Faustina Friday – The Children of Faustina the Younger, Part II

[Roman Collector]

Friday felicitations, fellow Faustina Fanatics! I hope you have a coin-filled weekend ahead.

In Part I of this series, we explored the abundant historical and numismatic evidence for the birth of Domitia Faustina on 30 November 147 CE and for the numismatic evidence for the birth of Lucilla on 7 March 149. In contrast to the extensive numismatic output for Domitia Faustina and Lucilla, today's installment features more conjecture than coinage. We will discuss the scant numismatic evidence for a birthdate for Faustina III as well as discuss some coins of Faustina the Younger that depict children, but don't quite fit the paradigm of an otherwise well-founded chronology of births. Today's installment covers much of the decade of the 150s, a period for which the primary sources are nearly silent about the births of Faustina and Marcus's children and for which the numismatic record is similarly sparce. Were this a map, it would be represented by a vague depiction of an ocean labelled "here be monsters."



Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, known as Faustina III, born 150/151 CE

Ameling and Levick assign a birth year of 150/151 CE for Faustina III.[1] Bol assigns her birth to 151 or 153 because she shares a basis (ILS 8803) with T. Aelius Antoninus in the exedra of Herodes Atticus at Olympia.[2] Similarly, Birley assigns her birth to "no later than 153."[3] But a birth year of 152 CE is rather well established for T. Aelius Antoninus and a date of 153 for the completion of the exedra of Herodes Atticus is most probable.[4] Therefore, it is very likely that Faustina III was born before her brother T. Aelius Antoninus and I accept Ameling and Levick's date of 150/151 CE for the date of Faustina III's birth.

But is there numismatic celebration of the birth of a daughter in 150 or 151 CE? If such a coin were issued in Faustina's name, it would likely bear the dative obverse inscription FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, which was in use from December 147 to about May 151 if gold or silver, or to the end of summer 151 CE if bronze. A coin from the later months of 151 could bear the nominative inscription, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL if gold or silver, or FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL no matter the denomination.[5, 6] Moreover, it would feature the empress with the Beckmann Type 2 hairstyle, in use from the birth of Lucilla on March 7, 149 CE through the autumn of 154 CE.

No coin of Faustina's clearly fits the bill with the proper combination of obverse inscription and hairstyle that depict an infant born in 150 or 151 CE. Moreover, there are no coins from Marcus’s TR POT XIII or XIIII periods that have reverse types suggestive of the birth of a child. Even expanding the date range to include a birth year for Faustina III of 153 similarly yields nothing. But what about Antoninus Pius? Were there any coins issued during Pius's TR POT XIII or XIIII with iconography suggestive of the birth of a grandchild in 150 or 151 CE? Perhaps.

Enigmatic aurei depicting a single female child

The years extending from 10 December 149 to 9 December 150 and from 10 December 150 to 9 December 151 saw the issuance of aurei in Antoninus Pius's name with the reverse inscription LAETITIA COS IIII and depicting Ceres standing right, holding corn ears, and to her right, Proserpina standing facing, head left, holding a pomegranate.[7]

Aureus of Antoninus Pius issued 10 December 149 – 9 December 150 bearing the reverse inscription LAETITIA COS IIII and depicting Ceres with Proserpina. British Museum specimen, BMCRE 714. Aurei of the same reverse type were issued the following tribunician year as well; cf. BMCRE 725.

In the Antonine period, the Laetitia reverse type is associated with the birth of a child into the imperial family and it's tempting to interpret this aureus as celebrating the birth of a child in 150 or 151 CE. Indeed, the reverse iconography of Ceres with her daughter Proserpina readily invokes the imagery of Faustina and a daughter. Strack, writing in the 1930s, identified the pair as representing Faustina the Younger and Lucilla.[8] But the evidence indicates that Lucilla was born in 149. Therefore, if this coin is intended to represent an actual daughter born to Faustina the Younger, the dates on the aurei are consistent only with the birth of Faustina III.

There are a few objections to interpreting the figures on the reverse as Faustina II and Faustina III, but none are insurmountable. The first objection is that the reverse type appears to have been issued two years in a row. This is easily explained if the reverse type was initiated at the very end of Pius's TR POT XIII and continued into his TR POT XIIII. This would date the coin to somewhere from the end of 150 to the beginning of 151 CE, entirely consistent with the probable birth year of Faustina III. The second objection is that only one child is depicted instead of two, the other being Lucilla. The counterargument is that the myth of Ceres and Proserpina requires the depiction of only one child. Lastly, there is the objection that the coin depicts an older child, not an infant, and this isn't consistent with birth iconography. The counterargument is similar; the myth requires that Proserpina be depicted as a child of marriageable age.

