina.html>

Works

Bibliography

- Birley, Anthony (2019). Adriano. Madrid: Gredos.

- Cabello, Diana (2017). “Vibia Sabina”, Blog: Los mensajes de Clío, (retrieved on 14-05-2021). <http://losmensajesdeclioyotrashistorias.blogspot.com/2017/09/vivia-sabina.html>

- Carandini, Andrea (1969). Vibia Sabina. Florencia: Accademia La Colombaria.

- González-Conde, María Pilar (2018). “Sabina”, Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia, (retrieved on 14/05/2021), <http://dbe.rah.es/biografias/17726/sabina>

- Hidalgo de la Vega, Mª José (2000).” Plotina, Sabina y las dos Faustinas: la función de las augustas en la política imperial”, Studia historica. Historia antigua, nº 18, Universidad de Salamanca, pp.191-224, (retrieved on 14/05/2021), <https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=106449>

- Hidalgo de la Vega, Mª José (2012). Las emperatrices romanas. Sueños de púrpura i poder oculto, Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 16-21

Didactic approach

-CUC: Block Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution; Block Classical roots of today's world. Everyday life.

-Latin 4 ESO: Block The present of Latin civilisation.                  

-Latin Baccalaureate: Block Ancient Rome.

-History 1 ESO: Block Societies and territories, referring to Rome.

Documents