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Women in Antiquity
Sabina Augusta: An Imperial Journey
Sabina Augusta (ca. 85-ca. 137), wife of the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117-38), 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 travelled and visible empress to date. Hadrian also deified his wife upon her death.
In synthesizing the textual and massive material evidence for the empress, T. Corey Brennan traces the development of Sabina's partnership with her husband and shows the vital importance of the empress for Hadrian's own aspirations. Furthermore, the book argues that Hadrian meant for Sabina to play a key role in promoting the public character of his rule, and details how the emperor's exaltation of his wife served to enhance his own claims to divinity. Yet the sparse literary sources on Sabina instead put the worst light on the dynamics of her marriage.
Brennan fully explores the various, and overwhelmingly negative, notions this empress stirred up in historiography, from antiquity through the modern era; and against the material record proposes a new and nuanced understanding of her formal role. This biographical study sheds new light not just on its subject but also more widely on Hadrian-including the vexed question of that emperor's relationship with his apparent lover Antinoos-and indeed Rome's imperial women as a group.
In synthesizing the textual and massive material evidence for the empress, T. Corey Brennan traces the development of Sabina's partnership with her husband and shows the vital importance of the empress for Hadrian's own aspirations. Furthermore, the book argues that Hadrian meant for Sabina to play a key role in promoting the public character of his rule, and details how the emperor's exaltation of his wife served to enhance his own claims to divinity. Yet the sparse literary sources on Sabina instead put the worst light on the dynamics of her marriage.
Brennan fully explores the various, and overwhelmingly negative, notions this empress stirred up in historiography, from antiquity through the modern era; and against the material record proposes a new and nuanced understanding of her formal role. This biographical study sheds new light not just on its subject but also more widely on Hadrian-including the vexed question of that emperor's relationship with his apparent lover Antinoos-and indeed Rome's imperial women as a group.
328 pages, Hardcover
Published April 11, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 23, 2021
Brennan's work allows Sabina to step out of Hadrian's shadow and offers us a glimpse of her life in the most objective light yet.
The first time I saw a statue of the empress Vibia Sabina I thought to myself, 'wow for a classical statue she is pretty stunning, glamorous even'. For all the standardization of forms to be found on classical statues, there nevertheless shone through a distinct and identifiable individual. An individual who was at one time the most prominent, if not most powerful woman in history. Sabina Augusta, niece of an emperor and the wife of another, and yet virtually unknown to modern students of the Roman Empire. 'How great it would be to read about her!' I thought, and yet her wiki page had little more to offer than the primary sources themselves; practically nothing. Then along came T. Corey Brennan, whose work 'Sabina Augusta', answered my prayers, at least as best they could.
Brennan admits from the beginning that this is no true biography of Sabina, such an undertaking being impossible due to a lack of primary sources, rather it is an attempt to analyze the Empress as best as possible, particularly her status and role within Hadrian's Court, the central question of the work.
Brennan begins by examining the status of Sabina's family, particularly that of her grandmother Marciana, the sister of Trajan (r.AD98-117), and her mother Matidia, both of whom, alongside Trajan's wife, Plontina, were awarded the title of Augusta between AD.100- 112. This enhanced the status of Tajan's family and that of Sabina herself as a descendent of these Augustae. Unlike Trajan, Hadrian offered very little deference to Sabina by way of display or commemoration, yet invested great time in commemorating his adopted mother Plontina. She also had to wait much longer than Plontina before receiving the title of Augusta, much longer than was typical for the time and this also makes us question the importance of Sabina to Hadrian's court but also the relationship between the two which is universally accepted as having been cold to say the least.
Brennan further examines this relationship based on Hadrian's trip to the east, particularly the final trip to Egypt, where there is evidence of Sabina's presence. Included in this is a discussion of the famous Antinoos, his relationship with Hadrian and and its purpose which Brennan presents as a philosophical-religious relationship relating to Hadrian's interest in Hellenism and immortality. Here too he examines Sabina's position in relation to Antinoos within the imperial hierarchy and society as his cult became extremally popular after his death. In many ways this is the most interesting part of the book.
The final portion of the work focuses on Sabina's final years in Rome, her civic euergetism and possible forced suicide by Hadrian for either philosophical or political reasons and Hadrian's commemoration of her for his own benefit, but which was quickly overshadowed in only couple of months. The work concludes with a brief overview of Sabina's memory to the present day which has overall deviated little from the scandalous, cuckolded wife of the tyrannical Hadrian, though in the mean time she has also become a gambler and drunkard, who has remained mostly hidden and forgotten.
To present his argument Brennan utilizes every available detail, from the total paragraph that the combined primary sources have to offer on the Empress, inscriptions, statues, and an extensive collection of coins from various cities, mostly in the east. Though central to the discussion of the projection of Sabina to the populace, the wider analysis of the coin types may seem dry and tedious to the general reader, as the pacing slows down whilst dragging out an answer to point already made. |But these sub-chapters can also be skipped as their discussions tend to overlap. Further, the work would have benefitted from more visuals regarding the statue types, which are also discussed but which receive few visual examples in book.