Taking all of this into account, the most intellectually honest interpretation of the coin's reverse is that it may well commemorate the birth of Faustina III, but might simply depict Ceres and Proserpina.

An enigmatic sestertius depicting a single female child

What are we to make of this issue in bronze with the obverse inscription FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL and the Beckmann Type 2 coiffure? With this combination of obverse inscription and hairstyle, it must date from about June 152 through the autumn of 154 CE.[6]

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 23.61g, 34.2 mm, 7 h.
Rome, c. June 152- autumn 154 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: PIETAS S C, Pietas standing facing, head left, holding flower and cornucopiae, with girl standing facing, head to right, to her left.
Refs: RIC 1379; BMCRE 2177-79; Cohen 173; RCV 4715; Strack 1321.
Notes: Ex Antonio Carmona collection, ex-Roma E-sale 82, lot 1380, 15 April, 2021.

Sear identifies the girl on the reverse as Lucilla,[9] but this hypothesis seems untenable, given the date range this coin was issued. At the time this coin was issued, Faustina had at least two living children and possibly three. The oldest child, Domitia Faustina, had probably died before Faustina III was born.[10] Birley places her death in 151,[11] Bol tentatively in 150.[12] Yet Lucilla was alive, of course, and Faustina III was likely a toddler at the time this coin was issued. Their infant brother might possibly have still been among the living as well. Why would only one child be depicted here? Might this coin celebrate the birth of Faustina III in 153 CE? That seems to be a case of special pleading, particularly given that the child depicted on the coin is old enough to stand and Faustina III was probably born earlier. I think the most likely explanation is that the child here simply represents an attribute of Pietas, not an actual child in the imperial family.

So, there is very little in the way of numismatic commemoration of the birth of Faustina III. But not to worry; she was not completely ignored. Faustina III survived until the beginning of Commodus's reign (180/181) and she appears among her siblings on several coins issued to commemorate later imperial births, as we'll see in Part III of this series on Faustina the Younger's children.

T. Aelius Antoninus or T. Aurelius Antoninus, born 152 CE

The Fasti Ostienses attest to the birth of a son to Faustina in 152, but he is unnamed. A child named T. Aelius Antoninus shares the Olympia basis with Faustina III, as discussed above. However, the funerary inscriptions in the Mausoleum of Hadrian – the resting place of Marcus and Faustina's children – do not mention a child by that name. Rather, these inscriptions (unfortunately undated) do mention a T. Aurelius Antoninus. Both Ameling and Vidman consider these two names as representing the same child.[13]

Sadly, there are no coins that definitively commemorate the birth of a child to Marcus and Faustina in 152 CE. This strongly suggests the boy died in infancy, for had the boy survived longer, the birth of a male heir would certainly have been worthy of commemoration on coinage. The scant historical record suggests the boy died in 152, the same year as Marcus's sister Cornificia.[14]

An enigmatic bronze medallion with an early obverse inscription but a hairstyle in use much later

What are we to make of this unique anepigraphic medallion in the Staatliches Münzkabinett in Berlin? It depicts a female figure standing right, laying her right hand on a cornucopiae held by two(?) children, and holding a baby in her left arm. Before her stands another child, who appears to be a girl. It suggests the birth of a child, but dating it is very problematic.

Anepigraphic medallion (38 mm, 50.28 g), Staatliches Münzkabinett in Berlin (Strack 726). Gnecchi II p.42, 31 and pl. 69, 6.

This medallion is in a poor state of preservation and its devices are less than clear. We know through die-matching it to another medallion of a different reverse type that its obverse inscription reads FAVSTINA AVG PII AVGVSTI F and that it bears a hairstyle that is not represented on the coinage intended for circulation.[15] It's not an unreasonable assumption that FAVSTINA AVG PII AVGVSTI F corresponds to the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL inscription in use from about June 152 through December 155 on the coinage intended for circulation. Therefore, it is not inconceivable that the coin dates to 152 CE. The hairstyle, however, in no way resembles the Beckmann Type 2 coiffure seen on all other coins of the empress at the time of her firstborn son's birth. If anything, it resembles the Beckmann Type 6 hairstyle used from 157-159 CE or the Type 8 hairstyle of 161-162 CE. These details alone give one pause about assuming the infant here is intended to represent Faustina’s firstborn son.

