Faustina Friday – The Aeternitas Holding Phoenix Issues of Faustina the Elder

[Roman Collector]

Friday felicitations, fellow Faustina fanatics! It's springtime! I hope you have a pleasant, coin-filled spring weekend. This week, as if you couldn't tell from the title of this installment, we'll take an in-depth look at the Aeternitas holding phoenix issues of Faustina the Elder, which have a lot of varieties for the specialist collector.

Thanks to the work of Martin Beckmann,[1] we have been able to arrange the undated coinage of Faustina I in chronological order and, in many cases, assign a rough date of issue. Beckmann accomplished this by constructing a nearly complete sequence of die-linkages for the aurei, supported by additional shorter, but corroborative, die-linkages amongst the aurei and the sestertii. Moreover, by studying hybrids of dated coins of Antoninus Pius or Aurelius Caesar which bear Faustina's reverse types, and by studying the connections of issues to other dated events, he has been able to assign actual – not just relative – dates to certain issues.

Faustina's posthumous coinage is divided into five main phases commencing with the deification and funeral of Faustina. The issue I discuss today belongs to the fifth and final of these, which commenced in AD 150 for the tenth anniversary of Faustina's death and deification but continued for some years afterward. These coins generally bear the late obverse inscription DIVA FAVSTINA, but four reverse types feature the earlier DIVA AVG FAVSTINA legend used shortly after Faustina's death. I have previously written about these anachronistic issues. Of these four types, three of them, including this one, may also bear the dative case inscription DIVAE FAVSTINAE. These dative case varieties are quite rare, and I have previously written about them.

Among the fifth phase were a large series of coins in all metals bearing the reverse inscription AETERNITAS. Mattingly[2] rightfully explains, however, that the coins of the large series of AETERNITAS reverse types issued for Faustina cannot be taken simply as the name of a goddess, Aeternitas, because the various figures have the accoutrements associated with several different goddesses and personifications. He explains:
 

It is ... difficult to define the character of the figures associated with the legend. They may be regarded as varying representations of the spirit of Aeternitas with emblems borrowed from the goddesses and virtues who inhabit her sphere; or, as so many goddesses, Juno, Fortuna, and the rest; or as Diva Faustina, bearing the attributes of such goddesses in Eternity. The third probably comes nearest the the exact quality of Roman thought but, in the text, we have thought it best to define the types as far as possible by their attributes – Juno by her sceptre and Fortuna by her rudder.

The reverse figure on the coins we shall discuss today is unambiguously to be identified as Aeternitas, the personification of eternity itself.[3] That is because she holds a phoenix, a symbol of cyclical time, since the phoenix was reborn in flames every 500 years.[4] The phoenix is one of four attributes that are unequivocally associated with Aeternitas on Antonine coinage. The other three attributes are the large circular hoop of the Zodiac, the large starry globe on which the figure is seated, and the starry veil billowing around head of the figure.[5]

There are two reverse types depicting Aeternitas holding a phoenix: one depicting Aeternitas standing left, holding a phoenix in her right hand and raising the hem of her stola with her left, and one depicting her seated left, holding a phoenix on globe in her right hand and a scepter in her left. The Aeternitas standing reverse type was used for the denarius, sestertius, and middle bronze denominations; the Aeternitas seated type only appears on the bronze denominations. The two types seem to have been issued more or less simultaneously in the late 150s,[6] shortly after the appearance of the issue featuring Aeternitas standing front, head left, holding globe, and with left hand holding starry veil which billows around her head.[7]

The deified empress appears only with a right-facing bust but may be depicted either bare-headed (most common and in all denominations) or with a veiled bust (rare and in the bronze denominations only). Here are representative examples from my own collection, supplemented as needed with museum specimens or auction photos.

Let's see your coins depicting Aeternitas, phoenices, or anything else you feel is relevant!

Aeternitas Standing

Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman AR denarius, 3.33 g, 17.8 mm, 5 h.
Rome, c. AD 155-161.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS, Aeternitas, draped, standing left, holding phoenix on extended right hand and raising fold of skirt with left hand.
Refs: RIC 347; BMCRE 354-57; Cohen 11; Strack 446; RCV 4576; CRE 70.
Notes: The phoenix is often depicted nimbate and occasionally standing on a globe.

Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 22.40 g, 32.6 mm, 4 h.
Rome, c. AD 155-161.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Aeternitas standing facing, head left, holding phoenix (nimbate right) on globe in right hand and with left hand drawing out fold of skirt.
Refs: RIC 1105(a); BMCRE 1490, 1493; Cohen 12; RCV 4607.

