Julia Urania was a Roman Client Queen of Mauretania

Mauretania

Mauretania is a part of the historical Ancient Libyan land in North Africa. It corresponds to present day Morocco and a part of western Algeria...

. She married the Roman Client King Ptolemy of Mauretania

Ptolemy of Mauretania

Ptolemy of Mauretania was a prince and the last Roman client King of Mauretania.-Family and early life:Ptolemy was the son of King Juba II and Queen Cleopatra Selene II of Mauretania. He had a younger sister called Drusilla of Mauretania...

, who was a son of the former Mauretanian Client Monarchs Juba II

Juba II

Juba II or Juba II of Numidia was a king of Numidia and then later moved to Mauretania. His first wife was Cleopatra Selene II, daughter to Greek Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman triumvir Mark Antony.-Early life:Juba II was a prince of Berber descent from North Africa...

 and Cleopatra Selene II.

Her grandson was Gaius Julius Alexio

Gaius Julius Alexio

Gaius Julius Alexio also known as Alexio II was a Syrian Prince and Roman Client Priest King of Emesa.Alexio was a monarch of Assyrian, Greek, Armenian, Medes, Berber and Roman ancestry. He was the child born to the monarchs Sohaemus of Emesa and Drusilla of Mauretania. The father of Alexio,...

.

Biography

Urania became Queen of Mauretania, through her marriage to Ptolemy. She married Ptolemy at an unknown date in the 1st century and had borne Ptolemy, a daughter called Drusilla

Drusilla of Mauretania (born 38)

This article is about Drusilla of Mauretania for her paternal aunt of the same name; see Drusilla of Mauretania .Drusilla of Mauretania was a Princess of Mauretania, North Africa and was the great grandchild of Ptolemaic Greek Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman Triumvir Mark Antony.-Ancestry...

 who was born in 38.

Urania is only known through a funeral inscription of her Freedwoman Julia Bodina

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....

 found at Cherchell

Cherchell

Cherchell is a seaport town in the Province of Tipaza, Algeria, 55 miles west of Algiers. It is the district seat of Cherchell District. As of 1998, it had a population of 24,400.-Ancient history:...

, Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

. Cherchell was then known as Caesaria, the capital of the Roman Client Kingdom of Mauretania in the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. In Bodina’s funeral inscription, Bodina ascribes Urania as Queen Julia Urania. She was ascribed as Queen honoring the memory of the former ruling monarch. The inscription reveals that Bodina was a loyal former slave to Urania.

The surname Urania derived from the Muse

Muse

The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...

s. She was probably a member of the Royal Court in Mauretania.
Another theory is that Urania could have been an Assyrian Princess

Assyrian people

The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...

 from the Royal family of Emesa

Royal family of Emesa

The royal family of Emesa, also known as the Emesani Dynasty or the Sempsigerami of Emesa , sometimes known as The Sampsiceramids were a ruling Roman client dynasty of priest-kings in Emesa, Syria Province...

. The Royal family of Emesa were a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 Syrian Client Kingdom

History of Syria

The history of Syria:*Prehistory and Ancient Near East: see Pre-history of the Southern Levant, Fertile Crescent, Ebla, Mitanni*Antiquity: see Syro-Hittite states, Greater Syria, Roman Syria...

 and was at the time a leading Kingdom in the Roman East.

Name

Urania is an ancient Greek word meaning ‘Heavenly’, ‘Sky’ or ‘Universe’ and is an ancient and modern Greek name

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

. The name Urania is of Emesene origin. Two other Emesene Priest Kings shared the name Uranius, the male variant of Urania who were Uranius Antoninus who reigned from 210 until 235 and Lucius Julius Aurelius Sulpicius Severus Uranius

Uranius

Uranius is the name of a Roman usurper cited by Zosimus, and active during the reigns of Elagabalus or Alexander Severus.However, it is possible that Zosimus confused this usurper with Lucius Julius Aurelius Sulpicius Severus Uranius Antoninus, who, according to numismatical evidence, reigned much...

 Antoninus who reigned from 235 until 254. She wasn’t the only Queen to have the name Urania. The Parthian

Parthian Empire

The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...

 Queen and wife of Phraates IV of Parthia

Phraates IV of Parthia

King Phraates IV of Parthia, son of Orodes II, ruled the Parthian Empire from 37–2 BC. He was appointed successor to the throne in 37 BC, after the death of his brother Pacorus I...

 had the name Thea Urania (Astarte)

Musa of Parthia

Musa was Queen of Parthia c. 2 BC – AD 4. She is called as Thermusa by Josephus and is also known as Thea Urania . She was a concubine given by the Roman Emperor Augustus to King Phraates IV of Parthia...

.

Sources

• Royal Egyptian Genealogy, Ptolemaic Dynasty: Cleopatra Selene
• Cleopatra’s Children and Descendants at Ancient History by Suite101
• E. Groag, A. Stein, L. Petersen - e.a. (edd.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III, Berlin, 1933 - . PIR² I 710