Gold Aureus of Marcus Aurelius, 7.19 g.

Gold Aureus of Marcus Aurelius, 7.19 g.

Marcus Aurelius

159 CE

Obverse: Draped bust of Faustina the Younger facing right; FAVSTINA AVGVSTA: Faustina Augusta.

Reverse: Faustina standing facing right, with infant in left arm; a small girl standing on either side reaches toward her; FECVNDITATI AVGVSTAE: for the fruitfulness of the Augusta.

Style/Period: Roman Empire

Faustina the Younger (see 91.182, 91.183), daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder, married her cousin, Marcus Aurelius, in 145 CE at the age of fifteen. She had thirteen children. After the birth of her first child in 146 CE she received the title Augusta and began to appear on coins. She travelled with Aurelius on his military campaigns, which earned her the title Mater Castrorum, Mother of the Camps, and it was on one of these trips to the East that she died in 176 CE. Aurelius deified her, erected an altar to her, gave her the title Pia or Pius, and at his request the village in Cappadocia where she died was renamed Faustinopolis.
This coin celebrates Faustina as the mother of the imperial family, depicting her with three of her children, Faustina, Lucilla, and Fadilla in 159 CE. Only four of her children survived to adulthood, three girls and the future emperor Commodus (see 91.188).
-- Kathleen L. Metzger Newmyer, LU '94

Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London 1930) 679.

Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Bought from Coin Galleries, December 12, 1959.

91.181

Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890

Roman, Empire, Faustina the Younger, infant, girl, Marcus Aurelius