Sestertius of the type depicting Faustina with a veiled bust (RIC 1105(b). British Museum collection, BMCRE 1494.

Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman Æ as or dupondius, 13.81 g, 27.3 mm, 12 h.
Rome, c. AD 155-161.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Aeternitas standing facing, head left, holding phoenix (nimbate right) on globe in right hand and with left hand drawing out fold of skirt.
Refs: RIC 1157; BMCRE 1544-47; Cohen 13; Strack 1261; RCV 4638.

Aeternitas Seated

Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 26.57 gm, 32.5 mm, 1 h.
Rome, c. AD 155-161.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS SC, Aeternitas enthroned left, holding phoenix (nimbate right) on globe and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1103A(a); BMCRE 1482-86; Cohen 15; Strack 1265; RCV 4606.

Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 25.79 gm, 31.4 mm, 12 h.
Rome, c. AD 155-161.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS SC, Aeternitas enthroned left, holding phoenix on globe and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1103A(b); BMCRE 1487-89; Cohen 17; Strack 1265; RCV 4606 var.
Note: Rare with veiled bust; Beckmann notes only two obverse dies with veiled busts paired with this reverse type.[8]

Faustina I, 138-140 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 21.54 g, 29.1 mm, 5 h.
Rome, c. 155-161 CE.
Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS SC, Aeternitas enthroned left, holding phoenix facing right on globe and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1103B; BMCRE 1415A; Cohen 20; Strack 1251; RCV –.

Faustina I, 138-140 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 21.82 g, 31.7 mm, 11 h.
Rome, c, 155-161 CE.
Obv: DIVAE FAVSTINAE, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Aeternitas seated left, holding phoenix on globe and transverse scepter.
Refs: RIC –; BMCRE 1606; Cohen –; Strack 1255; RCV –.
Notes: BMCRE 1606n. – the veiled or stephaned variants listed in the footnotes are likely misdescribed (Cohen 19; RIC 1104).

Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman Æ as or dupondius, 10.91 gm, 27.3 mm, 12 h.
Rome, c. AD 155-161.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS SC, Aeternitas enthroned left, holding phoenix on globe and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1156(a); BMCRE 1549-50; Cohen 16; Strack 1265; RCV 4637.

