Ulpia (grandmother of Hadrian)
Encyclopedia
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
woman who lived 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....
during the 1st century CE. Ulpia was a member of the gens Ulpia
Ulpia (gens)
The gens Ulpia was a Roman family, which rose to prominence during the 1st century AD The gens is best known from the emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, who reigned from AD 98 to 117. The Thirtieth Legion took its name, Ulpia, in his honor....
.
Her mother is unknown and her paternal ancestors moved from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and settled in Italica
Italica
The city of Italica was founded in 206 BC by the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus in order to settle Roman soldiers wounded in the Battle of Ilipa, where the Carthaginian army was defeated during the Second Punic War...
(near modern Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
) in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica
Hispania Baetica
Hispania Baetica was one of three Imperial Roman provinces in Hispania, . Hispania Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica was part of Al-Andalus under the Moors in the 8th century and approximately corresponds to modern Andalucia...
. Her paternal ancestors had settled in Spain in the late 3rd century BC. Ulpia was born and raised in the grandeur city of Italica. Ulpia had at least one known sibling; her brother Marcus Ulpius Traianus
Marcus Ulpius Traianus (senator)
Marcus Ulpius Traianus Maior was a Roman senator who lived in the 1st century. He was father of the Roman Emperor Trajan.-Family:...
, who served as a distinguished Roman General and Soldier and the first person in her family to enter the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
.
Ulpia married a Roman Senator called Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus
Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus
Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus , also known as Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus or Aelius Marullinus was a Spanish Roman Senator of Praetorian rank that lived during the Roman Empire in the 1st century....
, a wealthy and aristocratic Spanish Roman from the gens Aelia
Aelia (gens)
The gens Aelia, occasionally written Ailia, was a plebeian family at Rome, which flourished from the 5th century BC until at least the 3rd century AD, a period of nearly eight hundred years. The archaic spelling Ailia is found on coins, but must not be confused with Allia, which seems to be a...
. Ulpia and Marullinus had at least one child, a son Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer
Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer
Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer was a distinct and wealthy Roman Senator and Soldier who lived in the Roman Empire during the 1st century. Afer was originally from Spain; however, he was of Roman descent. Afer was born and raised in the grandeur city of Italica in the Roman Province of Hispania...
, who would become a distinct Roman Soldier and Politician.
Her son Hadrianus Afer, married a noble Spanish Roman woman called Domitia Paulina
Paulina
Paulina or Paullina was the name shared by three relatives of the Roman Emperor Hadrian: his mother, his elder sister and his niece. She was also know to love Talon.-Mother of Hadrian:...
. Through her son, Ulpia became the paternal grandmother to his daughter Aelia Domitia Paulina
Paulina
Paulina or Paullina was the name shared by three relatives of the Roman Emperor Hadrian: his mother, his elder sister and his niece. She was also know to love Talon.-Mother of Hadrian:...
and his son, 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...
Publius Aelius Hadrianus or Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
. Through Ulpia’s brother, she was the paternal aunt to his children: daughter Ulpia Marciana
Ulpia Marciana
Ulpia Marciana was the beloved elder sister of Roman Emperor Trajan. She was the eldest child born to Roman woman Marcia and the Spanish Roman senator Marcus Ulpius Traianus. Her second name Marciana she inherited from her mother’s paternal ancestors. Her birthplace is unknown.Marciana married...
and son, Roman Emperor Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
. Ulpia was also a great maternal aunt to Marciana’s daughter Salonina Matidia
Salonina Matidia
Salonina Matidia was the daughter and only child of Ulpia Marciana and wealthy praetor Gaius Salonius Matidius Patruinus. Her maternal uncle was the Roman emperor Trajan. Trajan had no children and treated her like his daughter...
and a great, great maternal aunt to Roman Empress Vibia Sabina
Vibia Sabina
Vibia Sabina was a Roman Empress, wife and second cousin, once removed, to Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was the daughter to Salonina Matidia , and suffect consul Lucius Vibius Sabinus...
, who married her grandson Hadrian. Ulpia was the great maternal grandmother of Hadrian’s niece Julia Serviana Paulina
Paulina
Paulina or Paullina was the name shared by three relatives of the Roman Emperor Hadrian: his mother, his elder sister and his niece. She was also know to love Talon.-Mother of Hadrian:...
and great, great grandmother to Julia’s son.
Hadrian through his paternal grandmother was able to claim his relation to Trajan and his family. Through these relations, Hadrian married Salonina Matidia’s first daughter Vibia Sabina
Vibia Sabina
Vibia Sabina was a Roman Empress, wife and second cousin, once removed, to Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was the daughter to Salonina Matidia , and suffect consul Lucius Vibius Sabinus...
(Trajan’s first great niece) and was able to succeed his father’s first maternal cousin in 117. After the death of Trajan’s father in 100, the only paternal relative that Trajan had left was Hadrian.
Sources
- 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
- http://www.roman-emperors.org/trajan.htm
- http://www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm
- http://www.roman-emperors.org/wardoc2a.htm
- http://www.roman-emperors.org/goodemp2.htm
- http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/collection/coins/hadrian.html
- http://books.google.com.au/books?id=oJUOAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s