Faustina Friday – The Apotheosis of Faustina the Elder

[Roman Collector]

Friday felicitations, fellow Faustina fanatics. I hope your weekend is filled with numismatic joy. In this week's installment, I shall discuss this new acquisition, a dupondius issued posthumously for Faustina the Elder issued to commemorate her consecration and apotheosis. I have previously written elsewhere about coins depicting the apotheosis of Faustina the Younger.

Faustina I, 138-140 CE.
Roman orichalcum dupondius, 16.81 g, 27.6 mm, 11 h.
Obv: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: CONSECRATIO S C, eagle flying right, carrying Faustina, with starry mantle billowing behind head, and holding scepter.
Refs: RIC 1188(b); BMCRE 1463 corr.; Cohen –; RCV –; Strack 1236.
Notes: Ex-Curtis L. Clay, ex-CNG Auction 50, lot 200, 23 June 1999, ex-Cornelius C. Vermule III, ex-Sambon (with C&E Canessa), Paris, 26 May 1925, pl. 4, 360. Double die match to the Naples specimen (Strack) and the British Museum specimen.

The coin has quite a provenance. Here is the listing and plate from the 1925 Sambon sale. This specific auction lot is cited in the listing in RIC for the coin.





Correcting A Mistake in the Standard References

Contra Cohen and BMCRE, this coin does not exist with a bare-headed bust type. Cohen (no. 184), lists the coin after no. 183, which describes the bust as no. 182 "mais avec la buste sans voile" (except with the bust without veil).[1]

The description of the coin in Cohen.

Therefore, this listing implies the existence of a bare-headed bust variety. Cohen cites the French national collection as the exemplar of the type. Indeed, the specimen in the Bibliothèque nationale de France has a bare-headed bust.[2]

Medium bronze cited by Cohen as no. 184.

However, note the coin depicts a peacock, not an eagle, on the reverse. The coin is a reverse die match to BMCRE 1462, which is described at the British Museum website as depicting "Eagle (? peacock) flying right." However, as I have demonstrated elsewhere and discuss below, both peacocks and eagles were used on the consecration coinage of the Faustinas. The long, skinny neck on the BnF and BM specimens demonstrates that this reverse type depicts a peacock, not an eagle.

Mattingly and Sydenham (RIC) uncritically and erroneously cite Cohen as an example of the bare-headed bust type with an eagle (no. 1188a) but correctly describe the type with a veiled bust (no. 1188b) as depicting an eagle. Note RIC cites the Sambon auction specimen, illustrated above, which happens to be the specimen in my collection!

The RIC listing for no. 1188 describes two bust types for the reverse type, a bare-headed bust (a) and a veiled bust (b), citing Cohen 184 in error for the former, and the Sambon auction correctly for the latter.

The specimen of this reverse type in the British Museum collection, BMCRE 1463, depicts the Empress carried aloft to the celestial realm by an eagle. The print version of BMCRE describes the coin as having a bare-headed bust type.[4] However, the photograph of the specimen online clearly depicts a veiled bust type. The description online corrects Mattingly and describes the coin with a veiled bust.

The specimen in the British Museum, BMCRE 1463, depicts the Empress with a veiled bust. The coin is a double die match to the specimen in my collection.

Strack cites no specimens with a bare-headed bust type and after a comprehensive review of online databases, I do not believe this reverse type exists paired with a bare-headed bust on its obverse. The bare-headed bust occurs only with the peacock reverse type. Moreover, the peacock reverse type is not known paired with a veiled bust type in the medium bronze denomination.

Other Varieties of the Reverse Type

A mirror-image reverse type, depicting the eagle flying left, was used on the sestertius denomination and occurs paired with both veiled and bare-headed bust types. This is well illustrated by this specimen in the British Museum collection.

Sestertius depicting the empress carried to the celestial realm on an eagle flying left, RIC 1134, BMCRE 1428, British Museum collection.

About the iconography

The coin depicts the late empress being carried aloft to the celestial realm by the eagle of Jupiter.[5] The inscription CONSECRATIO made its first appearance in Roman numismatics on the coinage of Marciana, and thereafter became the standard employed for issues of the divae and divi for centuries. Interestingly, the earliest Roman consecration issues depict eagles, even for the women of the imperial family. The Antonine period was a time of transition from using the eagle of Zeus as a symbol of an empress's consecration to using the peacock of Juno to symbolize this idea. Both peacocks and eagles were used on the consecration coinage of the Faustinas. On this issue of similar design, Faustina the Younger is borne aloft into the celestial realm on coins depicting the eagle of Jupiter or the peacock of Juno.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 25.23 g, 30.2 mm, 11 h.
Rome, early 176 CE.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA PIA, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: CONSECRATIO S C, Faustina II carried by an eagle flying left, holding transverse scepter in her right hand and with veil decorated with stars floating above her head.
Ref: RIC 1701; BMC 1572; Cohen 68; RCV 5226; MIR –; Cayón p.153, 32.

Diva Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 26.28 g, 32.2 mm, 12 h.
Rome, 176 CE or later.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA PIA, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Rev: CONSECRATIO S C, Faustina, holding scepter, seated left on back of peacock flying upward to right.
Refs: RIC 1702; BMCRE 1570-71; Cohen 69; RCV 5227; MIR 56.

