Ulpia (grandmother of Hadrian)

Ulpia (full name possibly Ulpia Plotina, about 31 - before 86) was a noble Spanish Roman woman from the gens Ulpia during the 1st century CE. She was the paternal aunt of the Roman emperor Trajan and the paternal grandmother of the emperor Hadrian.

Ulpia
Citizenship	Roman
Known for	Relative of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty
Spouse	Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus
Children	Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer
Parent	Marcus Ulpius (father)

Life

Roman aureus struck under Trajan, c. 115. The reverse commemorates both Trajan's natural father and Ulpia's brother, Marcus Ulpius Traianus (right), and his adoptive father, the deified Nerva (left).

Her paternal ancestors moved from Italy and settled in Italica (near modern Seville, Spain) in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica in the late 3rd century BC. 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.[1][2]

Ulpia married a Roman Senator, Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus, a wealthy and aristocratic Hispanic Roman 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 Spanish Roman woman 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.[3][4][5][6]

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.[7][8] 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.[9] 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.[10] Historian's theorizing this include Päivi Setälä,[11] Alison E. Cooley,[12] Christian Settipani,[13] Anthony R. Birley,[14] and Julian Bennett;[15] Ronald Syme did not assume an exact relation to the imperial family but believed her to be a kinswoman of Trajan.[16]

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Q. Marcius Barea Soranus

Q. Marcius Barea Sura

Antonia Furnilla

M. Cocceius Nerva

Sergia Plautilla

P. Aelius Hadrianus

Titus
(r. 79–81)

Marcia Furnilla

Nerva
(r. 96–98)

Ulpia[lower-roman 1]

Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus

Flavia[lower-roman 2]

Marciana[lower-roman 3]

C. Salonius Matidius[lower-roman 4]

Trajan
(r. 98–117)

P. Acilius Attianus

P. Aelius Afer[lower-roman 5]

Paulina Major[lower-roman 6]

Lucius Mindius (2)

Libo Rupilius Frugi (3)

Salonia Matidia[lower-roman 7]

L. Vibius Sabinus (1)[lower-roman 8]

Paulina Minor[lower-roman 6]

L. Julius Ursus Servianus[lower-roman 9]

Matidia Minor[lower-roman 7]

Suetonius?[lower-roman 10]

Sabina[lower-roman 3]

Hadrian[lower-roman 5][lower-roman 11][lower-roman 6] (r. 117–138)

Antinous[lower-roman 12]

Julia Balbilla?[lower-roman 13]

C. Fuscus Salinator I

Julia Serviana Paulina

M. Annius Verus[lower-roman 14]

Rupilia Faustina[lower-roman 15][lower-roman 16]

Boionia Procilla

Cn. Arrius Antoninus

L. Ceionius Commodus

Appia Severa

C. Fuscus Salinator II

L. Caesennius Paetus

Arria Antonina

Arria Fadilla[lower-roman 17]

T. Aurelius Fulvus

L. Caesennius Antoninus

L. Commodus

unknown[lower-roman 18]

C. Avidius Nigrinus

M. Annius Verus[lower-roman 15]

Calvisia Domitia Lucilla[lower-roman 19]

Fundania[lower-roman 20]

M. Annius Libo[lower-roman 15]

Faustina[lower-roman 17]

Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)[lower-roman 17]

L. Aelius Caesar[lower-roman 18]

Avidia[lower-roman 18]

Cornificia[lower-roman 15]

Marcus Aurelius
(r. 161–180)[lower-roman 21]

Faustina Minor[lower-roman 21]

C. Avidius Cassius[lower-roman 22]

Aurelia Fadilla[lower-roman 17]

Lucius Verus
(r. 161–169)[lower-roman 18] (1)

Ceionia Fabia[lower-roman 18]

Plautius Quintillus[lower-roman 23]

Q. Servilius Pudens

Ceionia Plautia[lower-roman 18]

Cornificia Minor[lower-roman 24]

M. Petronius Sura

Commodus
(r. 177–192)[lower-roman 21]

Fadilla[lower-roman 24]

M. Annius Verus Caesar[lower-roman 21]

Ti. Claudius Pompeianus (2)

Lucilla[lower-roman 21]

M. Plautius Quintillus[lower-roman 18]

Junius Licinius Balbus

Servilia Ceionia

Petronius Antoninus

L. Aurelius Agaclytus (2)

Aurelia Sabina[lower-roman 24]

L. Antistius Burrus (1)

Plautius Quintillus

Plautia Servilla

C. Furius Sabinus Timesitheus

Antonia Gordiana

Junius Licinius Balbus?

