Julia Bodina

Who is Julia Bodina?

Julia Bodina was a Roman Freedwoman from Mauretania North Africa. She was a former slave in the household of the Roman Client Queen Julia Urania and Roman Client King Ptolemy of Mauretania.

In Cherchell Algeria, a funeral inscription has been found that belongs to Bodina. Cherchell was then known as Caesaria, the capital of the Roman Client Kingdom of Mauretania in the Roman Empire. In her funeral inscription, Bodina ascribes Julia Urania as Queen Julia Urania. Julia Urania was ascribed as Queen as a local courtesy or probably a posthumous honor as a dedication to the memory of the former ruling monarch. The inscription reveals that Bodina was a loyal former slave to Julia Urania.

According to the inscription, she appeared to have taken the gentilicium of her former mistress, Julia Urania. There is a possibility that Bodina may have been a former slave from the Royal family of Emesa, a Roman Client Kingdom in Syria.