Martin Beckmann - Faustina the Younger Coins, Portraits, and Public Image

Faustina the Younger

Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image

Martin Beckmann

AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

NEW YORK

2021

Numismatic Studies

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Beckmann, Martin, author.

Title: Faustina the Younger : coinage, portraits, and public image / Martin

Beckmann.

Description: New York : American Numismatic Society, 2021. | Series:

Numismatic studies, 0517-404X ; | Includes bibliographical references

and index. | Summary: "The Roman empress Faustina the Younger, wife of

the emperor Marcus Aurelius and mother to at least eleven imperial

children, including the future emperor Commodus, not only played a key

role in Roman history of the 2nd century ad but also was the subject of

almost unparalleled commemoration in visual media, especially sculpture

and coinage. This book examines the single largest surviving ancient

source for the portraiture and public image of Faustina the Younger: the

coinage struck in her name under Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. The

coinage of Faustina the Younger is rich in original iconography and long

in duration but its chronology and the relationships between its various

types remain unclear. This study seeks to remedy this situation by

employing the methodology of die analysis to create a new and firm

chronology for Faustina's coinage. The results make it possible to

establish an authoritative typology for Faustina's portraiture and to

show the precise relationship between the diverse obverse and reverse

types. The die analysis also clarifies Faustina's complicated

iconographic program, making it possible to compare it directly with the

iconography of the coinage of her male contemporaries, which can be

dated to specific years by imperial titulature. Taken together, these

results permit a complete re-evaluation of the coinage, portraits and

public image of Faustina the Younger"-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021004455 (print) | LCCN 2021004456 (ebook) | ISBN

9780897223669 (cloth) | ISBN 9780897227353 (paper) | ISBN 9780897227315 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Coinage--Rome--History. | Faustina, Annia Galeria, Empress,

consort of Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, -175--Portraits. |

Faustina, Annia Galeria, Empress, consort of Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of

Rome, -175--Numismatics. | Coins, Roman. | Rome--Antiquities.

Classification: LCC CJ1003 .B433 2021 (print) | LCC CJ1003 (ebook) | DDC

737.4932--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004455

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004456

ISBN (hardcover) 978-0-89722-366-9

ISBN (paperback) 978-0-89722-735-3

ISBN (ebook) 978-0-89722-731-5 ISSN 0517-404X

2021 American Numismatic Society

Cover image: Gold aureus of Antoninus Pius ( ad 145161). ANS 1956.184.56. American Numismatic Society 2021

To H.M.N.

Acknowledgements

Many people helped me during the long process of research and writing. I would like to thank the late Ted Buttrey, who kindly welcomed me at Cambridge in the early stages of data gathering. For the opportunity to present and discuss my early results I am especially indebted to the organizers and attendees of two important colloquia, Sculpture and Coins at Harvard in 2011 and Art in the Round at Tbingen in 2012, and particularly to Carmen Arnold-Biucchi, Annette Alexandridis, Barbara Borg, Bill Metcalf, Nathan Elkins, and Stefan Krmnicek. For help and discussion at various stages of this project I am grateful to Richard Abdy, Aleksander Bursche, Curtis Clay, Jens-Arne Dickmann, Brad Edwards, Klaus Fittschen, Amanda Hardman, Johan van Heesch, Bettina Kruezer, Ralf von den Hoff, Ute Wartenberg, and Bernhard Weisser. Last but by no means least I thank Andrew Reinhard and the two anonymous reviewers of this manuscript, whose extensive comments led to much improvement of the final draft.

v

Contents

Introduction. Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image

Chapter Material and Methodology

Chapter VENVS GENETRIX: Faustinas First Child (Portrait Type 1)

Chapter CONCORDIA: The Ideal of the Imperial Marriage (Portrait Types 25)

Chapter FAVSTINA AVGVSTA (Portrait Types 510)

Chapter Portraits: Concepts and Processes

Chapter A New Typology of Faustinas Portraits

Chapter Message and Meaning in the Portraits of Faustina

Conclusion. The Public Image of Faustina

Appendix Faustinas Children

Appendix Relative Proportions of Reverse Types in AV and AR

Abbreviations and Bibliography

Die Catalogue, Part Aurei of Faustina II under Antoninus Pius

Die Catalogue, Part Aurei of Faustina II under Marcus Aurelius

Key to the Die Link Charts

Die Link Charts

List of Die Illustrations

Plates

Index

vii

Introduction

Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image

Abstract

The Roman empress Faustina the Younger, wife of the emperor Marcus Aurelius and mother to at least eleven imperial children, including the future emperor Commodus, not only played a key role in Roman history of the second century ad but was also, during her lifetime, the subject of almost unparalleled commemoration in visual media, especially sculpture and coinage. This book examines the single largest surviving ancient source for the portraiture and public image of Faustina the Younger: the coinage struck in her name under Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. The coinage of Faustina the Younger is rich in original iconography and long in duration, but its chronology and the relationships between its various types remain unclear. This study seeks to remedy this situation by employing the methodology of die analysis to create a new and firm chronology for Faustinas coinage. The results make it possible to establish an authoritative typology for Faustinas portraiture and to show the precise relationship between the diverse obverse and reverse types. The die analysis also clarifies Faustinas complicated iconographic program, making it possible to compare it directly with the iconography of the coinage of her male contemporaries, which can be dated to specific years by imperial titulature. Taken together, these results permit a complete re- evaluation of the coinage, portraits, and public image of Faustina the Younger.

Introduction

Faustina the Younger ( ad 130176) was the daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder. Her mother died in 140, when Faustina was just ten years old; her two brothers and one sister were by then already dead, leaving Faustina as the only surviving child of Pius. Five

Faustina the Younger

years later she married Marcus Aurelius, who was almost ten years her senior, in a carefully arranged match designed to perpetuate the imperial dynasty. From this point of view it was a success. Children followed quickly, with a total of at least eleven born over the following fifteen years. Faustina survived the dangers of these multiple childbirths and lived to the age of 46, when she died in the Taurus Mountains of southeastern Turkey, while travelling with her husband. Her last child had been born perhaps six years previously, and she had recently been hailed with a remarkable new title, Mater Castrorum , Mother of the Camp. An unprecedentedly large and long issue of coinage in her name and numerous sculpted portraits (second in number only to those of Livia among imperial women) show that Faustina the Younger had a substantial public presence, presumably connected to the important role she played in the imperial household.