Sabina Augusta An Imperial Journey

Sabina, wife of Hadrian (born ca. 85-died ca. 137) 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 and was the most travelled and visible empress to date. Yet the sparse literary sources on Sabina instead put the worst light on the dynamics of her marriage.
Sabina Augusta offers a much-needed examination of the development of her partnership in Hadrian's principate. The author will argue that whatever the much discussed dynamics of their marriage, Hadrian meant for Sabina to play a key role in promoting the public character of his rule. This biographical study will shed new light not just on its subject, but also more widely on the celebrated reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, including the vexed question of that emperor's relationship with his supposed lover Antinous. The book's eight chapters fall into two parts. The first three quarters of the book is concerned with setting out the evidence for Sabina's life, death, and deification. The last quarter assesses the reception of that effort, evaluating Sabina's immediate legacy in the later Roman Empire and in the early modern and modern periods.

T. Corey Brennan is Associate Professor, Department of Classics, at Rutgers University.