View source for Lucius Vibius Sabinus

{{short description|1st century Roman Senator}}
'''Lucius Vibius Sabinus''' was a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Senate of the Roman Empire|Senator]] who lived in the 1st century. His daughter [[Vibia Sabina]] married the emperor [[Hadrian]].

==Biography==
Little is known about his family, but Sabinus came from a family of [[consularis|consular rank]]. He may have been related to [[Lucius Junius Quintus Vibius Crispus]], three times consul, and his brother [[Quintus Vibius Secundus]], consul in 86. 

Sabinus became the second husband of Trajan's niece [[Salonia Matidia]]; he and Matidia had a daughter, Vibia Sabina (August 13th 83-136/137). Sabinus may have died soon after his daughter's birth, for in his funeral speech for Matidia, the emperor Hadrian alludes to her long widowhood.<ref name="Birley-241">Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius: a biography'', Second Edition (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 241 {{ISBN|0-415-17125-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-17125-0}}</ref>  Vibia Sabina married her distant maternal cousin and Trajan's heir, the future emperor Hadrian sometime before the year 101.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 242</ref>

[[Ronald Syme]] has argued that a pair of fragmentary inscriptions from [[Asisium]] refer to Sabinus;<ref>{{CIL|11|5383}}, {{CIL|11|8020}}</ref> If correct, this would mean he was a member of the ''[[septemviri epulonum]]'', one of the four most prestigious ancient Roman priesthoods.<ref name=Syme-795>Syme, ''Tacitus'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958), p. 795</ref> Syme has also argued that, based on a reading preserved in later copies of the ''[[Fasti Consulares]]'' indicating that Sabinus and [[Arrius Antoninus]] were consular colleagues, which means he was [[suffect consul]] in the year 97—a reading [[Theodor Mommsen]] had judged as unreliable. [[Anthony Birley]] accepted Syme's argument.<ref name=Birley-241/> In his own study on the suffect consuls of the year 97, Fausto Zevi rejected Syme's argument on several grounds, and argued that "Sabinus" in the later fasti was a corruption for "Piso"—Calpurnius Piso, the name which this portion of the [[Fasti Ostienses]] supports. Zevi also dismisses the identification of Sabinus with the inscriptions from Asisium as based on insufficient information.<ref>Zevi, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23459091 "I consoli del 97 d. Cr. in due framenti gia' editi dei Fasti Ostienses"], ''Listy filologické / Folia philologica'', 96 (1973), p. 134 and note 47</ref>

Based on an inscription that preserves Hadrian's funeral oration on his dead wife Matidia,<ref>{{CIL|14|3579}}</ref> Sabinus had died no later than the year 98.<ref name=Syme-795/>
{{Nerva-Antonine family tree|state=collapsed}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Julian Bennett, ''Trajan: Optimus Princeps : a Life and Times'' (London: Routledge, 1997) {{ISBN|0-415-16524-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-16524-2}}

== External links ==
* R. Scott Moore, [http://www.roman-emperors.org/goodemp2.htm "The Stemmata &#91;sic&#93; of the Good Emperors"]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vibius Sabinus, Lucius}}
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman politicians]]
[[Category:Senators of the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome]]
[[Category:Epulones of the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Vibii|Sabinus]]