Medium bronze of the type depicting Faustina with a veiled bust (RIC 1156(b)). Auktionshaus H.D. Rauch, E-Auction 11, lot 402, 23 March 2012.

~~~

Notes

1. Beckmann, Martin. Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces. American Numismatic Society, 2012.

2. Mattingly, Harold, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. Introduction, indexes and plates. London, BMP, 1968, p. lxii.

3. Welch, Bill. "Aeternitas on Roman Coins." What I Like About Ancient Coins, Forum Ancient Coins, https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_aeternitas.html.

4. Harris, Paul A, and Michael Crawford, editors. Time and Uncertainty (The Study of Time, Volume: 11). Brill, 2004, p. 179.

5. Dinsdale, Paul H. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Caesar AD 138-161; Second Revised Edition. Leeds, Paul H Dinsdale, 2021, p. 234.

6. Beckmann, op. cit., pp. 70-71.

7. Beckmann, op. cit., Die Chart 17.

8. Dies df 12 and df 17, ibid.

Edited March 22 by Roman Collector
Fix a broken link

[Marsyas Mike]

I am even more excited than usual by today's Faustina Friday, @Roman Collector.  It what is probably not my best purchasing move, I bought one of these yesterday - the seller has had it listed for a year, at least.  I've passed on it because it has a hole...and not very good photos.  But I succumbed yesterday because he made me an offer and I can't resist "bargains" - at the risk of jinxing myself, here it is in a grungy old cardboard flip.  I'm not even sure if it is a sestertius or a dupondius (it is kind of yellow):

I say "jinxing" because the last coin I bought from Canada took three months to get to me, after being inexplicably sent back to the seller (by USPS) as being undeliverable, although the address was correct.  Anyway, I justified the purchase because I love the colors and I can actually see the phoenix (nimbate). 

I do have another one - no hole but very worn (only a hint of a phoenix if you tilt it towards the light) - this has the SC in the fields rather than the exergue, unlike most of them: 

Faustina I  Æ Sestertius (c. 155-161 A.D.)     Rome Mint DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right / [AETERNITAS] S [C] across fields, Aeternitas seated left on throne holding phoenix on globe and scepter. RIC 1103A(a); BMC 1482-86. (21.36 grams / 29 mm) eBay July 2017  Lot  $15.00

Attribution Note:   Most examples have the SC in the exergue; this one is in the fields.  Out of over 130 auctions in acsearch, seven were in the fields.  (March 25, 2022)

Your posts are always my primary source for these, so again, thanks for going to the effort.  

 

 

[Roman Collector]

11 hours ago, Marsyas Mike said:

I am even more excited than usual by today's Faustina Friday, @Roman Collector.  It what is probably not my best purchasing move, I bought one of these yesterday - the seller has had it listed for a year, at least.  I've passed on it because it has a hole...and not very good photos.  But I succumbed yesterday because he made me an offer and I can't resist "bargains" - at the risk of jinxing myself, here it is in a grungy old cardboard flip.  I'm not even sure if it is a sestertius or a dupondius (it is kind of yellow):

I say "jinxing" because the last coin I bought from Canada took three months to get to me, after being inexplicably sent back to the seller (by USPS) as being undeliverable, although the address was correct.  Anyway, I justified the purchase because I love the colors and I can actually see the phoenix (nimbate). 

I do have another one - no hole but very worn (only a hint of a phoenix if you tilt it towards the light) - this has the SC in the fields rather than the exergue, unlike most of them: 

Faustina I  Æ Sestertius (c. 155-161 A.D.)     Rome Mint DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right / [AETERNITAS] S [C] across fields, Aeternitas seated left on throne holding phoenix on globe and scepter. RIC 1103A(a); BMC 1482-86. (21.36 grams / 29 mm) eBay July 2017  Lot  $15.00

Attribution Note:   Most examples have the SC in the exergue; this one is in the fields.  Out of over 130 auctions in acsearch, seven were in the fields.  (March 25, 2022)

Your posts are always my primary source for these, so again, thanks for going to the effort.  

 

 

Thank you for the kind words and I'm glad today's theme was so timely!! There are lots of interesting variations on these coins and I think they were issued over a period of several months. 

[Marsyas Mike]

On 3/22/2024 at 10:03 AM, Marsyas Mike said:

It what is probably not my best purchasing move, I bought one of these yesterday - the seller has had it listed for a year, at least.  I've passed on it because it has a hole...and not very good photos.  But I succumbed yesterday because he made me an offer and I can't resist "bargains" - at the risk of jinxing myself, here it is in a grungy old cardboard flip.  I'm not even sure if it is a sestertius or a dupondius (it is kind of yellow):

My new Faustina I seated Aeternitas (or whoever she is) and phoenix came in - out of the holder it looks a lot better.  Too bad about the hole, but at least it is small and doesn't hit any of the legends or design: 

Faustina I  Æ Sestertius (c. 155-161 A.D.) See notes. Rome Mint DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right / [AET]ERNITA[S] | SC in exergue, Aeternitas seated left on throne holding phoenix nimbate on globe and scepter. RIC III Antoninus Pius 1103Aa; BMCRE 1482-1486. (23.87 grams / 31 x 29 mm) eBay March 2024

