Women in ancient Rome it more praiseworthy to be a good husband than a good senator." A man of status during the Roman Republic was expected to behave moderately toward his wife and to define himself as a good husband. Wife beating was sufficient grounds for divorce or other legal action against the husband. Domestic abuse enters the historical record mainly when it involves the egregious excesses of the elite. The Emperor Nero was alleged to have had his first wife (and stepsister) Claudia Octavia murdered, after subjecting her to torture and imprisonment. Nero then married his pregnant mistress Poppaea Sabina, whom he kicked
Vibia Aurelia Sabina in honor of the late Roman Empress "Vibia Sabina", who was the wife of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and her late father the distinguished suffect consul "Lucius Vibius Sabinus". Vibia Sabina was a relative of her parents, as she was a great aunt to her parents who was half maternal sister to Rupilia Faustina. Rupilia Faustina was the paternal grandmother of Marcus Aurelius and the maternal grandmother of Faustina the Younger. Throughout her childhood, Aurelia Sabina had travelled extensive with her parents throughout the Roman Empire. Sometime before her father died in 180 AD, Aurelia Sabina was betrothed to the