Diva Faustina Silver Denarius, RIC III Antoninus Pius 358

Monetary Context and Consecration Policy

Under Antoninus Pius, the Roman monetary system maintained a period of notable fiscal stability and administrative discipline. The imperial silver denarius functioned as the premier transactional denomination for urban commerce, administrative salaries, and military stipends throughout the western and eastern provinces. Following the death of Empress Faustina the Elder in the autumn of AD 140, Antoninus Pius initiated an unprecedentedly extensive posthumous numismatic program that transformed the imperial mint into an instrument of dynastic sanctification. The Senate promptly decreed her deification, bestowing upon her the official title Diva Faustina. Rather than ceasing production of her coinage, the mint of Rome expanded it dramatically, issuing denarii alongside aurei, sestertii, and middle bronzes that honoured her new divine status. Denarius type RIC III Antoninus Pius 358 belongs to the primary consecration wave initiated in AD 141. The denarius of this period maintained a modal weight centered around 3.15 to 3.35 grams, with an average silver fineness hovering between 75 and 80 percent, carrying forward the monetary reforms of the Trajanic and Hadrianic periods without abrupt debasement. Through this abundant issue, the administration successfully sustained transactional liquidity while saturating daily economic exchanges with images reaffirming the piety, legitimacy, and domestic virtue of the reigning princeps.

Production and Mint Attribution

The production of RIC III Antoninus Pius 358 was centralized exclusively at the imperial mint of Rome, which exercised an absolute monopoly over state-sponsored silver coinage across the western empire during the Antonine epoch. Die cutting for the issue reflected the exceptional craftsmanship of the urban mint's senior scalptores, who rendered delicate facial portraits and precise drapery folds on miniature flans. Blank planchets were cast in multi-cavity clay moulds before being hot-struck between engraved bronze or iron dies. Die axis alignment for this type adheres to the regular upright or inverted medallic orientations typical of the Rome mint, predominantly oscillating near the six o'clock position with occasional slight deviations. Production volumes for the Diva Faustina denarii were exceptionally large, requiring dozens of active die pairs to supply imperial expenditure. While no formal mintmarks were employed in this era to distinguish discrete workshops, subtle stylistic nuances in portraiture, the treatment of Faustina's braided tresses, and letter forms indicate that multiple officinae participated concurrently in striking this type. Metallurgical analyses of Antonine denarii from the Rome mint consistently verify high manufacturing consistency, carefully monitored alloy compositions, and uniform target flan weights.

Obverse Portraiture and Style

The obverse of RIC III Antoninus Pius 358 features a right-facing, draped bust of the deified Faustina the Elder. Sculptural and numismatic portraitists of the Antonine court developed an idealized, serene iconographic model for the posthumous empress that emphasized aristocratic dignity, perpetual youth, and sacred transcendence. The bust exhibits delicate, naturalistic facial features, including a smooth forehead, subtly arched eyebrows, and a calm, composed expression. Central to the portrait is Faustina's elaborate coiffure, which set a prominent stylistic benchmark for aristocratic Roman matrons during the mid second century AD. Her hair is parted carefully and drawn backward from the brow in several deeply waved, horizontal parallel ridges across the side of the head, then gathered upward in braided plaits and wound into a tight, coiled circular bun or nest resting squarely upon the crown. The drapery across her shoulders and lower neck is rendered with fluid, classical folds, pinned neatly at the shoulder. The entire composition is encircled by a well-struck border of fine dots, framing the posthumous imperial likeness within standard imperial numismatic conventions.

Reverse Iconography: Ceres and Imperial Abundance

The reverse design of RIC III Antoninus Pius 358 presents Ceres, the venerable Roman divinity of grain, agriculture, and fertility, standing draped and veiled facing toward the right. In her right hand, she grasps a long, vertical sceptre resting on the ground, a classic symbol of divine authority, majesty, and cosmic order. In her lowered left hand, she holds two ears of corn pointing downward, directly signifying the bounty of the harvest and the material sustenance of the state. Ceres' head is covered with a matronly veil that drapes over her back, blending divine modesty with religious sanctity. Her long stola and palla fall in flowing, columnar folds around her legs, evoking classical Greek and Hellenistic monumental statuary. The thematic assimilation of deceased Roman empresses to Ceres was a deeply rooted imperial tradition, but under Antoninus Pius, it acquired heightened symbolic resonance. By presenting Diva Faustina under the guise of Ceres, the coin communicated that the late empress continued to intercede on behalf of Rome from the celestial realm, ensuring agricultural prosperity, the stability of the annona grain supply, and divine benevolence for her surviving husband's administration.