Moreover, are there two children holding the cornucopiae or only one? If there are two, that brings a total of four children depicted, which is inconsistent with the number of living children at the time T. Aelius (or Aurelius) Antoninus was born. As Domitia Faustina had died, only Lucilla and Faustina III were alive at the time.

In light of the difficulties in reconciling the hairstyle and number of children depicted on the coin to the historical situation in 152 CE, the conclusion that the medallion does not depict the birth of T. Aelius (or Aurelius) Antoninus is inescapable. Either the medallion depicts the birth of a later child, such as Cornificia, or it doesn't represent the actual children of Faustina the Younger at all. Gnecchi proposes the medallion is probably an allusion to the Puellae Faustinae charity established by Antoninus Pius to assist orphan girls. This seems the best interpretation of the medallion's iconography.

An enigmatic medium bronze depicting two girls

What are we to make of this unique medium bronze with the obverse inscription FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, known only from the Vierordt collection? As was the case with the PIETAS sestertius above, with this obverse inscription and hairstyle, the coin must date from about June 152 through the autumn of 154 CE. It appears to depict two girls.

Jacques Schulman B.V., Amsterdam, Auction 139, Vierordt collection, lot 1642 (Pl. XXXVII), 5 March 1923.

Could one of these two girls be Faustina III? Moreover, as discussed above, a son, named either T. Aelius Antoninus or T. Aurelius Antoninus, likely died in infancy. Might this coin date from 153 or 154 CE, after the deaths of Domitia Faustina and the firstborn son, when Lucilla was four or five years old and Faustina III two or three? The inscription and hairstyle on the coin are consistent with this hypothesis. However, the imagery on the coin's reverse depicts two girls of about the same size, not necessarily two sisters, one two years older than the other.[16] Might the two children simply be attributes of Hilaritas and not Faustina's two surviving daughters? It's unclear, but in light of a dated denarius of Antoninus Pius with similar iconography, albeit issued three or four years later, I'm inclined to believe it represents Lucilla and Faustina III.

A less enigmatic denarius depicting two girls

The iconography on this denarius dated December 155 – December 156 CE is straightforward because it is dated. A female figure (Pietas, according to most references) stands facing, head left, holding her arms out above the heads of two children standing left on her right and left.

Silver denarius of Antoninus Pius (RIC 253a) depicting a female figure and two girls, one larger than the other. British Museum specimen, BMCRE 857).

This coin almost certainly depicts Lucilla and Faustina III, the only surviving grandchildren of Antoninus Pius in 156 CE.

A son who died in infancy, born 157 CE (T. Aelius Aurelius?)

In contrast to the situation with Faustina III and T. Aelius (or Aurelius) Antoninus, for whom no coins appear to have been struck on the occasion of their births, three coin designs commemorating the birth of a child in 157 CE are well attested. These are the DIANA LVCIF issue in all metals and the two FECVNDITATI AVGVSTAE issues in gold.

The DIANA LVCIF issue

Lucifera was the epithet of Diana in her role not only as moon goddess, but as a goddess of childbirth. Quintus Balbus, as recorded by Cicero, notes that Diana Lucifera was invoked by Greek women in childbirth. He states that Diana as moon goddess was invoked "at childbirth because children are born occasionally after seven, or usually after nine, lunar revolutions."[17] Other traditions clarify that whereas Juno Lucina was the patron of mothers in childbirth, Diana was the patron-protector of the infant. This is because as a baby herself, Diana was said to have helped her mother in the delivery of her twin brother, Apollo.[18] I have previously written about Diana Lucifera as a goddess of childbirth vis-à-vis the coinage of 157 CE and their relationship to the birth of T. Aelius Aurelius. Here are several coins of the DIANA LVCIF issue. Except for the aureus, all coins shown are from my own collection.

Aureus (RIC 673), British Museum collection, featuring the Diana Lucifera reverse type of 157 CE. All aurei of this type appear to have been produced from two obverse dies, each depicting the empress facing left and wearing the Beckmann type 6 coiffure.[19]

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman AR denarius, 2.83 g, 16.6 mm, 5 h.
Rome, 157 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: DIANA LVCIF, Diana standing left, holding long transverse lighted torch with both hands.
Refs: RIC 674; BMCRE 87-88; Cohen 85; Strack 520b; RCV 5250; MIR 7-4/10a; CRE 174.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 25.96 g, 30.6 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 157 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: DIANA LVCIF S C, Diana standing left, holding long transverse lighted torch with both hands.
Refs: RIC 1628; BMCRE 897-98; Cohen 87; Strack 1333; RCV –; MIR 7-6/10a.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman Æ as or dupondius, 10.87 g, 26.3 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 157 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: DIANA LVCIF S C, Diana standing left, holding long transverse lighted torch with both hands.
Refs: RIC 1629; BMCRE 972-73; Cohen 86; Strack 1333; RCV 5293; MIR 7-7/10a.

