Strong women of the Roman era - show us your coins!

[LONGINUS]

Thank you for honoring the great women of Rome, @Prieure de Sion!

Happy Valentine’s Day to them all ❤️❤️❤️ !

 

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by LONGINUS

[Alegandron]

What she accomplished in a ego-centric male-driven society is amazing...

ROMAN REPUBLIC SUPER-TABOO...

Fulvia: First Living Woman on a Roman Coin... AND she is depicted as VICTORY

A very powerful and strong Woman in Ancient History, especially in a male-centric Roman Republic.

Roman Republic (disintegrating)
Fulvia
Late summer-autumn 43 BCE
AR Quinarius (13mm, 1.67 g, 5h).
Lugdunum (Lyon) mint.
Obv: Winged bust of Victory right, with the likeness of Fulvia /
Rev: Lion walking right; DVNI (retrograde and inverted) above, LVGV in exergue; A to left, X [L] to right (= 40, Antony’s age at time of issue).
Crawford 489/5; Lyon 2; King 75; CRI 122; Sydenham 1160; Fulvia 4.
Comments: VF, lightly toned, light porosity.
Ex: CNG

Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulvia
The siege at Perusia lasted two months before Octavian starved Lucius into surrender in February 40 BC. After Lucius' surrender, Fulvia fled to Greece with her children. Appian writes that she met Antony in Athens, and he was upset with her involvement in the war. Antony then sailed back to Rome to deal with Octavian, and Fulvia died of an unknown illness in exile in Sicyon, near Corinth, Achaea.[46] After her death, Antony and Octavian used it as an opportunity to blame their quarrelling on her. According to Plutarch, "there was even more opportunity for a reconciliation with Caesar. For when Antony reached Italy, and Caesar manifestly intended to make no charges against him, and Antony himself was ready to put upon Fulvia the blame for whatever was charged against himself."[46] After Fulvia's death, Antony married Octavian's sister, Octavia Minor, to publicly demonstrate his reconciliation with Octavian. Antony never regained his position and influence in Italy.[47]

Once Antony and Octavia were married, she took in and reared all of Fulvia's children. The fate of Fulvia's daughter, Clodia Pulchra, after her divorce from Octavian is unknown. Her son Marcus Antonius Antyllus was executed by Octavian in Alexandria, Egypt in 30 BC. Her youngest child, Iullus Antonius, was spared by Octavian and raised from 40 BC by Octavia Minor. Iullus married Octavia's daughter and Octavian's niece Claudia Marcella Major and they had a son Lucius Antonius and possibly a daughter Iulla Antonia.
 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Alegandron

[ominus1]

...i just took these pics of the gals so imma gonna post'em....they won't mind me being a might tardy cauee, heck i invented the word..:P  these coins are of Lucilla, the sister of the twisted Commodus, who tried to remove him and paid with her life and Sabina, who put up with her husband ...way...& whom we owe, i believe, emperor Anton. Pius..Lucilla's coin is one of those with 'special marks' that only it has....i

[robinjojo]

Nice thread!

Here's an empress that I don't think has been included yet, Fausta, Constantine's second wife.  I'm not sure if she would qualify as one of the strong women of Rome, certainly not in the tradition of Livia or Faustina Junior.  Her notoriety is her execution in 326 AD for alleged adultery.

Fausta, AE 18, Thessalonica Mint, 307–326 AD.

Fausta, as Salus, holding her two sons, Constantine II and Constantius II.

 

And then there is Sabina, wife of Hadrian.  This coin has a wonderfully expressive high relief portrait, one that I think only the Greek die engravers of Alexandria could achieve.

Sabina, BI tetradrachm, Alexandria, Year 15 = 130/1 AD.

Cologne-1262; Dattari-2063; BM-918; RPC-5774 (9 specimens)

Obverse: CABINA - CEBACTH Draped bust r., hair falling behind neck.

Reverse: CABEINA - LIE - CEBACTH Sabina seated l. holding two wheat ears and transverse scepter.

12.84 grams

Edited February 15, 2023 by robinjojo

[Romancollector]

Here are some influential roman women in my collection. 

AE Sestertius of Agrippina Sr.

AR Denarius of Diva Faustina Sr. rev temple of Diva Faustina, ex @kapphnwn

[El Cazador]

2 hours ago, robinjojo said:

Nice thread!

Here's an empress that I don't think has been included yet, Fausta, Constantine's second wife.  I'm not sure if she would qualify as one of the strong women of Rome, certainly not in the tradition of Livia or Faustina Junior.  Her notoriety is her execution in 326 AD for alleged adultery.

Fausta, AE 18, Thessalonica Mint, 307–326 AD.

Fausta, as Salus, holding her two sons, Constantine II and Constantius II.