Furia Sabina Tranquillina

Gordian III
(r. 238–244)

(1) = 1st spouse
(2) = 2nd spouse
(3) = 3rd spouse
  Reddish-purple indicates emperor of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty
  lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned
  grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants
  bluish-purple indicates emperors of other dynasties
dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
Small Caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)

Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
Levick (2014), p. 161.
Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
Suetonius a possible lover of Sabina: One interpretation of HA Hadrianus 11:3
Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2–5, etc.
Julia Balbilla a possible lover of Sabina: A. R. Birley (1997), Hadrian, the Restless Emperor, p. 251, cited in Levick (2014), p. 30, who is sceptical of this suggestion.
Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
Levick (2014), p. 163.
It is uncertain whether Rupilia Faustina was Frugi's daughter by Salonia Matidia or another woman.
Levick (2014), p. 162.
Levick (2014), p. 164.
Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed in HA "Marcus Aurelius" 24.
Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
Levick (2014), p. 117.

References:

DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 2015-04-14.
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2.
Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

References

Drăgan, Iosif Constantin (1985). Dacia's Imperial Millennium. Nagard Publ. p. 117. 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.
Trahan, Conrad W. (1979). A Trahan History and Genealogy. Trahan. p. 173. Trajan's paternal aunt Ulpia was 6 Hadrian's grandmother and Hadrian came from Adria on the Adige . ?
Atti Del IV Congresso Internazionale Di Papirologia: Firenze, 28 Aprile-2 Maggio 1935, XIII. Cisalpino-La Goliardica. 1976. p. 87. An Ulpia, grandmother of Hadrian, might unite both families, but apparently is too farfetched; and a gentile deity Ulpia ( cf.
Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9. 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 ...
Bremen, Riet van (1996). The Limits of Participation: Women and Civic Life in the Greek East in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. J.C. Gieben. p. 316. ISBN 978-90-5063-567-7. TI . FLAV . SABINIANUS DIOMEDES MENIPPOS , Son of the City . Mo. ULPIA APPHIAS . Grandmother CLAUDIA LEONTIS ( Appendix 3 , no . 28 ) . Time of Hadrian . 3.
Holden, James H. (2006). A History of Horoscopic Astrology. American Federation of Astr. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-86690-463-6. The Emperor Trajan (53-1 17), His paternal aunt Ulpia was the paternal grandmother of ...
Temporini, Hildegard (2011). Die Frauen am Hofe Trajans: Ein Beitrag zur Stellung der Augustae im Principat (in German). Walter de Gruyter. p. 14. ISBN 9783110821567.
Burns, Jasper (2006). Great Women of Imperial Rome: Mothers and Wives of the Caesars. Routledge. p. 112. ISBN 9781134131853.
Cooley, Alison; Cooley, M. G. L. (2013). Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook. Routledge. p. 261. ISBN 9781134624492.
Phang, Sara Elise (2022). Daily Life of Women in Ancient Rome. ABC-CLIO. p. 129. ISBN 9781440871696.
Setälä, Päivi; Setala, Paivi; Savunen, Liisa (1999). Female Networks and the Public Sphere in Roman Society. Institutum Romanum Finlandiae. p. 14. ISBN 978-951-96902-9-2. We may compare, for instance, Ulpia Plotina (possibly a relative, perhaps the aunt, of Trajan and paternal grandmother of Hadrian, mentioned in ...
Cooley, Alison E. (2012-09-13). The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy. Cambridge University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-139-57660-4. A water-pipe stamped with Ulpiae Marcianae ('Of Ulpia Marciana') probably from ... (possibly Trajan's aunt and Hadrian's paternal grandmother): Camodeca, ...
Settipani, Christian (2000). Continuité gentilice et continuité familiale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale: mythe et réalité. Prosopographica et genealogica (in Italian). Vol. 2 (illustrated ed.). Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, University of Oxford. pp. 285, 294. ISBN 9781900934022.
Birley, Anthony R (2012). Marcus Aurelius: A Biography. Roman Imperial Biographies (reworked ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781134695690.
Bennett, Julian (2003). Trajan: Optimus Princeps. Routledge. p. 25. ISBN 9781134709144.
Syme, Ronald (1979). Roman Papers. Vol. 7. Clarendon Press. p. 706. ISBN 9780198144908.

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
"Roman Emperors - DIR Trajan". roman-emperors.org. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
"Roman Emperors - DIR hadrian". roman-emperors.org. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
"Roman Emperors DIR Roman legions". roman-emperors.org. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
"The Stemmata of the 5 Good Emperors". roman-emperors.org. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
"Museum of Antiquities | Original Roman Coins | Hadrian". Archived from the original on 2012-10-02. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
Perowne, S. (1960). Hadrian. Croom Helm. ISBN 9780709940487. Retrieved 2015-11-09.

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