Though not a true biography Brennan has still done an excellent job with the material available, and one still comes away with some feeling as to the perspective of Sabina, her world and her place in it. Though Sabina cannot speak for herself, and has left nothing for us, Brennan's work allows Sabina to step out of Hadrian's shadow and offers us a glimpse of her life in the most objective light yet. It may be too specialized for some, and lacking in the intrigue, swords and daggers of a Livia or Agrippina, but for those interested in 2nd Century Rome, and even more in the hidden lives of imperial women, the story of this Augusta is worth a read.
The first time I saw a statue of the empress Vibia Sabina I thought to myself, 'wow for a classical statue she is pretty stunning, glamorous even'. For all the standardization of forms to be found on classical statues, there nevertheless shone through a distinct and identifiable individual. An individual who was at one time the most prominent, if not most powerful woman in history. Sabina Augusta, niece of an emperor and the wife of another, and yet virtually unknown to modern students of the Roman Empire. 'How great it would be to read about her!' I thought, and yet her wiki page had little more to offer than the primary sources themselves; practically nothing. Then along came T. Corey Brennan, whose work 'Sabina Augusta', answered my prayers, at least as best they could.
Brennan admits from the beginning that this is no true biography of Sabina, such an undertaking being impossible due to a lack of primary sources, rather it is an attempt to analyze the Empress as best as possible, particularly her status and role within Hadrian's Court, the central question of the work.
Brennan begins by examining the status of Sabina's family, particularly that of her grandmother Marciana, the sister of Trajan (r.AD98-117), and her mother Matidia, both of whom, alongside Trajan's wife, Plontina, were awarded the title of Augusta between AD.100- 112. This enhanced the status of Tajan's family and that of Sabina herself as a descendent of these Augustae. Unlike Trajan, Hadrian offered very little deference to Sabina by way of display or commemoration, yet invested great time in commemorating his adopted mother Plontina. She also had to wait much longer than Plontina before receiving the title of Augusta, much longer than was typical for the time and this also makes us question the importance of Sabina to Hadrian's court but also the relationship between the two which is universally accepted as having been cold to say the least.
Brennan further examines this relationship based on Hadrian's trip to the east, particularly the final trip to Egypt, where there is evidence of Sabina's presence. Included in this is a discussion of the famous Antinoos, his relationship with Hadrian and and its purpose which Brennan presents as a philosophical-religious relationship relating to Hadrian's interest in Hellenism and immortality. Here too he examines Sabina's position in relation to Antinoos within the imperial hierarchy and society as his cult became extremally popular after his death. In many ways this is the most interesting part of the book.
The final portion of the work focuses on Sabina's final years in Rome, her civic euergetism and possible forced suicide by Hadrian for either philosophical or political reasons and Hadrian's commemoration of her for his own benefit, but which was quickly overshadowed in only couple of months. The work concludes with a brief overview of Sabina's memory to the present day which has overall deviated little from the scandalous, cuckolded wife of the tyrannical Hadrian, though in the mean time she has also become a gambler and drunkard, who has remained mostly hidden and forgotten.
To present his argument Brennan utilizes every available detail, from the total paragraph that the combined primary sources have to offer on the Empress, inscriptions, statues, and an extensive collection of coins from various cities, mostly in the east. Though central to the discussion of the projection of Sabina to the populace, the wider analysis of the coin types may seem dry and tedious to the general reader, as the pacing slows down whilst dragging out an answer to point already made. |But these sub-chapters can also be skipped as their discussions tend to overlap. Further, the work would have benefitted from more visuals regarding the statue types, which are also discussed but which receive few visual examples in book.
Though not a true biography Brennan has still done an excellent job with the material available, and one still comes away with some feeling as to the perspective of Sabina, her world and her place in it. Though Sabina cannot speak for herself, and has left nothing for us, Brennan's work allows Sabina to step out of Hadrian's shadow and offers us a glimpse of her life in the most objective light yet. It may be too specialized for some, and lacking in the intrigue, swords and daggers of a Livia or Agrippina, but for those interested in 2nd Century Rome, and even more in the hidden lives of imperial women, the story of this Augusta is worth a read.
April 8, 2026
This was a pretty good book for the subject it covered, I just think that it is in its nature to be a bit dry. My favorite part was the incredible historical scholarship demonstrated, as well as the analysis of ancient and modern sources. Amazing detective work. The author makes a whole lot out of incredibly minimal references to Sabina. It is made clear early on that this text would not be a biography due to lack of adequate sources but I was still sad in that realisation. I did learn a whole lot about Hadrian and the lineage of Imperial Roman royal families, which was actually super interesting. It was incredibly informative as it depicted the patterns of leadership and issues of succession. I did get bogged down when a Ton of coin depictions were discussed. I understand their significance and material evidence but oof, I was hoping for more art and sculptural examples. Overall super nice read! The appendices and notes are fun to delve into too
October 24, 2020
An interesting and very readable book with a fascinating premise - what if Vibia Sabina wasn't just the unhappy wife, but a prominent and politicaly important person within the Roman imperial system? - carefully and convincingly argued.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews