Description

Aureus Faustina Fica 148-152 A.D.  (RIC. 504,  Antoninus Pius )

Avers – Bust spre dreapta Favstina Fica , legenda circulara  FAVSTINAE  AVGPIIAVGFIL

Rev  – IVNO Intronata spre stanga cu un sceptru lung in mana stanga , cu un copil pe picior si un copil in picioare in fata ei

Material  – Aur

Gr            –  7,12 g.

Annia Galeria Faustina the Younger (c. 130 AD,^[1][4] – 175/176 AD)^[5] was Roman empress from 161 to her death as the wife of emperor Marcus Aurelius, her maternal cousin. Faustina was the youngest child of emperor Antoninus Pius and empress Faustina the Elder. She was held in high esteem by soldiers and her husband as Augusta and Mater Castrorum (‘Mother of the Camp’) and was given divine honours after her death.

Early life[edit]

Faustina, named after her mother, was her parents’ fourth and youngest child and second daughter; she was also their only child to survive to adulthood. She was born and raised in Rome.

Her second cousin three times removed, Hadrian, had arranged with her father for Faustina to marry Lucius Verus. On 25 February 138, she and Verus were betrothed. Verus’ father was Hadrian’s first adopted son and his intended heir; however, when Verus’ father died, Hadrian chose Faustina’s father to be his second adopted son, and eventually, he became Hadrian’s successor. Faustina’s father ended the engagement between his daughter and Verus and arranged for Faustina’s betrothal to her biological maternal cousin, Marcus Aurelius; Aurelius was also adopted by her father.

Imperial heiress[edit]

In April or May 145,^[6] Faustina and Marcus Aurelius were married, as had been planned since 138. Since Aurelius was, by adoption, Antoninus Pius’ son, under Roman law he was marrying his sister; Antoninus would have had to formally release one or the other from his paternal authority (his patria potestas) for the ceremony to take place.^[7] Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been “noteworthy”.^[8] Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and Antoninus, as Pontifex maximus, would have officiated. Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina.^[9] Faustina was given the title of Augusta on 1 December 147 after the birth of her first child, Domitia Faustina.^[10]

Empress[edit]

When Antoninus died on 7 March 161, Marcus and Lucius Verus ascended to the throne and became co-rulers. Faustina then became empress. Following the birth of her first child in 147, Faustina obtained the title of Augusta granted to her by the Senate, before her husband Marcus Aurelius became Augustus himself in 161.  Aureus Faustina Fica