S A B I N A AU G U S TA ii WOMEN IN ANTIQUITY Series Editors: Ronnie Ancona and Sarah B. Pomeroy This book series provides compact and accessible introductions to the life and historical times of women from the ancient world. Approaching ancient his- tory and culture broadly, the series selects figures from the earliest of times to late antiquity. Cleopatra A Biography Duane W. Roller Clodia Metelli The Tribune’s Sister Marilyn B. Skinner Galla Placidia The Last Roman Empress Hagith Sivan Arsinoë of Egypt and Macedon A Royal Life Elizabeth Donnelly Carney Berenice II and the Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt Dee L. Clayman Faustina I and II Imperial Women of the Golden Age Barbara M. Levick Turia A Roman Woman’s Civil War Josiah Osgood Monica An Ordinary Saint Gillian Clark Theodora Actress, Empress, Saint David Potter Hypatia The Life and Legend of an Ancient Philosopher Edward J. Watts Boudica Woman Warrior of Roman Britain Caitlin C. Gillespie Sabina Augusta An Imperial Journey T. Corey Brennan S A B I N A A U G U S T A A N I M P E R I A L J O U R N E Y T. Corey Brennan 1 iv 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress ISBN 978– 0– 19– 025099– 7 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America Contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations and Note on Translations xi Introduction xv 1 “Empress” at Rome 1 2 Trajan and the Imperial House 17 3 Sabina’s Personal History 25 4 Hadrian’s Personality 35 5 Hadrian’s Relationships 47 6 Sabina ‘Augusta’ 67 7 The Journey to Egypt 95 8 Egypt and the Journey Home 125 9 Final Years in Rome 147 10 Sabina’s Death and Deification 175 Epilogue 199 Appendix 1. Sabina on the Coins of Rome 219 Appendix 2. Sculptural Portraits of Sabina 225 Notes 239 Bibliography 269 Index 287 vi List of Illustrations 1. Hadrian’s family connections. 19 2. Rome in 117 ce. 20 3. Rome mint: aureus of Matidia I (112 ce) = RIC II (Trajan) 759. Obverse legend: MATIDIA AVG DIVAE MARCIANAE F Reverse: PIETAS AVGVST. 23 4. City gate of Perge (Pamphylia), as restored by Plancia Magna (121 ce). 71 5. Plan of southern portion of Perge (Pamphylia), showing enhancements by Plancia Magna. 72 6. Athens: monument of C. Iulius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus (cos. suff. 109), brother of poet Julia Balbilla (ca. 115 ce). 80 7. The Roman Empire, showing Hadrian’s journeys (117– 133 ce). 97 8a and 8b. The Greek east in the time of Hadrian. 100 9. Alexandria mint: tetradrachm (billon) of Hadrian and Sabina (dated on reverse regnal year 13 of Hadrian = 128/ 129 ce) = RPC III 5729. 108 10. Alexandria mint: tetradrachm (billon) of Sabina (dated on reverse regnal year 15 of Hadrian = 130/ 131 ce) = RPC III 5773. 108 11. Rome, Pincio hill: obelisk honoring the deceased Antinoös, from the reign of Hadrian. 114 12. Alexandria mint: diobol (bronze) of Antinoös (dated on reverse regnal year 19 of Hadrian = 134/ 135 ce) = RPC ΙΙΙ 6082. Obverse legend: “Of Antino[ös H]ero.” 118 13. Bust of Antinoös: composite plaster cast (Art Institute of Chicago, obj. 228220), created by Studio MCM srl, reuniting long- separated Antinoös pieces of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, inv. 1924.979) and Rome (Museo Nazionale Romano Palazzo Altemps, inv. no. 8620). 121 14. Thebes (Egypt), Necropolis: the Colossi of Memnon. 126 15. Rome mint: aureus of Sabina = RIC II (Hadrian) 398 (ca. 130/ 131– 135 ce). Obverse legend: SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P Reverse: CONCORDIA AVG. 153 16. Rome (Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo, inv. 629, found near Vittorio Emanuele II monument), portrait bust of Sabina (?ca. 134– 137 ce). 171 viii 17. Arco di Portogallo. From Filippo de’ Rossi, Descrizione di Roma Antica. Rome, Rossi: 1697, p. 293. 176 18. Rome (Palazzo dei Conservatori, Musei Capitolini, inv. MC1213): The Apotheosis of Sabina. Panel from the Arco di Portogallo (138 ce). 177 19. Amsterdam (Stedelijk Museum, inv. s 137 B/ 1996): Lawrence Alma- Tadema, Hadrian Visiting a Romano- British Pottery (section of larger work, Hadrian in England, 1884). Oil on canvas, 159 × 171 cm. 203 viii List of Illustrations Acknowledgments The genesis of my project goes back almost two decades, though hardly of continuous work. In the spring of 1998 I had the good fortune to hold a Membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where I had started work on literary culture under the Roman emperor Hadrian (reigned 117– 138 ce). I fully intended to continue research into the Hadrianic era, but I found myself pulled in many other different directions, including work on a prosopographical study of elite women of the Roman Republic (still in progress). Indeed, it was not until my time on the administrative staff at the American Academy in Rome (2009– 2012) that I found myself able to re- engage with the second century ce. I am grateful for the opportunity to present some of my prelimi- nary findings in recent years before erudite and probing audiences at the American Academy in Rome (2011); the Istituto Italiano per la Storia Antica (Rome) and the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies at Oxford University (2012); the Department of Classics at New  York University (2014); and the Department of Languages, Literature and Cultures at Seton Hall University (2015). The Department of Classics of Princeton University generously has allowed me to use their outstanding study collection in Firestone Library. I also express my thanks to Rutgers University, its School of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Classics for supporting a year of academic leave in 2014/ 2015 for me to focus on this study. I thank especially the following scholars for specific help and guid- ance in connection with this project over the (many) years, without wishing to implicate them in any of the errors in fact and interpre- tation this book may contain: R. Abdy (British Museum); E. Badian†