But after the Antonine period, only the peacock of Juno was used on the consecration issues in honor of the various deified empresses. I have written about this previously.

The star-spangled veil billowing behind the empress's head represents the starry mantle of the sky. It is a common attribute of Aeternitas,[6] seen here on this sestertius of Faustina the Elder in my collection.

Faustina I, 138-141 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 26.54 g, 33 mm.
Rome, 150-161 CE.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Aeternitas standing left, holding globe and raising above head a starry mantle.
Refs: RIC 1106; BMCRE 1495-97; Cohen 30; Sear 4610; Strack 1262.

Dating the issue

Faustina died in October 140 CE and her funeral was held by 13 November.[7] Soon after, Antoninus Pius began issuing coinage in her honor, a practice he continued until the end of his reign. This coin was among the first. A series of coins were issued to honor her consecration and apotheosis with a variety of reverse types. These included the EX S C with mule-drawn carpentum and AETERNITAS with Providentia issues in the aureus denomination,[8] and the CONSECRATIO with empress on eagle, peacock, or winged Victory, the CONSECRATIO with ustrinum, the PIETAS sacrificing, and the AETERNITAS with Providentia issues in the bronze denominations.[9] Therefore, a date of 140-141 CE is almost certain for these types.

On the Rarity of the CONSECRATIO issues in the Medium Bronze Denominations

The medium bronze denominations (both specimens in my collection are dupondii) with the CONSECRATIO reverse inscription, the empress on eagle and the ustrinum types, are very rare and may have been produced by a single pair of dies for each. After a comprehensive review of the numismatic references and internet databases, I have been able to find only three specimens of my coin: mine, the specimen in the British Museum illustrated above, and the specimen in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples as cited by Strack, which is illustrated below.

The specimen in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Strack 1236.[10]

Note that it is a double die match to my coin and the British Museum specimens, reproduced again for comparison, below. For this reason, it may well be that the medium bronze denomination of this type was produced during a single shift at the mint.




In contrast, the sestertii of this type are more common. Beckmann identified eight different sestertius reverse dies of the Faustina on eagle type, one of which is the aforementioned eagle flying left variety.[11]

An analogous situation is seen with the CONSECRATIO with ustrinum type. There are only five known specimens of the coin in the medium bronze denomination. The four medium bronze specimens for which photographs are available were all struck with the same pair of dies, similarly suggesting they were produced during a single shift at the mint. Analogous to the situation with the Faustina on eagle type, the sestertii of the ustrinum type are more common. Beckmann identified nine different sestertius reverse dies of the ustrinum type.[12]

The disproportionate rarity of the medium bronze denominations of these two types relative to their sestertius counterparts suggests they were issued for a completely different purpose. Perhaps the medium bronze issues of these CONSECRATIO types were intended to be private presentation pieces or issued specifically for distribution at the deified empress's funeral service, whereas the sestertii may have been considered business strikes for general circulation. It's an interesting thought.

As always, feel free to post comments, coins, questions, or anything you feel is relevant!

~~~

Notes

1. Cohen, Henry. Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire Romain, Tome II: de Nerva à Antonin (96 à 161 après J.-C.). Paris, 1882, p. 427.

2. Photo in Gauthier-Dussart, Roxane, et al. "Entre Rome et Alexandrie: Le Monnayage d'antonin Le Pieux (138-161), Idéologie Du Règne et Adaptations Locales." l'Université de Montréal, 2017, Plate 92, no. 1530.

3. Mattingly, Harold and Edward A. Sydenham (RIC). The Roman Imperial Coinage. III, Spink, 1930, p. 168.

4. 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. 236.

5. Mattingly, op. cit., p. cxliv. Mattingly summarizes the identity of all the winged figures upon which Faustina is carried to heaven in one concise statement: "She has been translated aloft, whether by the eagle of Jupiter, the peacock of Juno, or the winged Victory of Aeternitas herself."

6. Ibid., p. lxxxiii.

7. The Fasti Ostienses for A.D. 140 records:

On October 23(?) Faustina Augusta died and on the same day was named diva by the Senate and a senatorial decree was made awarding her a state funeral. Games and circus-races were offered. [Some unknown number of days before] November 13 Faustina’s state funeral was celebrated, gold and silver statues were set up(?), and a senatorial decree.

Fasti Ostienses (tablet O, lines 11-15), quoted and transl. by Martin Beckmann. The texts are damaged and both dating formulas are corrupted; therefore, the precise days cannot be recovered. See Beckmann, Martin. Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces. American Numismatic Society, 2012, p.22.

8. Beckmann, op cit., Die Chart 1.

9. Beckmann, op cit., Die Chart 11.

10. Strack, Paul L., Untersuchungen zur Römischen Reichsprägung des Zweiten Jahrhunderts, vol. 3, Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Antoninus Pius. Stuttgart 1937.

11. Beckmann, op. cit., Pl. 18.

12. Ibid., Pls. 18 & 19.

Edited Monday at 10:31 PM by Roman Collector
I have OCD

[Ocatarinetabellatchitchix]

I love specialists !

[JAZ Numismatics]

Very interesting. There are also coins in my collecting focus that are so rare that I wonder if they were struck only as presentation pieces. It becomes even more likely when an evidently limited issue immediately follows a significant event, like a death, or victory, or dedication.

Also, that's an amazing dupondius!

Edited December 20, 2024 by JAZ Numismatics