![STATUE DEDICATION TO THE DEIFIED VIBIA SABINA, 137 CE. FORUM OF JULIUS CÆSAR
This badly damaged marble base has been pieced together from fragments and was probably smashed for burning in the lime kilns. The dark wet holes on the top were where Sabina's statue was attached. The inscription, reconstructed, says " DIVAE SABINAE A[VG(ustae)] SABRATHE[NSES] EX AFR[ICA]", "To the divine empress Sabina. The people of Sabratha (dedicate this) from Africa". Why would the Sabrathans do this? This is one of only two inscriptions in Rome that mention the deified Sabina, who was given this honour after her death in 136/137 and before Hadrian's death in 138. At dome point in the C2, Sabratha was given colonial status and perhaps this statue marked the occasion. Vibia Sabina had no temple anywhere in the empire, and her one altar, possibly in the area of the temples to her mother Matidia and her husband in the Campus Martius, has long disappeared.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:y2ps7or6drwz3yuvelv6glai/bafkreifjjwropp4hkf6l7gerlwu4a7y6in4pacydbtloxkrecndfyk2ihu)
STATUE DEDICATION TO THE DEIFIED VIBIA SABINA, 137 CE. FORUM OF JULIUS CÆSAR This badly damaged marble base has been pieced together from fragments and was probably smashed for burning in the lime kilns. The dark wet holes on the top were where Sabina's statue was attached. The inscription, reconstructed, says " DIVAE SABINAE A[VG(ustae)] SABRATHE[NSES] EX AFR[ICA]", "To the divine empress Sabina. The people of Sabratha (dedicate this) from Africa". Why would the Sabrathans do this? This is one of only two inscriptions in Rome that mention the deified Sabina, who was given this honour after her death in 136/137 and before Hadrian's death in 138. At dome point in the C2, Sabratha was given colonial status and perhaps this statue marked the occasion. Vibia Sabina had no temple anywhere in the empire, and her one altar, possibly in the area of the temples to her mother Matidia and her husband in the Campus Martius, has long disappeared.
For #EpigraphyTuesday we're in the #Forum of #Julius #Caesar to find a somewhat enigmatic #inscription from the late reign of #Hadrian, a statue dedication to the emperor's deified wife #Sabina by the citizens of #Sabratha, a town in North #Africa. #AncientBluesky 🏺