 

And then there is Sabina, wife of Hadrian.  This coin has a wonderfully expressive high relief portrait, one that I think only the Greek die engravers of Alexandria could achieve.

Sabina, BI tetradrachm, Alexandria, Year 15 = 130/1 AD.

Cologne-1262; Dattari-2063; BM-918; RPC-5774 (9 specimens)

Obverse: CABINA - CEBACTH Draped bust r., hair falling behind neck.

Reverse: CABEINA - LIE - CEBACTH Sabina seated l. holding two wheat ears and transverse scepter.

12.84 grams

Wow, Sabina is superb

[Prieure de Sion]

I get yesterday an Lucilla Denarius from the Savoca Auction - which I would like to present here. Lucilla a woman as a plaything of the powerful, first married to Lucius Verus, then probably against her will to Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus - to end up caught in the cogwheel of "Game of Thrones" and lose her life in the process.

 

Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla under Marcus Aurelius
Denarius of the Roman Imperial Period 164/180 AD; Material: Silver; Diameter: 18mm; Weight: 3.34g; Mint: Rome; Reference: RIC III Marcus Aurelius 765; Provenance: Ex Savoca Numismatik Munich, Germany; Obverse: Bust of Lucilla, bare-headed, hair waved and fastened in a bun on back of head, draped, right. The Inscription reads: LVCILLA AVGVSTA for Lucilla Augusta; Reverse: Fecunditas, draped, seated right on low seat, holding a child on her lap; to right at feet, a child. The Inscription reads: FECVNDITAS for Fecunditas (Fertility); Comment: Fecunditas, the personification of female fertility, was depicted on coins to advertise the stability of the imperial house secured by the birth of successors. A temple was vowed to Fecunditas in Rome in 63 AD by decision of the Senate after Poppaea Sabina had given birth to a daughter for Emperor Nero. On coins Fecundidas is depicted from Antoninus Pius to Claudius Gothicus, usually with a sceptre in his hand and an infant.

 

Like the coins of Faustina Minor, the coinage for her eldest daughter Lucilla lacks any concrete information regarding their dating - the key dates of the Lucilla coins in research are therefore extremely controversial. It is not known when she was awarded the title of Augusta. Fittschen assumes that the conferment took place as a result of the birth of Lucilla's first daughter in 165/166 AD, Schultz assumes the marriage with Lucius Verus in 164 AD as the occasion for the honour. In a third theory, Szaivert assumes a title of Augusta for Lucilla as early as 161 AD, to which he also dates her first coins. 

Just as controversial as the beginning of the Lucilla coinage is its end. The decisive question is whether further Lucilla coins were issued after the death of Lucius Verus. While Fittschen leaves this open and Schultz answers in the affirmative, such a procedure seems unlikely to Szaivert with reference to Lucilla's dynastic insignificance and the lowly descent of her second husband Pompeianus. For already in 166 AD, with Commodus and Annius Verus, two sons of Marcus Aurelius were appointed Caesars and thus successors, which is why Lucilla's role as mother of future heirs no longer applied.

In which period the "Fecunditas" type was issued is therefore difficult to grasp. Possibly since 161 AD (as Augusta, but without a husband?) or 164 AD (as Augusta and the marriage with Lucius Verus) - I think rather the latter, as a symbol of fertility and the desire to preserve the dynastic line through children. Lucilla and Lucius Verus are said to have had a daughter, possibly even two children, together. That the coin was issued for the birth of one of the children is extremely controversial and uncertain. From my point of view, the end of these fecunditas mintings can certainly be dated to 169 AD at the latest, after the death of Lucius Verus - since, as already written, there were no further dynastic reasons to invoke the goddess of fertility.

After the death of Verus, wild rumours ran rampant. Lucilla was also suspected of having murdered her husband. However, it is very unlikely that she was actually responsible for his early death, as she forfeited her influential position as empress. Marcus Aurelius was looking for a new husband for his daughter before the end of the year of mourning. He found him in Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus. He came from Syria and was an older, loyal follower of the emperor, whose strengths lay above all in the military field. He became the emperor's most loyal collaborator during the Marcomannic Wars. Lucilla only submitted to this marriage with resistance, as she would have preferred a younger, more distinguished husband like Avidius Cassius, whom she had met in Syria. Her mother was also against this union. A son Claudius Pompeianus came from the relationship.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius died in 180 AD. Commodus now took power. The hopes of his sister Lucilla that her husband Pompeianus would share power were not fulfilled. There are different accounts of the events of the next two years. One version reports that tensions between Lucilla and Bruttia Crispina, Commodus' wife, severely strained the atmosphere at court. Lucilla felt that she was inferior to her sister-in-law. These courtly disputes probably explain the not unfounded accusation that she had been involved in a conspiracy to overthrow her brother in 181 AD. According to reports by Herodian, Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus Quintianus, together with Marcus Claudius Ummidius Quadratus, had organised a failed attempt on the Emperor's life in the Colosseum. Lucilla was now suspected of having instigated Quintianus and Ummidius Quadratus. While the two men were executed immediately after the assassination, Lucilla was initially banished to the island of Capri. Whether she was actually partly responsible for the assassination of her brother or fell victim to a subsequent wave of purges remains uncertain. She was finally executed in 181 or 182 AD.

