Roman Sestertius
Dublin Core
Title
Roman Sestertius
Subject
BRONZE
Description
Obv.: Bust of Faustina the Younger, draped, right, with hair elaborately waved in nearly vertical lines, and fastened in chignon low at back of head with the variant of a row of curls down to the cheek. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA
Rev.: Fecunditas, draped, standing front, head right, holding vertical sceptre in right hand and child in left hand. FECVNDITAS S C left and right.
Significance:
The coinage of Faustina the Younger is linked with the two themes appropriate for a Roman Empress: the life of the imperial family and the cult of the goddesses of the state. This coin depicts one of the Virtues, Fecunditas or Fertility, and so is linked to the imperial family. This type of Fecunditas, represented as a standing figure with one child, seems to belong to the first period of the Faustina s coinage (the focus of which is on the family of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina) and is perhaps related to birth of Lucilla or one of the couple's other children.
Additional Information:
Annia Galeria Faustina Minor (borne between AD 125 and 135) was the younger daughter of the Emperor Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder. Originally promised by Hadrian to Lucius Verus, Antoninus after Hadrian s death betrothed her to his nephew Marcus Aurelius in 139. They get married in 145, the earliest possible data, when Faustina was fifteen years old. When her first child, Domitia Faustina, was born (30 November 147, according to the Fasti Ostienses), she received the title of Augusta. Faustina had twelve children, six of whom survived her: five daughters (the eldest being Lucilla) and a son, the future emperor Commodus. The Faustina s loyalty to Marcus as well as her marital fidelity is questioned by the author of the Historia Augusta. He reports that she was involved in the rebellion of Avidius Cassius and also that Commodus was son of a gladiator (Historia Augusta, Marcus Aurelius 19.1-9 and 14.6-8). But Marcus, probably with reason, denied all the rumors and gave her the title of Mater Castrorum ( mother of the camp ) in 174. Indeed, Faustina followed her husband both on his campaign to the north (168-169) and then to the East, where she died at Halala in Cappadocia in 175. In her honour Halala s name was changed to Faustinopolis, she was deified, and Aurelius founded a second Puellae Faustinianae in her name.
Rev.: Fecunditas, draped, standing front, head right, holding vertical sceptre in right hand and child in left hand. FECVNDITAS S C left and right.
Significance:
The coinage of Faustina the Younger is linked with the two themes appropriate for a Roman Empress: the life of the imperial family and the cult of the goddesses of the state. This coin depicts one of the Virtues, Fecunditas or Fertility, and so is linked to the imperial family. This type of Fecunditas, represented as a standing figure with one child, seems to belong to the first period of the Faustina s coinage (the focus of which is on the family of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina) and is perhaps related to birth of Lucilla or one of the couple's other children.
Additional Information:
Annia Galeria Faustina Minor (borne between AD 125 and 135) was the younger daughter of the Emperor Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder. Originally promised by Hadrian to Lucius Verus, Antoninus after Hadrian s death betrothed her to his nephew Marcus Aurelius in 139. They get married in 145, the earliest possible data, when Faustina was fifteen years old. When her first child, Domitia Faustina, was born (30 November 147, according to the Fasti Ostienses), she received the title of Augusta. Faustina had twelve children, six of whom survived her: five daughters (the eldest being Lucilla) and a son, the future emperor Commodus. The Faustina s loyalty to Marcus as well as her marital fidelity is questioned by the author of the Historia Augusta. He reports that she was involved in the rebellion of Avidius Cassius and also that Commodus was son of a gladiator (Historia Augusta, Marcus Aurelius 19.1-9 and 14.6-8). But Marcus, probably with reason, denied all the rumors and gave her the title of Mater Castrorum ( mother of the camp ) in 174. Indeed, Faustina followed her husband both on his campaign to the north (168-169) and then to the East, where she died at Halala in Cappadocia in 175. In her honour Halala s name was changed to Faustinopolis, she was deified, and Aurelius founded a second Puellae Faustinianae in her name.
Source
Purchased from Hesperia Art, Philadelphia, 1963.
Date
AD 161 - 176
Identifier
C.106
Files
Citation
“Roman Sestertius,” RD Milns Antiquities Museum Online Exhibitions, accessed May 7, 2024, https://uqantiquitiesonlineexhibitions.omeka.net/items/show/43.