Diva Faustina Silver Denarius, RIC III Antoninus Pius 382A

Monetary and Political Context

The death of Empress Faustina the Elder in late 140 AD or early 141 AD represented a pivotal moment in the dynastic and ceremonial messaging of Antoninus Pius's principate. Following her passing, the Senate decreed her immediate deification (consecratio), voting her a temple in the Roman Forum, a sacred chariot (carpentum), statues, and dedicated priestesses. To propagate this official elevation throughout the empire, the mint of Rome initiated a massive, multi-year memorial coinage in gold, silver, and bronze. RIC III Antoninus Pius 382A stands at the very beginning of this sequence. Unlike the long-running later series that inscribed AVGVSTA or AETERNITAS, this emission directly proclaims CONSECRATIO on the reverse, marking the formal deification rites enacted in 141 AD. Denarii formed the primary transactional silver medium across the empire, meaning that the visual dissemination of Faustina's transformation into a divine protector reached civic elites, soldiers, and everyday merchants alike. The issue established a clear political statement of marital devotion, institutional stability, and religious piety, serving to legitimize the Antonine regime by presenting the imperial household as integral to the divine order of the Roman state.

Production and Minting Operations

RIC III Antoninus Pius 382A was produced exclusively at the primary imperial mint in Rome. During the middle Antonine period, the Rome mint was organized into specialized workshops (officinae), which operated under bureaucratic oversight to produce vast quantities of precious-metal coinage with disciplined uniformity. Denarii of this period were struck on cast silver flans prepared to a target weight standard typically hovering between 3.15 and 3.40 grams, though normal metallurgical variances in antiquity produced individual specimens ranging from under 3.0 grams to over 3.5 grams. The silver fineness of the denarius under Antoninus Pius remained relatively stable, generally falling between 80% and 85% pure silver, balanced by copper alloying to ensure durability during circulation. The engraving of the dies for this type reflects the high artistic standards of the urban mint's master engravers: the obverse dies capture the fine textures of Faustina's elaborate coiffure with crisp relief, while reverse dies show balanced figural proportions and carefully spaced lettering. Striking was executed manually with lower obverse dies set into an anvil and upper reverse dies held in hand, resulting in the standard variation of die axes common to Roman imperial issues.

Obverse Portraiture and Style

The obverse of RIC III Antoninus Pius 382A presents a draped bust of the deified Faustina the Elder facing right. Her portrait is rendered in an idealized yet individualized manner characteristic of mid-second-century Roman court art. Central to the depiction is Faustina's distinctive coiffure, which had become a prominent fashion across the Roman world during her lifetime and remained iconic after her death. The hair is parted in the center, waved elaborately in horizontal ridged loops across the side of the head, and drawn tightly upward from the nape and temples to form a coiled, braided crown on top of the head. In this specific catalogue type, the bust is draped at the shoulders with classical mantle folds, but it is shown without the veil (veiled busts being assigned to separate catalogue numbers within RIC). The expression is serene and youthful, conveying the timeless, transcendent nature of an imperial diva while preserving her recognizable facial structure, including a straight bridge of the nose and delicate chin.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse of the type features the goddess Ceres standing facing left, draped in long robes and veiled. Her right hand is raised in an open gesture of benediction, adoration, or divine presence, while her left hand holds a lit, upright torch. In Roman religious thought, Ceres was the guardian of agriculture, the underworld mysteries, and motherhood, closely associated with the cycle of life, loss, and renewal through the myth of Proserpina. The inclusion of Ceres on a coin explicitly inscribed CONSECRATIO creates an allegorical connection between the deified empress and the goddess. The burning torch signifies divine illumination, guidance through the transition between mortal life and heavenly existence, and nocturnal rites associated with mystery cults. By identifying Diva Faustina with Ceres, the imperial administration framed her death not as an absolute loss, but as an apotheosis that guaranteed continued divine protection, fertility, and peace for the Roman populace.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The epigraphic composition of RIC III Antoninus Pius 382A is succinct and focused. The obverse legend reads DIVA FAVSTINA, running clockwise along the border. The word DIVA explicitly denotes her deification, confirming that the piece was minted subsequent to her death and senate-mandated apotheosis. The omission of further titles, such as AVGVSTA, is characteristic of the immediate post-consecration emissions of 141 AD, in contrast to subsequent issues where DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA or simply FAVSTINA AVGVSTA appear. The reverse legend reads CONSECRATIO, inscribed in an unbroken curve around the upper field or divided neatly by the raised hand and head of Ceres. This word states the theological and constitutional act being celebrated: the formal elevation of the empress to the ranks of the immortal gods. Letterforms are executed in regular Roman imperial capitals with neat serifs, typical of the mature second-century style of the Rome mint.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification established by Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage, volume III, number 382A designates the specific combination of the bare-headed draped bust of Diva Faustina with the Ceres standing left reverse holding a lit torch and raising her right hand, accompanied by the CONSECRATIO reverse legend. This type is distinguished from RIC 382B, which features a veiled bust of the diva, and from RIC 382, which depicts Ceres holding ears of corn or a scepter rather than the lit torch. Chronologically, numismatists agree that the CONSECRATIO issues represent the earliest phase of the posthumous coinage for Faustina, struck directly in 141 AD immediately following the funeral ceremonies and senate decree. Later in Antoninus Pius's reign, the vast memorial issues transitioned to legends such as AETERNITAS and AVGVSTA, which remained in regular production well into the late 140s and 150s AD. RIC 382A thus represents a tightly defined, initial commemorative issue rather than an ongoing substantive type.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Silver denarii of Diva Faustina enjoyed exceptionally wide and prolonged circulation throughout the Roman Empire. Because huge quantities of posthumous silver were struck under Antoninus Pius, Faustina's coins became one of the most familiar portrait series of the high imperial period. Hoard evidence from Britain, Gaul, the Rhine-Danube frontier, and the Mediterranean provinces reveals that denarii of Faustina the Elder remained in everyday currency alongside earlier Trajanic and Hadrianic coins, as well as subsequent issues of Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Commodus. While the CONSECRATIO issues of 141 AD are somewhat less ubiquitous in hoards than the later, massive AVGVSTA and AETERNITAS issues, specimens of RIC 382A regularly appear in hoards buried as late as the early third century AD. Their survival in mixed wear states, from lightly worn to heavily smoothed, demonstrates that they circulated for decades until the debasements of the Severan era led to the systematic melting and retariffing of mid-second-century silver coinages.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. pp. 43-45
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. pp. 71-73, no. 382A
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Antoninus Pius 382A. RIC III Antoninus Pius 382A
4. Untersuchungen zur romischen Reichspragung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil III: Die Reichspragung zur Zeit des Antoninus Pius. pp. 144-152