Ulpia Marciana

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Roman imperial dynasties
Nervo-Trajanic Dynasty

Nerva
Children
   Natural - (none)
   Adoptive - Trajan
Trajan
Children
   Natural - (none)
   Adoptive - Hadrian
Hadrian
Children
   Natural - (none)
   Adoptive - Lucius Aelius
   Adoptive - Antoninus Pius

Ulpia Marciana (48112/114) was the elder beloved sister of Roman Emperor Trajan. She the eldest child to Marcia and the senator Marcus Ulpius Traianus. Her birthplace is unknown.

She married Gaius Saloninus Matidius Patriunus. Her only child was her daughter Salonina Matidia. Saloninus died in 78, and she never remarried.

After 105, her brother awarded her with the title of Augusta. She was the first sister of a Roman Emperor to receive this title. Marciana first didn't accept this, but her sister-in-law, the Empress Pompeia Plotina, insisted her to have this title. As such, she become part of the official imperial iconography, and her statue, together with Trajan's and Pompeia's, was placed over the Arches of Trajan in Ancona.

Marciana would often travel with her brother and assist him in decision making. Throughout the Roman Empire, Mariciana was honored with monuments and inscriptions in her name.

Marciana died between 112 and 114. Trajan deified her and nominated two cities in her honour, Marciana and Marciana Ulpia Traiana.

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