Julia Balbilla

Iulia Balbilla (Greek Ἰουλία Βαλβίλλα; * after 72 in Rome, † after 130 ) was a noble Roman woman and poet.

Iulia Balbillas parents were Claudia Capitolina, the daughter of Tiberius Claudius Balbillus scholars, and Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes ( 38-92 ), the son of King Antiochus IV of Commagene. She had a brother, Gaius Julius Philopappus. Her grandfather had for 34 years ruled Commagene as appointed by Rome vassal king. He was before her birth by Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus, the governor of the province of Syria, accused and unjustly deposed the conspiracy with the Parthians. Commagene became a Roman province, while the royal family, who was only fled, was taken by the Emperor Vespasian in Rome in great honor. Iulia Balbilla thus grew up in Rome until her parents moved to Antiochus ' death to Athens.

130 Emperor Hadrian traveled with his wife Vibia Sabina to Thebes in Egypt. They accompanied Iulia Balbilla as Hofpoetin. At the base of one of the Colossi of Memnon, the Emperor had engraved four Greek poems that come from Iulia Balbilla. It is thus one of the few Roman women, of which it is known that they were poetical works. However Balbilla wrote in their time already ancient Aeolian dialect of Greek in the style of the famous poet Sappho. The epigrams remember how the Emperor and his wife listened to the mysterious songs of Memnon. Iulia Balbilla dated precisely the time of the visit ( 20 and 21 November 130), mentions the names of their grandfathers, echoing her own royal lineage.

Apart from this trip is about Iulia Balbillas life nothing is known.