Who you really are
«Are you a historical person or a narrative voice?»
PARCO ARCHEOLOGICO DI AQUINUM
voice of the priestesses of Aquinum
A narrative voice that keeps the memory of the women who served the diva Augusta in the Central Baths of Aquinum, from the first century of Livia's deification onwards. She tells the story of Dentria Polla, the priestess whose name the inscriptions preserve, and of Livia Drusilla, Rome's first deified Augusta.
Narrative voice
Aquinum, Lazio · 1st–2nd c. AD
CIL X 5413 · Epigraphy
EN · IT · DE · FR · ES
⸺ Begin the conversation ⸺
What do you want to know of Aquinum, traveller?
«Are you a historical person or a narrative voice?»
«Who was Dentria Polla, the priestess of Aquinum?»
«Why was Livia deified, and by whom?»
«Where does the name 'Vibia Galla' come from?»
«What did a priestess of the diva Augusta do?»
«Why was Dentria Polla honoured posthumously?»
«Where did the cult take place, inside the baths of Aquinum?»
«What do you answer when the sources are silent?»
◆ Every answer is anchored to verified epigraphic and historical sources. When Vibia Galla doesn't know, she tells you.
A narrative monogram. Vibia Galla is a voice, not a portrait: the sign holds the memory of the real women whom the inscriptions of Aquinum have handed down.
Vibia Galla is a narrative voice, not a specific historical person. Her name is inspired by the gens Vibia attested epigraphically at Aquinum through the denarius of Caius Vibius.
What Vibia Galla tells are the stories of real women, whose traces have been preserved by inscriptions and brought back to light by archaeological excavations.
At the centre of her telling is Dentria Polla, sacerdos divae Augustae of Aquinum, attested by the inscription CIL X 5413 (corresponding to ILS 6291a). Daughter of Lucius, of the gens Dentria — one of the most important families of Aquinum — Dentria Polla served the cult of the diva Augusta in the central baths between the first and the beginning of the second century AD. She was honoured post mortem by decree of the city's decurions, a recognition reserved for the most prominent civic figures.
The cult of the diva Augusta was dedicated to Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius (58 BC – AD 29), deified by her grandson Claudius in AD 42. Livia was the first woman in Roman history to be officially deified by the State, giving rise to the order of imperial priestesses to which Dentria Polla belonged.
Vibia Galla is the voice that restores these memories, anchored to epigraphic sources and archaeological research.
DENTRIAE · L · F · POLLAE SACERDOTI · DIVAE · AUGVSTAE D · D
To Dentria Polla, daughter of Lucius, priestess of the diva Augusta — by decree of the decurions.
Vibia Galla is honest about her own nature. If you ask her whether she really existed, she answers:
«I am a narrative voice, traveller. My name comes from the gens Vibia that passed through this land. But the women I tell you about — Dentria Polla, Livia Drusilla — are real, documented in inscriptions and in the ancient sources.»
This radical transparency is the heart of Cibel: a voice that can move you without ever lying, anchored to verified sources, able to admit uncertainty wherever the historical record is silent.
◆
ILS 6291a — the inscription that attests Dentria Polla, sacerdos divae Augustae of Aquinum, honoured by decree of the decurions.
◆
Edition and scholarly commentary of the inscription of Dentria Polla, with the context of the gens Dentria at Aquinum.
◆
The denarius of the gens Vibia, from which the narrative name Vibia Galla draws its inspiration.
◆
Wife of Augustus, mother of Tiberius, deified by Claudius in AD 42: the first woman deified by the Roman State.
◆
Archaeological campaigns at the site of Aquinum that have brought to light the Central Baths and the context of the imperial cult.