|
HOME :
Intaglio Jewelry :
Loose Intaglios : Roman Jasper Seal Depicting Empress Sabina
|
 |
|
|
|
Roman Jasper Seal Depicting Empress Sabina - OS.056
Origin: Europe
Circa: 88
AD
to 136
AD
Dimensions:
1.25" (3.2cm) high
x 1" (2.5cm) wide
Collection: Intaglio Jewelry
Style: Roman Period
Medium: Jasper
Additional Information: F
£9,900.00
Location: Great Britain
|
|
|
| Description |
Sabina (88–136 ce)
Roman empress who was the wife of Hadrian. Name
variations: Vibia Sabina. Born in 88 ce; daughter of
Matidia I (d. 119 ce) and L. Vibius Sabinus; married
Hadrian, Roman emperor (r. 117–138 ce).
Sabina was born in 88 ce, the daughter of L. Vibius
Sabinus and Matidia I , the maternal granddaughter
of G. Salonius Matidius Patruinus and Ulpia Marciana
, and the grandniece of Ulpia's brother M. Ulpius
Traianus (Trajan). When Sabina was ten years old,
Trajan became emperor of Rome. Thus, she was in a
powerful position when she came to be of
marriageable age. Sabina had a younger sister,
Matidia II , named after their mother as Sabina bore
the feminine version of their father's name. Although
Sabina's family was both Roman and aristocratic, it
also had provincial ties, for long before her birth it
had been among the first to settle in Italica, a Roman
colony in Spain.
Sabina's importance was connected with the
successful career of her granduncle Trajan, whose
brilliant military service caused Emperor Domitian to
elevate him to the uppermost echelon of the Roman
political elite before that unpopular emperor was
assassinated in late 96. Although he was somewhat
sullied by his close association with Diocletian,
Trajan's competency and extensive connections led
Domitian's childless successor, Nerva, to adopt him
in 97. As a result, when Nerva died a few months later
(98), the empire fell into Trajan's lap. Thus
unexpectedly elevated to supreme authority, Trajan
had a need to consolidate his rule, and a common
way to do so in ancient Rome was to judiciously
exploit political marriage.
Trajan and his wife Plotina , however, were childless.
As a result, soon after their young grandniece Sabina
reached puberty, she was married (in 100) to P.
Aelius Hadrianus (Hadrian, b. 76 ce), a distant
relative: Hadrian's great-grandfather was the
grandfather of Trajan and Ulpia Marciana. Whatever
else this marriage did, it purposely rejected a close
connection between the family of Trajan (and
Hadrian) and any other within the Senatorial nobility.
As such, Trajan both avoided angering all of the other
Senatorial families who might interpret Sabina's
marriage as a snub and avoided entangling alliances
with another clan which surely would have thought
itself at least the social equal of Trajan's family.
Despite the political rationale behind this union and
Plotina's enthusiasm for the match, Trajan is said to
have had reservations about Hadrian as Sabina's
husband, although the nature of these reservations is
nowhere explained. Trajan's hesitancy over Sabina's
marriage is all the more puzzling because, even
before his elevation to imperial status, Hadrian had
been established as Trajan's military and political
protégé. Perhaps it was not the match itself, but the
youth of Sabina at the time of its consummation
which concerned Trajan. Another possible source of
Trajan's concern might have been his knowledge of
Hadrian's sexual orientation. One thing seems
certain: although the union would not be happy, it is
hardly likely that Trajan could have predicted
Sabina's and Hadrian's personality clash, since
Sabina was little more than a child when she wed.
Hadrian also seems to have been cool to the match,
but accepted it as necessary for his continued
advancement. Regardless of the reservations
involved, when this marriage was celebrated a new
age was dawning, and Sabina became an important
link between the two men who would determine the
shape which that future would take.
As the reign of Trajan unfolded productively, it
became apparent that the woman in Hadrian's life
was not to be Sabina, but Plotina, who was so
enthusiastic a promoter of Hadrian's interests that
some suspected her of being in love with him. If so,
however, hers was more the affection of a mother
than that of a lover. Being without a son of her own,
Plotina lavished her maternal affections upon the
next best thing. Nevertheless, she pampered Hadrian
in a way as to intrude into the relationship between
Hadrian and Sabina. This alone did not undermine
their marriage, for at least two other factors stunted
the development of much emotional and physical
intimacy between Hadrian and Sabina. First, to
whatever degree Hadrian might have been
susceptible to feminine beauty (at least one source
claims that he occasionally seduced the wives of
important associates), he clearly harbored primarily
homosexual inclinations. The most obvious evidence
For this involved Hadrian's favorite, Antinoos, a
handsome youth whom Hadrian kept close by his
side even when traveling. On one such expedition, to
Egypt in 130, Antinoos met a mysterious death by
drowning in the Nile. Hadrian's grief as a result of this
loss was so excessive that he founded a city
(Antinoopolis) at the site, named a star after him, and
dedicated statues to his memory in religious
sanctuaries throughout the empire. Contemporary
tongues wagged about the emperor's devotion.
