Ceionia Fabia (flourished 2nd century) was a noble Roman woman and a member of the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

Life

Fabia was the first-born daughter to

Lucius Aelius Lucius Aelius Caesar (13 January 101 – 1 January 138) was the father of Emperor Lucius Verus. In 136, he was adopted by Hadrian and named heir to the throne. He died before Hadrian and thus never became emperor. After Lucius' death, he was ...

and Avidia. In 136, her father was adopted by Hadrian as heir to the throne. Fabia had three siblings: a sister

Ceionia Plautia Ceionia Plautia (flourished 2nd century) was a Roman noblewoman and is among the lesser known members of the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire. Life Plautia was the second daughter born to Roman Senator Lucius Aelius Caesar, the ...

and two brothers: the Roman Emperor Lucius Verus who co-ruled with Marcus Aurelius from 161 to 169 and Gaius Avidius Ceionius Commodus. Her cognomen ''Fabia'' reveals that her father was related to the

gens Fabia In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...

. However, whom she was named after from the gens Fabia is unknown. Fabia was born and raised in Rome. Her maternal grandparents were the Roman Senator

Gaius Avidius Nigrinus Gaius Avidius Nigrinus (died 118 AD) was a Roman senator who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries. Nigrinus served as suffect consul for the '' nundinium'' of April to June 110 with Tiberius Julius Aquila Polemaeanus as his colleague. Ances ...

and the surmised but undocumented noblewoman Plautia. Although her adoptive paternal grandparents were the Roman Emperor Hadrian and Roman Empress

Vibia Sabina Vibia Sabina (13 August 83–136/137) was a Roman Empress, wife and second cousin once removed to the Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was the daughter of Matidia (niece of Roman Emperor Trajan) and suffect consul Lucius Vibius Sabinus. Early life ...

, her biological paternal grandparents were the consul Lucius Ceionius Commodus and noblewoman named Plautia. Sometime in 136 after Hadrian announced that her father was to be the Emperor's official heir, on the wishes of Hadrian, the emperor betrothed Fabia to Hadrian's great-nephew Marcus Aurelius. Although Fabia and Aurelius became engaged, the engagement did not survive Hadrian; immediately after the emperor's death, Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's second adopted son and the new emperor, approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal.''HA Marcus'' 6.2; ''Verus'' 2.3–4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 53–54. Fabia later married the nobleman

Plautius Quintillus Plautius Quintillus (died by 175) was a Roman senator who lived in the 2nd century. Life The family of Plautius Quintillus was of consular rank and was politically active during the Nerva–Antonine dynasty in the 2nd century. Quintillus’ birth ...

who came from a family of consular rank. During the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-161), Quintillus served as an ordinary consul in 159. Fabia bore Quintillus a son called

Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus (died 205) was a Roman noble closely related by birth, adoption, and marriage to the Nerva-Antonine emperors. Through his marriage to Fadilla, the daughter of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Empress Faustina the ...

who later married Annia Aurelia

Fadilla Annia Aurelia Fadilla, most commonly known as Fadilla (159 – after 211) was one of the daughters born to Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina the Younger. She was a sister to Lucilla and Commodus. Fadilla was named in honor of her late maternal ...

, one of the daughters of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger. Throughout the Roman Empire, various honorific inscriptions have survived being dedicated to Fabia and her family. These inscriptions honor Fabia as the mother of Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus; the sister of Roman Emperor Lucius Verus and the sister-in-law of Empress Lucilla (the second daughter of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger, who was one of the sisters of Fadilla). According to an inscription found at Ephesus, Fabia was present when Lucius Verus married Lucilla. It appears by 175 her husband had died. When Faustina the Younger had died in 175, Fabia was said to have attempted to interest Marcus Aurelius in a second marriage. However, Marcus Aurelius preferred to take a mistress, who was a daughter of one of Faustina's procurators.

Notes

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Sources

* From Tiberius to the Antonines: a history of the Roman Empire AD 14–192, by Albino Garzetti, 1974 * Cassio Dione e l'impero romano da Nerva ad Antonino Pio: alla luce dei nuovi by Guido Migliorati, 2003 – Italian Historical Secondary Source * The Cambridge ancient history, Volume 11 By Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Dominic Rathbone Limited preview - Edition: 2 - Item notes: v. 11 – 2000 * Marcus Aurelius, by Anthony Richard Birley, Routledge, 2000 * http://www.roman-emperors.org/lverus.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20130525075850/http://www.roman-empire.net/highpoint/marcaurelius.html Nerva–Antonine dynasty Fabia 2nd-century Roman women