Epigraphic Program and Titulature

The epigraphic program of RIC III Antoninus Pius 358 is characterized by deliberate concision and solemn gravitas. The obverse legend reads DIVA FAVSTINA, running clockwise along the perimeter from the lower left to the lower right. The simple juxtaposition of the divine epithet DIVA with the personal nomen FAVSTINA marks an abrupt and intentional departure from the lifetime titulature that had styled her as FAVSTINA AVGVSTA. By omitting administrative or familial titles such as Antonini Augusti, the inscription places absolute emphasis on her elevation to celestial status. The reverse legend is similarly restrained, consisting of the single word AVGVSTA, positioned around the upper right and left margins above and beside the standing figure of Ceres. Unlike legends that explicitly label the depicted divinity, the term AVGVSTA functions as a dual signifier: it recalls the supreme imperial rank Faustina held in life while poetically endowing the divine personification itself with imperial authority. The lettering on both faces is rendered in classic Roman monumental epigraphy, characterized by disciplined serifs, uniform stroke thickness, and well-proportioned, legible letter spacing designed for clarity during broad public circulation.

Typology and Chronological Classification

Numismatic scholars have situated RIC III Antoninus Pius 358 within the extensive sequence of posthumous coinages inaugurated immediately upon Faustina's consecration in AD 141. Paul L. Strack and Harold Mattingly systematically established that the consecration series developed in several distinct thematic and epigraphic stages. The earliest issues directly highlighted the act of deification and funeral honors through legends such as CONSECRATIO, accompanied by representations of the pyre, an altar, or a peacock. Concurrently and shortly thereafter, the mint introduced the vast DIVA FAVSTINA obverses paired with AVGVSTA and AETERNITAS reverses, which dominated production through the early 140s AD. Type 358 is defined specifically in the Roman Imperial Coinage catalog by the combination of the draped bust right with the reverse showing Ceres standing right, holding a vertical sceptre and downward-pointing corn-ears. It is catalogued distinctly from neighboring types, such as RIC 356, 357, and 359, which feature Ceres standing left, holding torches, or carrying raised stalks of grain, as well as those displaying veiled obverse portraits. While the broader Diva Faustina coinage continued to be struck in substantial quantities across the remainder of Antoninus Pius's reign until AD 161, the specific introduction of the baseline AVGVSTA Ceres types belongs firmly to the programmatic output initiated in AD 141.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Evidence

As an integral component of the standard Antonine silver currency, specimens of RIC III Antoninus Pius 358 circulated extensively across every corner of the Roman Empire, from the military garrisons along Hadrian's Wall and the Rhine frontier to the Mediterranean provinces of Hispania, Gaul, Italy, North Africa, and the Levant. Hoard evidence from Britain, such as the Shapwick and Didcot hoards, as well as continental assemblages throughout modern France and Germany, confirms that Diva Faustina denarii formed one of the most prolific currency groups of the mid to late second century AD. Because the silver standard established under Antoninus Pius was slightly more favorable than the subsequent debased emissions of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Septimius Severus, denarii of Diva Faustina were heavily retained in circulation, often remaining in active commercial pools for many decades. Numerous recovered examples display significant surface wear, indicating continuous economic exchange well into the Severan era, before Gresham's law and the severe inflations of the third century AD prompted systematic melting or hoarding of older, higher-fineness Antonine denarii.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. pp. 61-62
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 71, no. 358
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Antoninus Pius 358. ric.3.ant.358
4. Untersuchungen zur romischen Reichspragung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil III: Die Reichspragung zur Zeit des Antoninus Pius. Stuttgart, Kohlhammer