The FECVNDITATI AVGVSTAE issues

These issues were limited to the aureus denominations. The coins depict Faustina as Fecunditas, either standing or seated. On each type, she holds an infant and is flanked by two girls. As discussed below, the infant must be the son born in 157 CE, with the two girls being Lucilla and Faustina III, the boy's only two siblings still alive at the time. Each of these two reverse types is known with both right-facing and left-facing obverse bust variants. I do not own specimens of these aurei and I naturally illustrate them with museum specimens in the public domain.

Aureus (RIC 679), ANS collection (1958.223.10), depicting Faustina as Fecunditas, standing facing, head right, holding an infant boy (nude, therefore male), two girls standing alongside her.

Aureus (RIC 681), Münzkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (18273319), depicting Faustina as Fecunditas, seated right, holding an infant, two girls standing alongside her.

Dating the DIANA LVCIF and FECVNDITATI AVGVSTAE issues

We are on very solid ground when dating these issues to 157 CE. The date is supported by both hoard analysis and Beckmann's die-linkage study of Faustina's aurei. In the 1930s, Strack worked out the date of the FECVNDITATI AVGVSTAE seated issue based upon a hoard of aurei found in Egypt in the 1920s. The hoard included aurei of Pius dated by tribunician power to 143 (1 coin), 145 (1 coin), 146 (2 coins), 148 (1 coin), 149 (2 coins), 153 (2 coins), 154 (1 coin), 156 (6 coins), and 157 CE (29 coins). There are no later coins, so 157 CE is not only the terminal year of the hoard, but also the production year of half its contents. The hoard also included seven coins of Faustina II: 5 of Diana with a bow (filiation on reverse) and 2 of the Fecunditas seated with three children reverse (FECVNDITATI AVGVSTAE).[20]

In addition to Strack's hoard analysis, Beckmann's die study shows clearly that the DIANA LVCIF and both FECVNDITATI AVGVSTAE reverse types were in use at the same time in 157 CE, just after the transition between coins with and without mention of her father.[20]

Martin Beckmann's die-linkage chart demonstrating the appearance of the DIANA LVCIF and FECVNDITATI AVGVSTAE reverse types following the loss of filiation on the reverse in 157 CE.

Thus, the numismatic evidence of a birth to Faustina in 157 CE is extremely strong. The child in question can only be the son referred to in Marcus's letter to Smyrna (IGR 4.1399) acknowledging congratulations on the birth. Sadly, this boy died in infancy, in late 157 or early 158. Ameling is inclined to identify him with the T. Aelius Aurelius in the funerary inscriptions in the Mausoleum of Hadrian.[21]

Conclusions
 

• Faustina III was probably born in 150/151 CE, though some scholars believe she was born in 153. She was still alive in 180/181 at the beginning of Commodus's reign. Her birth may have been celebrated on aurei of Antoninus Pius issued between late 150 and early 151 CE that depict Faustina II and Faustina III as Ceres and Proserpina. In addition, she may be depicted along with her older sister Lucilla on a unique medium bronze of the HILARITAS reverse type, and is almost certainly depicted with Lucilla on a denarius of Antoninus Pius with similar iconography dated 156 CE.
   
• A son born in 152 died in infancy and inscriptions written during Faustina's lifetime do not agree whether he was named T. Aelius Antoninus or T. Aurelius Antoninus.
  

• A son was born in 157 to great numismatic fanfare but he too died in infancy. The funerary inscriptions in the Mausoleum of Hadrian are undated, but through process of elimination, some scholars have concluded this son was named T. Aelius Aurelius.