The second factor which precluded the development
of intimacy between Sabina and Hadrian was Sabina
herself. Undoubtedly pampered as a child,
accustomed to being the center of much attention,
and excited by the prospects of her politically
significant marriage, she was, it is probable, quickly
disillusioned by Hadrian's private aloofness, and her
marginal (if publicly proper) role in his life. As a
result, the sting—not of rejection, but of indifference
—bred anger in Sabina, and then hatred. She was
known to throw tantrums and to be ill-tempered in
Hadrian's presence, and she even made it a source of
some pride to have it known that the reason Hadrian
remained childless was that she refused to have sex
with him.
When Trajan died in 117 in Asia Minor (after having
been engaged in a war of conquest for the complete
control of Mesopotamia), Plotina delayed an
announcement of the death until she had assured
Hadrian's uncontested accession. This was
necessary because, although Hadrian had emerged
as the obvious successor of Trajan by that time, the
emperor had never formally adopted him as his legal
heir. Why Trajan had not done so before 117 is a
matter of conjecture, as is whether he actually lived
long enough to adopt Hadrian. Plotina, who was with
her husband when a stroke (some thought poison
might have been involved) laid him low, claimed that
Trajan had adopted Hadrian on his deathbed.
However, the fact that the publication of this
adoption came in letters which she, not Trajan, wrote
and sent to Rome has allowed many, then as well as
now, to question what really happened after Trajan
fell ill. Regardless, Hadrian replaced Trajan, and
quickly consolidated his hold on the throne. Plotina
helped him do so and stood staunchly at his side until
she herself died around 122, after which Hadrian had
her deified.
Thereafter, it would be only Sabina who graced the
arm of Hadrian on appropriate public occasions, for
although their mutual antipathy held, they remained
married. Undoubtedly they did so because the
Romans expected their emperors to be married. As
well, Sabina was too well placed for Hadrian to
abandon, and she provided cover for his homosexual
affairs. (By and large, the Romans tended to disdain
homosexuals.) Although she loathed Hadrian, Sabina
enjoyed being the empress of Rome, with all of its
perquisites.
Hadrian's was mostly a peaceful reign, and was
characterized by his extensive travels throughout the
empire. Sabina accompanied her husband on these
state visits to the provinces (including that to Egypt
when Antinoos died), so there is ample testimony to
the continuation of her public status throughout the
Roman world. She was styled as the "Augusta" (after
128) and widely recognized as the "new Hera" (after
129), and her portrait even graced many a
contemporary coin. Thus did Hadrian broadcast his
"respect" for his spouse. Those close to the palace,
however, knew a different story: their private
altercations and disdain continued until death did
them part. Although Hadrian maintained his distance
from Sabina as much as possible, he clearly kept a
close eye on her affairs. In 122, while the imperial
couple was visiting Britain, two of Sabina's associates
—Septicius Clarus (a praetorian praefect) and
Seutonius Tranquillus (a director of correspondence
and the famous imperial biographer)—were
dismissed from public service, supposedly because
they were "too informal" in their relationship with
Sabina, but really because they were her friends. In
the wake of these dismissals, Hadrian announced
that he would have divorced Sabina too, if she had
been a "private citizen." Thus did he admit how
important she was to his possession of the throne.
So did Sabina and Hadrian coexist until her death in
136. With their well-established antipathy widely if
not universally known, it comes as no surprise that
some blamed Sabina's death on Hadrian, either
through poisoning or enforced suicide. Since the two
had put up with one another for 36 years, however,
there is no compelling reason to believe that Hadrian
had a hand in Sabina's demise, although he surely
took pleasure in her passing. Regardless, even in
death Hadrian maintained an appropriate piety
toward her memory by both proclaiming her a
goddess and seeing to it that her ashes were placed
in his mausoleum. Indeed, there is even a tinge of
poetic justice in the fact that the fates of the two
would be tied together for all of eternity, since both
Hadrian and Sabina shared honorific inscriptions
originally situated over the doorway of their common
tomb.
- (OS.056)
|
| |
|
