Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder, sometimes referred to as Faustina I or Faustina Major[1] (c. 100[3][6] – late October 140),[7][8][2] was a Roman empress and wife of the Roman emperorAntoninus Pius. The emperor Marcus Aurelius was her nephew and later became her adopted son, along with Emperor Lucius Verus. She died early in the principate of Antoninus Pius, but continued to be prominently commemorated as a diva, posthumously playing a prominent symbolic role during his reign.[9]
While a private citizen, she married Antoninus Pius between 110 and 115. Faustina bore four children with Pius: two sons and two daughters.[13] These were:
Marcus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the
Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.[10][14] He is commemorated by a high-quality series of bronze coins, possibly struck at Rome, though their language is Greek.[15]
Aurelia Fadilla (died in 135); she married Aelius Lamia Silvanus or Syllanus. She appears to have had no children with her husband and her sepulchral inscription has been found in Italy.[10][14]
Annia Galeria Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger (between 125–130 to 175), a future Roman Empress; she married her maternal cousin, future Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. She was the only child who survived to see Antoninus and Faustina elevated to the imperial rank.[10][14]
According to the unreliable
Historia Augusta, there were rumours while Antoninus was proconsul of Asia that Faustina conducted herself with "excessive frankness and levity".[16]
Empress
On July 10, 138, her uncle, the emperor
Augusta.[10] As empress, Faustina was well respected and was renowned for her beauty and wisdom. Throughout her life, as a private citizen and as empress, Faustina was involved in assisting charities for the poor and sponsoring and assisting in the education of Roman children, particularly girls.[citation needed] A letter between Fronto and Antoninus Pius has sometimes been taken as an index of the latter's devotion to her.[17]
After Antoninus Pius' accession to the principate, the couple never left Italy; instead, they divided their time between Rome, Antoninus' favourite estate at Lorium, and other properties at Lanuvium, Tusculum, and Signia.[18]
Faustina's personal style was evidently much admired and emulated. Her distinctive hairstyle, consisting of braids pulled back in a bun behind or on top of her head, was imitated for two or three generations in the Roman world.[19]
Several provincial groups chose to honour her while she was empress: a company of couriers in Ephesus named themselves after her,[20] while a company of clapper-players in Puteoli dedicated an altar to her in her lifetime.[21]
Death and legacy
Faustina died near Rome in 140, perhaps at Antoninus Pius's estate at
Ancient Greek: ΘΕΑ ΦΑΥϹΤΕΙΝΑ);[29] the most notable such cities were Delphi, Alexandria, Bostra, and Nicopolis.[30] Martin Beckmann suggests that the coins of Nicopolis might have been minted at Rome and given out as imperial largesse at the Actian Games.[31] The coins issued in the wake of Faustina's funeral illustrate her elaborate funeral pyre, which may have influenced the design of later private mausolea;[32] the deities Pietas and Aeternitas, among others;[33] and an eagle (or less often a winged genius) bearing a figure aloft, with the legend CONSECRATIO (i.e. Faustina's ascension into heaven).[34] Coins of Faustina were sometimes incorporated into jewellery and worn as amulets.[35]
The posthumous cult of Faustina was exceptionally widespread, and Faustina's image continued to be omnipresent throughout Antoninus Pius' principate.
Diana Lucifera and Apollo-Sol in baths privately owned but available to the public.[40]
Antoninus and Faustina were officially held up as such exemplars of conjugal harmony that newlyweds were directed to pray at an altar of Antoninus and Faustina that they might live up to their example.[41] This was evidently the case in Ostia,[42] and probably so in Rome.[43]
The
Ceres.[48] Depictions on coins appear to show a cult image of Faustina seated on a throne and holding a tall staff in her left hand.[49] Faustina's portrait on coins from this period is often crowned as well as veiled, which may also recall a feature of Faustina's cult image from the temple.[50]
The deified Faustina was associated particularly closely with
Juno feature prominently in Faustina's coinage.[54] She was also associated with the Magna Mater and at Cyrene with Isis; at Sardis she was worshipped conjointly with Artemis.[52]
Ten years after Faustina's death, a new commemorative coinage was introduced, featuring the legend Aeternitas ('eternity'); such coins may have been introduced to be distributed at a public ceremony in her memory.[55]
After Antoninus Pius' death, his adoptive sons and successors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus erected the Column of Antoninus Pius, which dramatically depicted Antoninus and Faustina being elevated heavenward together on the back of a winged figure.[56]
Marcus Aurelius also built a Temple of Faustina at Elefsina in Greece.[57]
Faustina continued to be commemorated in certain Renaissance depictions as a “model wife”.[58]
^The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed in HA"Marcus Aurelius" 24.
^Levick (2014), p. 169, estimates her birth year as c. 97 CE, while noting the estimate of c. 105 in Kienast (1990). Römische Kaisertabelle. A latter edition of Kienast's book, however, simply states that her birthdate is unknown and then proceeds to mentions Levick's estimate.[2]
^According to S. Vidman's interpretation of the Fasti Ostienses (1982, p. 122; cited by Beckmann (2012), p. 22), Faustina died sometime in the range 21–23 October, while her funeral occurred sometime between 6 and 12 November. See Beckmann (2012), p. 22.
^ abBergmann & Watson (1999), p. 6: “Antoninus’s ideological program was based upon his pietas (loyalty to family, state, and the gods) and the most concerted expression of Antoninus’s piety was Faustina’s consecration.”
^Antoninus Pius declares that he would rather live in exile on the island of Gyaros with Faustina than on the Palatine Hill without her. Fronto ad Antoninum Pium 2.2. However, the "dear Faustina" referred to may instead have been Pius' daughter. Levick (2014), pp. 60–61.
^Claire Rowan, ‘Communicating a consecratio: the deification coinage of Faustina I’, in: N. Holmes (ed.), Proceedings of the XIV International Numismatic Congress Glasgow, vol. 1, Glasgow (2012), 991.
^Beckmann (2012), p. 37, suggests that Cassius Dio (Roman History 72.31.1) may have been mistaken in stating that such a practice in Rome at the temple precinct of Venus and Dea Roma concerned an altar of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger rather than one of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder.
Beckmann, Martin (2012). Diva Faustina: coinage and cult in Rome and the provinces. New York: American Numismatic Society.
Bergmann, Bettina; Watson, Wendy M. (1999). The Moon and the Stars: Afterlife of a Roman Empress. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.
Freisenbruch, Annelise (2010). The First Ladies of Rome: The Women Behind the Caesars. London: Jonathan Cape.
Italics indicates a consort to a junior co-emperor, underlining indicates a consort to an emperor variously regarded as either legitimate or a usurper, and bold incidates an empress regnant.