ORBIANA (225-227)

"The Victim of Jealousy" Gneia Seia Herennia Sallustia Barbia Orbiana (dates of birth and death unknown) was the wife of Emperor Alexander Severus. She was the daughter of Senator Lucius Seius Sallustius and married Alexander Severus in 225 AD, being elevated to the rank of Augusta as a result. According to Herodian, her father was executed in 227 AD on charges of attempting to assassinate the emperor, a consequence of intrigues and the jealousy of Julia Mamaea, the young emperor’s mother, over Orbiana’s Augusta title. Subsequently, and with no support from her husband, she was dismissed and exiled to Africa.

Despite her name being erased from official inscriptions due to an enforced damnatio memoriae, her full name has been preserved in a surviving dedicatory inscription in Mauretania.