v29_0221 - FAUSTINA MAJOR As, (MB, Æ 28)

FAUSTINA MAJOR

(+141)

Consecration of Antoninus Pius

Faustina mother, daughter of Rupilia Faustina, Hadrian's sister-in-law, married Antoninus Pius between 110 and 115 and had at least two children: Marcus Galerius Antonius, a boy who died in infancy and young Faustina who married Marcus Aurelius. Faustina mother receives the title of augusta in 139 and is 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. Antoninus will raise the Temple of Faustina in the region of the Temple of Peace (Regio IV).