 Roman Collector Num. Forvm: RIC 1103A(a); BMCRE 1482-86; Cohen 15; Strack 1265; RCV 4606 Rome, ca. AD 155-161. "The issue...belongs to the fifth and final of these, which commenced in AD 150 for the tenth anniversary of Faustina's death and deification but continued for some years afterward These coins generally bear the late obverse inscription DIVA FAVSTINA..."

Die-Match Obverse: 

ibercoin Online Auction 65; Lot 408; 23.03.2022 (error:  description says DIVAE in obverse legend)

Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung Online Auction 267; Lot 3664; 17.10.2019

Here are a couple of die-matches:

 

Thanks again @Roman Collector for your informative posts.  

 

[Roman Collector]

4 minutes ago, Marsyas Mike said:

My new Faustina I seated Aeternitas (or whoever she is) and phoenix came in - out of the holder it looks a lot better.  Too bad about the hole, but at least it is small and doesn't hit any of the legends or design: 

Faustina I  Æ Sestertius (c. 155-161 A.D.) See notes. Rome Mint DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right / [AET]ERNITA[S] | SC in exergue, Aeternitas seated left on throne holding phoenix nimbate on globe and scepter. RIC III Antoninus Pius 1103Aa; BMCRE 1482-1486. (23.87 grams / 31 x 29 mm) eBay March 2024

 Roman Collector Num. Forvm: RIC 1103A(a); BMCRE 1482-86; Cohen 15; Strack 1265; RCV 4606 Rome, ca. AD 155-161. "The issue...belongs to the fifth and final of these, which commenced in AD 150 for the tenth anniversary of Faustina's death and deification but continued for some years afterward These coins generally bear the late obverse inscription DIVA FAVSTINA..."

Die-Match Obverse: 

ibercoin Online Auction 65; Lot 408; 23.03.2022 (error:  description says DIVAE in obverse legend)

Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung Online Auction 267; Lot 3664; 17.10.2019

Here are a couple of die-matches:

 

Thanks again @Roman Collector for your informative posts.  

 

Congratulations on the new acquisition to your Faustina the Elder collection, @Marsyas Mike. It has a pleasant "Tiber patina" and the portrait is very pleasing. I don't mind the hole; it's unobtrusive and it's part of the history of the coin. Someone in antiquity liked Faustina the Elder so much they converted the coin into an article of jewelry! It's fun to find die-matches to other specimens, too. 

[DonnaML]

A fascinating post. Yet another example of the fact that the lines between different deities and their attributes/portrayals were not always so strictly drawn by the Romans, meaning that a lot of time is sometimes wasted struggling to make definitive identifications. (As in the ultimately futile attempts to figure out whether certain obverse portraits on Roman Republican coins were intended to portray Apollo or Veiovis, when it seems most likely that they represent a combination of the two.)

In any event, I have two ancient coins depicting phoenixes, both from Roman Alexandria, one issued by Hadrian and the other by Antoninus Pius.

Hadrian, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 22 (137/138 AD), Alexandria, Egypt mint. Obv. Laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑ - ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Pronoia standing facing, head left, crowned with flowers, wearing long chiton and peplum, holding in outstretched right hand a phoenix standing left, and in left hand a long scepter held obliquely;  Π-Ρ-ONOIA; in left field, KB/L (Year 22). RPC III 6252 (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/6252), Emmett 881.22, Milne 1560 at p. 37, K&G 32.770 (ill. p. 154), BMC Alexandria 598 at p. 72, Sear RCV II 3747, Köln (Geissen) 1243, Dattari (Savio) 1450.  24 mm., 12.94 g. Ex Economopoulos Numismatics, Holicong PA, Oct. 2021 (Nick Economopoulos, formerly of Pegasi Numismatics).*

 

*Pronoia was a minor figure in Greek mythology representing foresight or forethought; see https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NymphePronoia.html  (“HESIONE PRONOIA (Pronoea) was the Okeanid-nymph wife of the Titan Prometheus. She was a minor goddess of foresight”) (noting that the name of Prometheus's wife was sometimes given as Asia). See also Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Greek Coins (London, Seaby, 1986) at p. 197 [entry for Pronoia]: “’Forethought’, the equivalent of the Roman imperial virtue Providentia, personified at Alexandria as s female figure with scepter or phoenix.”

 However, J.G. Milne did not agree that Providentia and Pronoia could be equated, and had a view of the significance of Pronoia’s appearance on this type that I have not seen elsewhere. See the Introduction to his Catalogue of Alexandrian Coins (1971 reprint) at pp. xxxi-xxxii, discussing various personifications, including Pronoia, who were so unfamiliar in Egypt that they had to be specifically named on coins depicting them, such as this type: 

“The majority of the personifications that occur on Alexandrian coins are borrowed from Rome, and show little or no modification of the Roman types. {Names of various personifications omitted.] . . . . It is some evidence of their strangenss to Egyptian ideas that their meaning had to be explained by adding their names in the legends of the coins on which they first appeared . . . . 

