B.’s study of the second-century empress Sabina forms part of the Women in Antiquity series, which has already offered fresh perspectives on some women who are often overlooked in modern historiography. As B. notes in his introduction, although there is a large amount of material evidence for Sabina, the accounts of her in extant literary sources amount to ‘about 200 words’ (p. xvi). B. has less at his disposal than B.M. Levick did for her work in the same series on Sabina's imperial successors: Faustina I and II (2014). Consequently, B. states from the outset (p. xxiv) that his work will not be a biography, but rather a fresh take on Sabina's presentation in her husband Hadrian's reign. Such an aim could be taken more often with other empresses and imperial women for whom the evidence is similarly sporadic.
B. draws on all available evidence to provide an extensive overview of Sabina's life as an empress. The book can be divided into two parts. Chapters 1 to 5 establish the sources and context for Sabina as the wife of the emperor. B. sets out in Chapter 1 the early gestation of the role of empress, before looking more closely in the following chapters at the women of Trajan's and Hadrian's courts and the sources (or lack thereof) for Sabina. The second part of the book (Chapters 6 to 10) forms a chronological survey of Sabina's life as empress (Chapters 6 to 8), before turning to Sabina's final years in Rome and her death and deification (Chapters 9 and 10). B. provides a good summary of his analysis in the epilogue, where he also gives an overview of modern receptions of Sabina in historiography and fiction.
In reflection of the sources available to him, B. is at his best when analysing the numismatic evidence, drawing on the forthcoming second edition of RIC II by R. Abdy to evaluate the surprising range of coin-types produced for Sabina in the last decade of Hadrian's reign. Such analysis is particularly interesting when B. compares the numismatic data with issues for the imperial women of Trajan's court: Trajan's wife, Plotina, and his sister, Marciana (Sabina's grandmother). Both women appeared on coin-types and received the title Augusta, as did Sabina's mother, Matidia the Elder. Plotina and Matidia later appear in the literary accounts as having a closer relationship to Hadrian than Sabina. The preponderance of Sabina's coin-types towards the end of her life and her late receipt of the title Augusta contrast with the early honours received by her immediate female predecessors. Such a striking observation by B. through setting out the patterns in the coinage shows how a study of a less well documented imperial woman can be of value when set in its immediate context. Unfortunately, such observations are often not developed into detailed analysis due to B.’s aim to provide a comprehensive overview of Sabina, for which there is a lack of information to work with.
The interesting points that B. ekes out of the numismatic evidence are let down by the book's structure, which is dictated in the second half by the chronology of Hadrian's reign. This leads to long lacuna when Sabina barely features in B.’s discussion, because of the lack of extant evidence. Instead, B. pays greater attention to, in particular, Antinous (Chapter 7). Such narrative is not joined up consistently enough with B.’s observations about Sabina herself, which a more streamlined and tightly edited book would have achieved. The structure also means that B. often has to point ahead to later discussion of Sabina, instead of offering immediate analysis.
More problematic is the overview chapter on early imperial women, for which B. presents the first empress Livia as the precedent for all subsequent imperial wives (Chapter 1). In an attempt to provide a succinct overview of the entire preceding imperial period, B. glosses over the more ad hoc development of honours and privileges for Livia. Recognition of Livia's position did inform the later developments of the role, but this was not a clear linear progression as the overview chapter would suggest. B. undercuts his discussion of the title Augusta in Chapter 1 by noting that Livia's immediate successors did not receive the title; it only started to be regularly used for emperor's wives from Domitian onwards. B. also emphasises the maternal role in the honours given to Livia. This was the key role for an emperor's wife, but one not fulfilled by Sabina or her immediate predecessors. Livia travelled extensively like Sabina, but this aspect is made little of in the later detailed account of Sabina's involvement in Hadrian's last imperial tour (Chapter 8).
More effective is B.’s discussion of Sabina's female kinsmen. The discussion in Chapter 10 of the wealth and patronage of Matidia II (Sabina's half-sister) is one area that could have been explored more fully and would have given further context on Sabina's own family background. Hadrian's many relationships with the women of Trajan's court lead one to wonder if the book would have been more effective if B. had considered an analysis of all the women of the family (as K. Holum [1982] and A. Busch [2015] have done for the later eastern Theodosian women) since they all appear in the narrative for Hadrian's reign at different points, as B. regularly observes.
Another interesting area that B. explores is the use of Sabina's image by provincial elites to express their loyalty to the imperial regime (Chapters 8 and 9). B. is particularly effective on Julia Balbilla's promotion of her relationship with Sabina through their inscriptions on the statue of Memnon during the imperial couple's journey to Egypt (Chapter 8). The use of Sabina as a conduit for others sums up the tone of the book; Sabina ultimately provides B. with another perspective on Hadrian's reign. This is often the case with the study of imperial women, but Sabina never really comes to the foreground. Even the scandalous suggestion that Hadrian forced her to commit suicide is dealt with brusquely in Chapter 10 and only briefly referred to again in the epilogue. The analysis at times feels underdeveloped, which is in part dictated by the structure of the book and its short subsections that, although very helpful to refer to, truncate any in-depth analysis.
B. has sought to provide a comprehensive overview of Sabina as empress using challenging evidence. Besides some very interesting coin analyses, B. also incorporates important modern scholarship, including a number of non-English works (such as U. Hahn [1994]). This makes the book a good starting point for students interested in the period and offers a different perspective from which to consider Hadrian's reign. However, because Sabina only appears in evidence at isolated points, there are long phases where she is absent from the discussion. This is a shame since B. makes important observations on the trend of coin evidence for Sabina, and his intention to study the empress to cast a fresh perspective on Hadrian's reign is laudable and an approach that could be taken more for other imperial regimes. A slimmer volume would have given more heft to B.’s insights, particularly regarding the numismatic evidence where B. is most effective. As before, Sabina remains an elusive figure and one who merits closer attention, perhaps viewed more in the context of her own family. Like authors of other works in the series, B. has demonstrated that more imperial women warrant closer attention to further our understanding of different reigns.
