Ulpia (grandmother of Hadrian)
{{Short description|Aunt of Trajan grandmother Hadrian}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ulpia
| native_name_lang = VLPIA M. F.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| nationality =
| citizenship = Roman
| known_for = Relative of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty
| spouse = Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus
| children = Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer
| mother =
| father = Marcus Ulpius
}}
Ulpia (full name possibly Ulpia Plotina, {{Circa|31}} – before 86) was a noble Roman woman from the gens Ulpia settled in Spain during the 1st century CE. She was the paternal aunt of the Roman emperor Trajan and the paternal grandmother of the emperor Hadrian.
Life
Her paternal ancestors moved from Italy and settled in Italica (near modern Seville, Spain) in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica. Her brother was Marcus Ulpius Traianus, who served as a distinguished Roman general and was the first person in her family to enter the Roman Senate. He was the biological father of Trajan, adopted son and heir of the deified emperor Nerva.{{Cite book|last=Drăgan|first=Iosif Constantin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K1weAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ulpia%22+grandmother+of+Hadrian+-wikipedia|title=Dacia's Imperial Millennium|date=1985|publisher=Nagard Publ.|language=en|page=117|quote=Ulpia, his grandmother, was the sister of M. Ulpius Trajanus, Trajan's father, so Hadrian was the emperor's nephew by a cousin of the first degree.}}{{Cite book|last=Trahan|first=Conrad W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O5xpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ulpia%22+grandmother+of+Hadrian+-wikipedia|title=A Trahan History and Genealogy|date=1979|publisher=Trahan|language=en|page=173|quote=Trajan's paternal aunt Ulpia was 6 Hadrian's grandmother and Hadrian came from Adria on the Adige . ?}}
Ulpia married a Roman Senator, Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus, a wealthy and aristocratic Roman in Hispania from the gens Aelia. Ulpia and Marullinus had at least one son, Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, who would become a distinct Roman soldier and politician. He married a noble Roman woman in Spain called Domitia Paulina and the couple had Aelia Domitia Paulina and Publius Aelius Hadrianus or Hadrian, who was adopted by Trajan and became his heir.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DngsAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Ulpia%22+grandmother+of+Hadrian+-wikipedia|title=Atti Del IV Congresso Internazionale Di Papirologia: Firenze, 28 Aprile-2 Maggio 1935, XIII.|date=1976|publisher=Cisalpino-La Goliardica |page=87|quote=An Ulpia, grandmother of Hadrian, might unite both families, but apparently is too farfetched; and a gentile deity Ulpia ( cf.}}{{Cite book|last=Levick|first=Barbara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eVWpAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Ulpia%22+grandmother+of+Hadrian+-wikipedia&pg=PA35|title=Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated|isbn=978-0-19-537941-9|language=en|page=35|quote=Sabina wed Hadrian in about 100. The year 112 brought her the prospect of additional distinction. Her grandmother Ulpia Marciana died at the end of August ...}}{{Cite book|last=Bremen|first=Riet van|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBYpAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Ulpia%22+grandmother+of+Hadrian+-wikipedia|title=The Limits of Participation: Women and Civic Life in the Greek East in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods|date=1996|publisher=J.C. Gieben|isbn=978-90-5063-567-7|language=en|page=316|quote=TI . FLAV . SABINIANUS DIOMEDES MENIPPOS, Son of the City . Mo. ULPIA APPHIAS . Grandmother CLAUDIA LEONTIS ( Appendix 3, no . 28 ) . Time of Hadrian . 3.}}{{Cite book|last=Holden|first=James H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9p1igGF3gpUC&q=%22Ulpia%22+grandmother+of+Hadrian+-wikipedia&pg=PA60|title=A History of Horoscopic Astrology|date=2006|publisher=American Federation of Astr|isbn=978-0-86690-463-6|language=en|page=60|quote=The Emperor Trajan (53-1 17), His paternal aunt Ulpia was the paternal grandmother of ...}}
Identification
