Athenais was a Roman noblewoman of Greek Athenian

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 and Italian Roman descent. Athenais lived between the second half of the 2nd century and first half of the 3rd century in the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

.

Athenais was the daughter of the Athenian

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 Aristocrat Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus

Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus (grandson of Herodes Atticus)

Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus was a Roman noble of Greek Athenian and Italian Roman descent who lived in the Roman Empire.Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus was the son born to the Aristocrat Lucius Vibullius Rufus and the noblewoman Athenais . He had an elder paternal half brother called Lucius Vibullius...

 and his unnamed wife. Her paternal half uncle was Lucius Vibullius Claudius Herodes . Her paternal grandparents was the Aristocrat Lucius Vibullius Rufus

Lucius Vibullius Rufus (son-in-law of Herodes Atticus)

Lucius Vibullius Rufus, sometimes known as Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus, was a Greek aristocrat who lived in the 2nd century in the Roman Empire....

 and noblewoman Athenais

Athenais (daughter of Herodes Atticus)

Marcia Annia Claudia Alcia Athenais Gavidia Latiaria , otherwise most commonly known as Athenais was a Roman noblewoman of Greek Athenian and Italian Roman descent who lived in the Roman Empire.-Ancestry and Family:...

 . Athenais was named in honor of her late paternal grandmother. Her paternal grandparents were paternal second cousins . Through her paternal grandmother, Athenais was a great granddaughter of the Sophist

Sophism

Sophism in the modern definition is a specious argument used for deceiving someone. In ancient Greece, sophists were a category of teachers who specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric for the purpose of teaching aretê — excellence, or virtue — predominantly to young statesmen and...

 Herodes Atticus

Herodes Atticus

Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes, otherwise known as Herodes Atticus was a very distinguished, rich Greek aristocrat who served as a Roman Senator and a Sophist. He is notable as a proponent in the Second Sophistic by Philostratus.-Ancestry and Family:Herodes Atticus...

 and Roman aristocratic noblewoman Aspasia Annia Regilla

Aspasia Annia Regilla

Aspasia Annia Regilla, full name Appia Annia Regilla Atilia Caucidia Tertulla , was a wealthy, aristocratic and influential Roman woman, who was a distant relative of several Roman Emperors and Roman Empresses. She was the wife of the prominent Greek Herodes Atticus .-Genealogy:Regilla was born...

  and through her paternal grandfather she was a great granddaughter of Publius Aelius Vibullius Rufus

Publius Aelius Vibullius Rufus

Publius Aelius Vibullius Rufus was a Greek Aristocrat that lived in the 2nd century in the Roman Empire.Aelius Rufus was a Greek of Athenian descent and was a member of a very wealthy family who were prominent in Athens. He was the son of Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus who served as an Archon of...

 who served as an Archon of Athens

Archon of Athens

This is a list of the eponymous archons of Athens.-Background:The archon was the chief magistrate in many Greek cities, but in Athens there was a council of archons which comprised a form of executive government...

 in 143-144 . Herodes Atticus and Publius Aelius Vibullius Rufus were first cousins . Through Aspasia Annia Regilla, Athenais was a relative to the family of the Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger

Faustina the Younger

Annia Galeria Faustina Minor , Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius...

 .

Athenais was born and raised in Athens. She is only known from honorific inscriptions dedicated to her in Greece. There was a statue dedicated to her at Olympia, Greece

Olympia, Greece

Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...

 and the headless statue of her is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia .

Sources

• Σ. Θ. Φωτείνου, Ολυμπία - Οδηγός Αρχαιοτήτων, Συγκρότημα Γραφικών Τεχνών, Άνω Καλαμάκι Αθήνα, 1972
• Graindor, P., Un milliardaire antique, Ayers Company Publishers, 1979
• Pomeroy, S.B., The murder of Regilla: a case of domestic violence in antiquity, Harvard University Press, 2007
• http://www.sleepinbuff.com/13history.pdf
• http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/women_civicdonors.html