brm_1034652 - FAUSTINA MAJOR Sesterce

FAUSTINA MAJOR

(+141)

Augusta

Faustina Mother, daughter of Rupilia Faustina, Hadrian's sister-in-law, married Antonin the Pious between 110 and 115. She had at least two children: Marcus Galerius Antonius, a boy who died in infancy and Faustina Young, who would marry Marc Aurèle . Faustina Mother received the title of augusta in 139 and was therefore associated with coinage. She died in 141, aged about forty. Antonin immediately had her deified and struck an important coinage of consecration, establishing the "Puellæ Faustinianæ" for young orphans or poor. Antonin will raise the temple of Faustina in the region of the Temple of Peace (Regio IV). Just after Faustina's death, a sestertius representing her funeral chariot is struck on the occasion of the dedication of the temple of the Divine Faustina on the Forum.