A very wealthy woman named Ulpia M. f. Plotina ("M. f." meaning her fathers praenomen was Marcus) that is attested from a triptych dated July 19, 69 AD from Herculaneum has been speculated by several historians to be Trajan's aunt and Hadrian's grandmother. This is mainly due to sharing her rare cognomen with Trajan's wife Pompeia Plotina, which by extension has also led to speculation that Trajan and empress Pompeia Plotina were related.{{Cite book |title=Die Frauen am Hofe Trajans: Ein Beitrag zur Stellung der Augustae im Principat |last=Temporini |first=Hildegard |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2011 |isbn=9783110821567 |pages=14 |language=German}}{{Cite book |title=Great Women of Imperial Rome: Mothers and Wives of the Caesars |last=Burns |first=Jasper |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=9781134131853 |pages=112}} The inscription describes this Ulpia Plotina being owed 15,000 denarii by a businessman named Lucius Cominius Primus. Based on another text Primus was also lending money to a woman named Pompeia Anthis who was in the custody of a man named Gaius Vibius Erytus.{{Cite book |title=Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook |last=Cooley |first=Alison |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=9781134624492 |pages=261 |last2=Cooley |first2=M. G. L.}} As with the Pompeii, the gens Vibia was associated with the imperial family through Trajan, his grandniece being Vibia Sabina, the eventual consort of Hadrian.{{Cite book |title=Daily Life of Women in Ancient Rome |last=Phang |first=Sara Elise |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2022 |isbn=9781440871696 |pages=129}} Historians theorizing this include Päivi Setälä,{{Cite book|last1=Setälä|first1=Päivi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HLmyAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Ulpia%22+grandmother+of+Hadrian+-wikipedia|title=Female Networks and the Public Sphere in Roman Society|last2=Setala|first2=Paivi|last3=Savunen|first3=Liisa|date=1999|publisher=Institutum Romanum Finlandiae|isbn=978-951-96902-9-2|language=en|page=14|quote=We may compare, for instance, Ulpia Plotina (possibly a relative, perhaps the aunt, of Trajan and paternal grandmother of Hadrian, mentioned in ...}} Alison E. Cooley,{{Cite book|last=Cooley|first=Alison E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VlghAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Ulpia%22+grandmother+of+Hadrian+-wikipedia&pg=PA101|title=The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy|date=2012-09-13|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-57660-4|language=en|page = 101 |quote= A water-pipe stamped with Ulpiae Marcianae ('Of Ulpia Marciana') probably from ... (possibly Trajan's aunt and Hadrian's paternal grandmother): Camodeca, ...}} Christian Settipani,{{Cite book |title=Continuité gentilice et continuité familiale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale: mythe et réalité |last=Settipani |first=Christian |publisher=Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, University of Oxford |year=2000 |isbn=9781900934022 |pages=285, 294 |language=It |edition=illustrated |series=Prosopographica et genealogica |volume=2}} Anthony R. Birley,{{Cite book |title=Marcus Aurelius: A Biography |last=Birley |first=Anthony R |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=9781134695690 |edition=reworked |pages= |series=Roman Imperial Biographies}} and Julian Bennett;{{Cite book |title=Trajan: Optimus Princeps |last=Bennett |first=Julian |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=9781134709144 |pages=25}} Ronald Syme did not assume an exact relation to the imperial family but believed her to be a kinswoman of Trajan.{{Cite book |title=Roman Papers |last=Syme |first=Ronald |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1979 |isbn=9780198144908 |pages=706 |volume=7}}
{{Nerva-Antonine family tree}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
{{Refbegin|30em}}
- History of Horoscopic Astrology By James H. Holden
- Rodgers, N., The History and Conquests of Ancient Rome, Hermes House, 2005.
- Syme, Tacitus, 30–44; PIR Vlpivs 575
- {{cite web|url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/trajan.htm|title=Roman Emperors - DIR Trajan|publisher=roman-emperors.org|access-date=2015-11-09}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm|title=Roman Emperors - DIR hadrian|publisher=roman-emperors.org|access-date=2015-11-09}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/wardoc2a.htm|title=Roman Emperors DIR Roman legions|publisher=roman-emperors.org|access-date=2015-11-09}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/goodemp2.htm|title=The Stemmata of the 5 Good Emperors|publisher=roman-emperors.org|access-date=2015-11-09}}
- {{cite web|url=https://www.usask.ca/antiquities/collection/coins/hadrian.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002221406/http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/collection/coins/hadrian.html |archive-date=2012-10-02 |url-status=dead|title=Museum of Antiquities | Original Roman Coins | Hadrian|access-date=2015-11-09}}
- {{cite book|title=Hadrian|author=Perowne, S.|date=1960|publisher=Croom Helm|isbn=9780709940487|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJUOAAAAQAAJ|access-date=2015-11-09}}
{{Refend}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulpia}}
Category:1st-century Roman women
Category:Nerva–Antonine dynasty