Sabina Augusta: An imperial journey

Abstract

This work aims to synthesize the textual and (massive) material evidence on the empress Sabina (born ca. 85-died ca. 137). The book traces the development of Sabina's partnership with her husband, the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117-138), and shows the vital importance of the empress for Hadrian's own aspirations. 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. Hadrian also deified his wife upon her death. It is argued that Hadrian meant for Sabina to play a key role in promoting the public character of his rule, and that the emperor's exaltation of his wife served to enhance his own claims to divinity. Yet the (sparse) literary sources on Sabina put the worst light on the dynamics of her marriage. There is a strong ancient tradition that Hadrian treated his wife little better than a slave, and forced her to suicide. The book fully explores the various (overwhelmingly negative) notions this empress's life stirred up in historiography, and against the material record proposes a new and nuanced understanding of her formal role. This study of Sabina's life sheds new light also more widely on Hadrian-including the vexed question of that emperor's relationship with his supposed lover Antinoös-and indeed on Rome's imperial women as a group.