Aelia Sabina (fl. 3rd century CE)[1] was a musician who primarily played the hydraulis, an early version of the organ.[2][3] She lived in Roman settlement of Aquincum, located in modern-day Budapest, Hungary.[4][5][2]
Aelia Sabina was the wife of Titus Aelius Justus, a musician employed by the Second Auxiliary Legion of the Roman army.[5][6] When she died at age 25, her husband wrote a lengthy, loving inscription on her tomb (discovered by archaeologists in the 1800s), in which he mourned her loss and praised her character and musical skill.[5][3] This inscription reads:
Enclosed within this stone lies Sabina, dear and faithful wife. Excelling in the arts, she alone surpassed her husband. Her voice was sweet, her fingers plucked the strings. But she fell silent, suddenly snatched away. She lived three decades, five years fewer, alas... She herself lives on. She was a queen among the water organ players. May all who read this be happy. May the gods keep you and with a pious voice may you proclaim Fare thee well, Aelia Sabina. Titus Aelius Justus, water organist and stipendiary of the Second Auxiliary Legion erected this monument to his wife.[5]
^Hodgson, Nick; Bidwell, Paul; Schachtmann, Judith (2017-06-30). Roman Frontier Studies 2009: Proceedings of the XXI International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies (Limes Congress) held at Newcastle upon Tyne in August 2009. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78491-591-9.
^ abCosgrove, Charles H. (2022-12-01). Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustine. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-20484-2.
^ abCousins, Eleri H. (2022-03-24). Dynamic Epigraphy: New Approaches to Inscriptions. Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-78925-791-5.
^Walford, Edward; Cox, John Charles; Apperson, George Latimer (1883). The Antiquary. E. Stock.
^ abcdSebestyen, Victor (2023-09-05). Budapest: Portrait of a City Between East and West. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-593-31757-0.
^Ph.D, Barry Ferst (2018-09-13). Stone Sarcophagi of the Roman Empire. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-9845-4497-1.
AeliaSabina (fl. 3rd century CE) was a musician who primarily played the hydraulis, an early version of the organ. She lived in Roman settlement of Aquincum...
Poppaea Sabina (30 AD – 65 AD), also known as Ollia, was a Roman empress as the second wife of the emperor Nero. She had also been wife to the future emperor...
Aelia Eudoxia (/ˈiːliə juˈdɒkʃə -ˈdɒksiə/; Greek: Αἰλία Εὐδοξία; died 6 October 404) was a Roman empress consort by marriage to the Roman emperor Arcadius...
been discovered around the city, many of which can be seen to this day. AeliaSabina Cassius Dio, Historia Romana 55.24 Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857)....
Aelia Eudocia Augusta (/ˈiːliə juːˈdoʊʃə ɔːˈɡʌstə/; Greek: Αιλία Ευδοκία Αυγούστα; c. 401 – 460 AD), also called Saint Eudocia, was an Eastern Roman empress...
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Aelia Pulcheria (/ˈiːliə pʌlˈkɪriə/; Greek: Πουλχερία; 19 January 398 or 399 – July 453) was an Eastern Roman empress who advised her brother emperor...
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of Aelia Flaccilla, the first wife of Theodosius I, in 385. Coins issued in Placidia's honour in Constantinople after 425 give her name as AELIA PLACIDIA;...
Aelia Verina (Greek: Βερίνα; died 484) was the Empress consort of Leo I of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a sister of Basiliscus. Her daughter Ariadne...
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Servianus and Aelia Domitia Paulina. Her maternal uncle was Roman Emperor Hadrian and maternal aunt-in-marriage was Roman Empress Vibia Sabina. She was born...
was Claudia Antonia, Claudius's daughter through his second marriage to Aelia Paetina. She also had a half-brother, Claudius Drusus, through Claudius's...
Antonia, Claudius' daughter and only child from his second marriage to Aelia Paetina; and to the young Claudia Octavia and Britannicus, Claudius' children...
Seville in Spain, an Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, the Aeli Hadriani, came from the town of Hadria in eastern Italy....
Aelia Zenonis (Greek: Ζηνονίς, 476/477) was Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Basiliscus. Her ancestry is unknown. On 17 November 474, Leo II died...
became Nero's mistress. After the death of the emperor's second wife Poppaea Sabina, Vestinus was forced to commit suicide in 66, so Nero could marry Statilia...
(162–169), died in childhood; Hadrianus, died in infancy; Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170 – died before 217), married Lucius Antistius Burrus, no issue. Levick...
desired for herself, and because he was the lover of her hated rival Poppaea Sabina the Elder, with whom she was engaged in a fierce rivalry over the affections...
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