Lucius Vibius Sabinus

1st century Roman Senator

Lucius Vibius Sabinus was a Roman Senator who lived in the 1st century. His daughter Vibia Sabina married the emperor Hadrian.

Biography

Little is known about his family, but Sabinus came from a family of consular rank. He may have been related to Lucius Junius Quintus Vibius Crispus, three times consul, and his brother Quintus Vibius Secundus, consul in 86.

Sabinus became the second husband of Trajan's niece Salonia Matidia; he and Matidia had a daughter, Vibia Sabina (August 13th 83-136/137). Sabinus may have died soon after his daughter's birth, for in his funeral speech for Matidia, the emperor Hadrian alludes to her long widowhood.[1] Vibia Sabina married her distant maternal cousin and Trajan's heir, the future emperor Hadrian sometime before the year 101.[2]

Ronald Syme has argued that a pair of fragmentary inscriptions from Asisium refer to Sabinus;[3] If correct, this would mean he was a member of the septemviri epulonum, one of the four most prestigious ancient Roman priesthoods.[4] Syme has also argued that, based on a reading preserved in later copies of the Fasti Consulares indicating that Sabinus and Arrius Antoninus were consular colleagues, which means he was suffect consul in the year 97—a reading Theodor Mommsen had judged as unreliable. Anthony Birley accepted Syme's argument.[1] In his own study on the suffect consuls of the year 97, Fausto Zevi rejected Syme's argument on several grounds, and argued that "Sabinus" in the later fasti was a corruption for "Piso"—Calpurnius Piso, the name which this portion of the Fasti Ostienses supports. Zevi also dismisses the identification of Sabinus with the inscriptions from Asisium as based on insufficient information.[5]

Based on an inscription that preserves Hadrian's funeral oration on his dead wife Matidia,[6] Sabinus had died no later than the year 98.[4]

Nerva–Antonine family tree

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Nerva–Antonine family tree
Q. Marcius Barea SoranusQ. Marcius Barea SuraAntonia FurnillaM. Cocceius NervaSergia PlautillaP. Aelius Hadrianus
Titus
(r. 79–81)		Marcia FurnillaMarciaTrajanus PaterNerva
(r. 96–98)		Ulpia[i]Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus
Flavia[ii]Marciana[iii]C. Salonius Matidius[iv]Trajan
(r. 98–117)		PlotinaP. Acilius AttianusP. Aelius Afer[v]Paulina Major[vi]
Lucius Mindius (2)Libo Rupilius Frugi (3)Salonia Matidia[vii]L. Vibius Sabinus (1)[viii]
Paulina Minor[vi]L. Julius Ursus Servianus[ix]
Matidia Minor[vii]Sabina[iii]Hadrian[v][x][vi] (r. 117–138)Antinous[xi]
C. Fuscus Salinator IJulia Serviana Paulina
M. Annius Verus[xii]Rupilia Faustina[xiii][xiv]Boionia ProcillaCn. Arrius Antoninus
L. Ceionius CommodusAppia SeveraC. Fuscus Salinator II
L. Caesennius PaetusArria AntoninaArria Fadilla[xv]T. Aurelius Fulvus
L. Caesennius AntoninusL. CommodusPlautiaunknown[xvi]C. Avidius Nigrinus
M. Annius Verus[xiii]Calvisia Domitia Lucilla[xvii]Fundania[xviii]M. Annius Libo[xiii]Faustina[xv]Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)[xv]		L. Aelius Caesar[xvi]Avidia[xvi]
Cornificia[xiii]Marcus Aurelius
(r. 161–180)[xix]		Faustina Minor[xix]C. Avidius Cassius[xx]Aurelia Fadilla[xv]Lucius Verus
(r. 161–169)[xvi] (1)		Ceionia Fabia[xvi]Plautius Quintillus[xxi]Q. Servilius PudensCeionia Plautia[xvi]
Cornificia Minor[xxii]M. Petronius SuraCommodus
(r. 177–192)[xix]		Fadilla[xxii]M. Annius Verus Caesar[xix]Ti. Claudius Pompeianus (2)Lucilla[xix]M. Plautius Quintillus[xvi]Junius Licinius BalbusServilia Ceionia
Petronius AntoninusL. Aurelius Agaclytus (2)Aurelia Sabina[xxii]L. Antistius Burrus (1)Plautius QuintillusPlautia ServillaC. Furius Sabinus TimesitheusAntonia GordianaJunius Licinius Balbus?
Furia Sabina TranquillinaGordian III
(r. 238–244)
  • (1) = 1st spouse
  • (2) = 2nd spouse
  • (3) = 3rd spouse
  •   Reddish-purple indicates emperor of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty
      lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned
      grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants
      bluish-purple indicates emperors of other dynasties
  • dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
  • Small Caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)
Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

  1. ^ Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
  2. ^ Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
  3. ^ a b Levick (2014), p. 161.
  4. ^ Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
  5. ^ a b Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
  6. ^ a b c DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
  7. ^ a b Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
  8. ^ Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
  9. ^ Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
  10. ^ Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
  11. ^ Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2–5, etc.
  12. ^ Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
  13. ^ a b c d Levick (2014), p. 163.
  14. ^ It is uncertain whether Rupilia Faustina was Frugi's daughter by Salonia Matidia or another woman.
  15. ^ a b c d Levick (2014), p. 162.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Levick (2014), p. 164.
  17. ^ Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
  18. ^ Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
  19. ^ a b c d e Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
  20. ^ The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed in HA "Marcus Aurelius" 24.
  21. ^ Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
  22. ^ a b c Levick (2014), p. 117.
References:
  • DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 2015-04-14.
  • Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2.
  • Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
  • Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
  • Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

References

  1. ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius: a biography, Second Edition (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 241 ISBN 0-415-17125-3, ISBN 978-0-415-17125-0
  2. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 242
  3. ^ CIL XI, 5383, CIL XI, 8020
  4. ^ a b Syme, Tacitus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958), p. 795
  5. ^ Zevi, "I consoli del 97 d. Cr. in due framenti gia' editi dei Fasti Ostienses", Listy filologické / Folia philologica, 96 (1973), p. 134 and note 47
  6. ^ CIL XIV, 3579

Further reading

  • Julian Bennett, Trajan: Optimus Princeps : a Life and Times (London: Routledge, 1997) ISBN 0-415-16524-5, ISBN 978-0-415-16524-2

External links

  • R. Scott Moore, "The Stemmata [sic] of the Good Emperors"