Comments and coins encouraged! Post anything you feel is relevant.

~~~

Notes

1. Levick, Barbara. Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 116.

2. Bol, Renate. "Das Statuenprogramm des Herodes–Atticus–nymphäums." (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Olympische Forschungen, 15 (1984): 31-45; specifically, p. 41.

3. Birley, Anthony R. Marcus Aurelius: A Biography. New York: Routledge, 1966, p. 108.

4. Avotins, Ivars. "On the dating of the exedra of Herodes Atticus at Olympia." Phoenix, vol. 29, no. 3, 1975, pp. 244–249, https://doi.org/10.2307/1087617.

5. Curtis L. Clay, personal communication, 13 September 2021.

6. See my installment of Faustina Friday of 22 April 2022 titled "Dating the Empress's Obverse Titulature Using a Limited Reverse Type" for details of the dating of the various obverse inscriptions.

7. In contrast to older references, Curtis Clay has proposed that at the time of Antoninus Pius's 13th-15th tribunician years, his tribunician day was not 10 December, but the anniversary of the date Hadrian adopted and conferred tribunician power to him and when the Senate proclaimed him Caesar: 25 February 138 CE. Under Clay’s system, the coins in question would date from 25 February 150 CE to 24 February 152, which is not at all inconceivable with a proposed birth year of Faustina III of 150/151.

8. As cited in Dinsdale, Paul H. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Caesar AD 138-161; Second Revised Edition. Leeds, Paul H Dinsdale, 2021, p. 114 n.1.

9. Sear, David R., Roman Coins and their Values, vol. 2, The Accession of Nerva to the Overthrow of the Severan Dynasty, A.D. 96 -A.D. 235. London, 2002, p. 284.

10. Levick, op. cit., p. 114; Birley, op. cit., p. 108.

11. As cited in Levick, op. cit., p. 116.

12. Bol, op. cit., p. 41; cited in Levick, op. cit., p. 116.

13. Ameling, Walter. Die Kinder des Marc Aurel und die Bildnistypen der Faustina Minor. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 90 (1992):147-166; Vidman, Ladislav. Fasti Ostienses. Ceskoslovenska Akademie Ved, 1982; each cited in Levick, op. cit., p. 117.

14. Birley, op. cit., p. 108.

15. Classical Numismatic Group, Triton VIII, lot 1148, 10 January 2005.

16. Beckmann's statement that "this composition suggests a date contemporary to [the issue of Marcus Aurelius with] Concordia with two children on the gold" is untenable. That coin dates to 149 CE, a date utterly incompatible with the obverse inscription on the middle bronze of Faustina.

17. Cicero, Marcus Tullius; Walsh, P.G. (trans.). The Nature of the Gods (Reissue). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 70–72.

18. "Artemis Goddess of Hunting, Wild Animals, Children and Birth." Theoi.com, https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/ArtemisGoddess.html.

19. Beckmann, Martin, Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image, A.N.S. Numismatic Studies 43, American Numismatic Society, New York, 2021, pp. 51-53.

20. Beckmann, op. cit., p. 52-53.

21. Levick, op. cit., p. 117.

[expat]

A fascinating read. Great coins and perplexing questions raised. Enjoyed that a lot.

[LONGINUS]

Thank you for your Black Friday greetings and for another great write-up @Roman Collector!

 

 

[Roman Collector]

6 hours ago, expat said:

A fascinating read. Great coins and perplexing questions raised. Enjoyed that a lot.

Thank you for the kind words! It's always a pleasure to hear a reader enjoys Faustina Friday.

5 hours ago, LONGINUS said:

Thank you for your Black Friday greetings and for another great write-up @Roman Collector!

 

 

I LOVE it!!!

[happy_collector]

Thanks for your another great Faustina Friday article, @Roman Collector. I enjoy seeing the cool coins and reading the details behind.

Here is a sestertius I believe belongs to the similar time period. 🙂

Faustina Junior. Augusta, AD 161. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 23.18 g, 12h). Rome mint. 
Obv: Draped bust right, hair waved and fastened in chignon with a band of pearls low at back of head
Rev: Juno, holding infant, standing left between two young girls.
RIC III 1649; MIR 18,18-6a; Banti 75.
CNG e-Auction, Nov 2022. 

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by happy_collector

[Roman Collector]

25 minutes ago, happy_collector said:

Thanks for your another great Faustina Friday article, @Roman Collector. I enjoy seeing the cool coins and reading the details behind.

Here is a sestertius I believe belongs to the similar time period. 🙂

Faustina Junior. Augusta, AD 161. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 23.18 g, 12h). Rome mint. 
Obv: Draped bust right, hair waved and fastened in chignon with a band of pearls low at back of head
Rev: Juno, holding infant, standing left between two young girls.
RIC III 1649; MIR 18,18-6a; Banti 75.
CNG e-Auction, Nov 2022. 

 

Close! That's in next week's installment!