There are, however, a few types which seem to be independent of Roman models [discussion of Eleutheria and Kratesis omitted.] . . . . Another special type is Pronoia, who also had to be identified by name whenever she appeared, and seems to have no relation to the Roman Providentia. The figure first appears in the last year of Hadrian, when the meaning is made clear by a phoenix placed in her hand; in the following year, under Antoninus, the phoenix is used as an emblem of the completion of the Sothic cycle which took place in that year, and so the Phoenix of the earlier year is the anticipation of this event.”

Antoninus Pius, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 6 (142-143 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, ΑΝΤⲰΝΙΝΟϹ - ϹƐΒƐVϹƐΒ around (beginning at 1:00) / Rev. Phoenix standing right, crowned with circular nimbus [halo], ΑΙ - ⲰΝ [= Aion, Greek equivalent of Roman Aeternitas, also symbolizing the cyclical nature of “time, the orb or circle encompassing the universe, and the zodiac” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aion_(deity))]; across lower fields, L - Ϛ [Year 6]. 23.5 mm., 12.7 g.  Dattari (1901 ed.) 2431 at p. 153 (this coin) [Dattari, Giovanni, Monete imperiali greche, Numi Augg. Alexandrini, Catalogo della collezione (Cairo 1901)]; Dattari (Savio) 2429 & Pl. 117 (this coin) [Savio, A. ed., Catalogo completo della collezione Dattari Numi Augg. Alexandrini (Trieste, 2007)] [numbering different because of error: illustrations of 2431 and 2429 switched on Pl. 117]; RPC IV.4 Online 13506 (temporary) (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/13506); Emmett 1419.6; Milne 1734 at p. 42; BMC 16 Alexandria 1004 at p. 117 (rev. ill at Pl. XXVI) [“Phoenix (Numidian crane)”], K&G 35.180 (obv. var., draped), SNG Fr. Alexandrie II 2267 (obv. var., draped). Purchased from Naville Numismatics Auction 72 (27 Mar 2022), Lot 341; ex Dattari Collection.*

 

*The phoenix on the reverse of this coin, accompanied by the legend “ΑΙⲰΝ,” clearly relates to the beginning of a new Great Sothic Cycle early in the reign of Antoninus Pius, as most famously reflected in the Zodiac coinage issued in his eighth year. See Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XXI Catalog (“The Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection of the Coins of Roman Alexandria,” Jan 9. 2018), Lot 124, p. 68 (available at https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=349280):

“The Great Sothic Cycle was a calendrical cycle based on the heliacal rising in July of the star Sirius (known to the Greeks as Sothis) and lasting approximately 1460 years. According to ancient Egyptian mythology, in a Golden Age, the beginning of the flooding of the Nile coincided exactly with the rising of Sirius, which was reckoned as the New Year. Only once every 1460 years did Sirius rise at exactly the same time. Thus, the coincidence of this along with the concurrent beginning of the flooding of the Nile gave the event major cosmological significance by heralding not just the beginning of a new year, but the beginning of a new eon. This event also was thought to herald the appearance of the phoenix, a mythological bird which was reborn every 500 to 1000 years out of its own ashes. According to one version of the myth, each new phoenix embalmed its old ashes in an egg of myrrh, which it then deposited in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis. So important was the advent of the new Great Sothic Cycle, both to the realignment of the heavens and its signaling of the annual flooding of the Nile, that the Egyptians celebrated it in a five-day festival, which emphasized the important cosmological significance.

In the third year of the reign of Antoninus Pius (AD 139/40), a new Great Sothic Cycle began. To mark this event, the mint of Alexandria struck an extensive series of coinage . . ., each related in some astrological way to the reordering of the heavens during the advent of the new Great Sothic Cycle. This celebration would continue throughout Pius’ reign.”

And here is my one relevant Aeternitas, which you identified for me (per Beckmann) as having been issued in 140-141, as part of the earliest Diva Faustina coinage.

Diva Faustina I [Senior] (wife of Antoninus Pius), AR Denarius AD 140-141 (Beckmann)* [Sear: AD 142; Dinsdale: undated, Nov. 140 – 161], Rome Mint. Obv. Draped bust right, head veiled, hair  drawn up at the back and piled in a round coil on top, DIVA AVG – FAVSTINA / Rev. Eight-pointed star; AETERNITAS in curved line above; • below at 6 o’clock. 18 mm., 3.06 g. RIC III 355; RSC II Faustina I 63; BMCRE IV 293; Sear RCV II 4580; Dinsdale 019190 [Dinsdale, Paul H., The Imperial Coinage of the Early Antonines: Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Caesar (2022), Ch. 7 at p. 232, photo at p. 235] [available at http://romanpaulus.x10host.com/Antoninus/old/07%20-%20Diva%20Faustina%20I%20-%20Undated%20140-161%20%28med_res%29.pdf]. Purchased from Herakles Numismatics, Charlotte, NC, 12 Jan 2024 (at 2024 NYINC).

*See Beckmann, Martin, Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces (American Numismatic Society, 2012), p. 21: “The denarii, as explained in Chapter 1, are impossible to arrange by die study. But some progress can be made by observing characteristics common with the earliest aurei and sestertii. So to this earliest coinage of Diva Faustina can be added the denarius types showing a star with the legend AETERNITAS (a parallel to the standing figure/AETERNITAS on the gold and bronze) and the type with an eagle and the legend CONSECRATIO (paralleling the eagle and Faustina/CONSECRATIO issues of the bronze).”

Edited March 30 by DonnaML