Sabina, wife of Hadrian
Aureus 128-136, AV 7.17 g. SABINA AVGVSTA – HADRIANI AVG P P Draped bust r. with hair waved, rising into crest above diadem. Rev. Vesta seated l., holding palladium in r. hand and sceptre in l. C 84 var. (not draped). BMC Hadrian 922. RIC Hadrian II, 413a = RIC Hadrian II.3, 2480. Calicó 1420. Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A magnificent portrait of exquisite style, the work of a very talented master engraver, struck in high relief. Good extremely fine Ex NAC sale 106, 2018, 947. While Sabina's mother, Matidia, may have been quite fond of Hadrian, the same cannot be said of his wife Sabina. Their marriage in 100 essentially guaranteed Hadrian as successor to Trajan, but it did not bring with its domestic bliss. Hadrian was a flagrant adulterer, both with married women and handsome youths such as his favourite companion, the Bithynian youth Antinoüs. Hadrian, however, would not tolerate such behaviour from his wife; in 121 or 122 he dismissed his praetorian prefect Septicius Clarus and the historian Suetonius, both court officials with whom Sabina had developed close relationships. After an unpleasant thirty-six-year marriage, Sabina died in 136 or 137. It was widely rumoured that her husband, knowing that his death was not far off, either had her poisoned or forced her to commit suicide.