 

[Roman Collector]

1 hour ago, Prieure de Sion said:

 

Like the coins of Faustina Minor, the coinage for her eldest daughter Lucilla lacks any concrete information regarding their dating - the key dates of the Lucilla coins in research are therefore extremely controversial. It is not known when she was awarded the title of Augusta. Fittschen assumes that the conferment took place as a result of the birth of Lucilla's first daughter in 165/166 AD, Schultz assumes the marriage with Lucius Verus in 164 AD as the occasion for the honour. In a third theory, Szaivert assumes a title of Augusta for Lucilla as early as 161 AD, to which he also dates her first coins.

Citing his earlier work,[1,2] Szaivert bases his dating on die-studies of the coins of Lucilla and her father, particularly an aureus of the VOTA PVBLICA type (RIC 790; BMCRE 327). He explains, "Angelpunkt der Argumentation ist dabei der Revers VOTA PVBLICA, den ich auf das Jahr 162 festlegen zu können meine.... Beides [Schulz and Fittschen] scheint aber nach der Analyse der Goldstempel unmöglich, die diese Vota-Prägungen mitten in die Produktion mit der langen Averlegende einbindet."[3] I translate this as "The focal point of the argument is the reverse VOTA PVBLICA, which I think I can pin down to the year 162.... However, both [Schultz and Fittschen] seem impossible according to the analysis of the gold issues, which include these Vota coins in the middle of the emissions with the long obverse legend."

This makes sense of the titulature of her early coinage focusing on her relationship to her father, Marcus Aurelius. Then, upon her marriage to Verus at Ephesus in 164, she assumed the shortened legend LVCILLA AVGVSTA as befitted a full Augusta. Lucilla continued to bear the title of Augusta until her death in 182, but it is extremely unlikely that coins continued to be issued after the death of Verus in 169, and certainly not after her subsequent marriage to Ti. Claudius Pompeianus. Szaivert advocates an end to her coinage around 166/167.[4]

Notes:

1. Wolfgang Szaivert, "Zur Chronologie der Lucillapraegungen," J.N.G. 30, 1980, pp. 7-14.

2. Wolfgang Szaivert, "Die Prägestrukturen im 1. und 2. Jahrhundert in Rom," in T. Hackens and R. Weiller (eds) Actes du 9ème Congris International de Numismatique: Berne, Septembre 1979, (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1982), pp. 351 ff.

3. Szaivert, Wolfgang, Die Münzprägung der Kaiser Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus und Commodus (161/192), Moneta Imperii Romani 18. Vienna, 1989, pp. 231-232.

4. Ibid., p. 232.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Roman Collector

[Sulla80]

I'll add this sestertius to the long list of nice coins from empresses in this thread:

Marcia Otacilia Severa. Augusta, AD 244-249, Æ Sestertius, Rome mint, AD 244-249

Obv: Draped bust right, wearing stephane / Pudicitia seated left, drawing veil and holding scepter

Ref: RIC IV 209a (Philip I)

[Prieure de Sion]

1 hour ago, Roman Collector said:

This makes sense of the titulature of her early coinage focusing on her relationship to her father, Marcus Aurelius. Then, upon her marriage to Verus at Ephesus in 164, she assumed the shortened legend LVCILLA AVGVSTA as befitted a full Augusta. Lucilla continued to bear the title of Augusta until her death in 182, but it is extremely unlikely that coins continued to be issued after the death of Verus in 169, and certainly not after her subsequent marriage to Ti. Claudius Pompeianus. Szaivert advocates an end to her coinage around 166/167.[4]

Thanks RC...  it's nice that we don't always just show each other pictures, but also exchange information and arguments about the historical background.
Thank you therefore.

[Prieure de Sion]

I still have a late arrival to report today. I simply couldn't say no to this stylistically beautiful portrait of Sabina. Shocked in love 🙂 

 

Sabina. Wife of Hadrian, 128-136/7 AD. As (Bronze, 26.94 mm, 12.48 g). Rome mint. SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P Draped bust to right, wearing stephane. R/ Vesta seated left, holding palladium and sceptre; SC in exergue. Cohen 66. BMC Hadrian 1902. RIC Hadrian 1024. RIC II.3, Hadrian 2496.