Silver Denarius of Faustina the Younger

Historical Context

Faustina the Younger was the daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder and the wife of Marcus Aurelius. Her silver denarii belong to the coinage of her father and husband, not to an independent reign of the empress. The lifetime series began in the later 140s and continued after Marcus succeeded Pius in 161. It places the imperial household at the center of an extensive visual language of continuity, marriage and divine protection.

The portrait subject must remain distinct from the emperor responsible for the administration. Faustina's name and title identify the woman honored, while filiation on some earlier legends makes her relationship to Pius explicit. Under Marcus, her maternal position remained important, but a coin with children or a fertility personification is not a dated register of the imperial family.

Her death in the mid-170s brought a change in status and imagery. Posthumous denarii commemorate Diva Faustina through consecration themes under Marcus Aurelius. These issues are conventionally catalogued within 176-180. They form the concluding commemorative phase of a much longer series and should not obscure the earlier lifetime denarii.

Obverse: Iconographic Composition

The denarius obverse usually presents a draped bust of Faustina facing right. The neckline and shoulders, the arrangement of the hair, and head ornaments all help distinguish variants. Waves and a rear knot or braided arrangement are recurring elements, but their treatment varies between dies. A formal portrait can communicate the dignity of the Augusta without recording her appearance at a precisely identifiable age.

Portrait groupings are useful for describing the series. They are less secure as independent calendar markers. The classification of a hairstyle should be considered alongside the legend and the reverse combination rather than turned into an exact date by itself. In particular, sequences established for gold dies cannot be transferred mechanically to every silver issue.

Posthumous portraits include veiled and unveiled forms. The pyre group pairs a veiled bust with a divine obverse title, whereas other commemorative denarii retain different bust treatments. Veiling has religious associations, but the title DIVA provides the decisive verbal indication that the portrait belongs to a deified honorand. A calm expression or a particular knot of hair is not a sufficient test of lifetime status.

Obverse: Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The inscriptions use Latin capitals, with V serving where modern Latin printing often writes U. The abbreviation AVG is expanded according to its grammatical context. It can abbreviate Augusta in Faustina's own title or occur within a reference to an Augustus.

Earlier legends can identify Faustina as the daughter of the reigning Pius. Such filiation belongs to the structure of dynastic honor rather than to a claim that she exercised the emperor's authority. The shorter lifetime formula FAVSTINA AVGVSTA means "Faustina Augusta." Its simplicity makes it recognizable but does not attach each use to one year.

The posthumous wording differs explicitly:

• DIVA AVG FAVSTINA expands as Diva Augusta Faustina, "The deified Augusta Faustina." It accompanies the consecration pyre denarius group.
• DIVA FAVSTINA PIA means "The deified Faustina, pious." It appears with other commemorative reverses, including peacock and altar groups.

These are selected formulas, not an exhaustive sequence of annual emissions. The dative DIVAE on other coinage should not be confused with the nominative DIVA, nor should a formula attested on a gold aureus automatically become a silver-denarius variety.

Reverse: Iconographic Composition

Lifetime denarii invoke both divine patronage and personified virtues. Ceres can carry grain and a torch, while Juno is associated with a sceptre, a libation bowl and a peacock. Fecunditas is connected with children and maternal abundance. Other designs invoke joy, harmony or Venus. The figures provide a vocabulary of imperial welfare rather than a single repeated scene.

A reverse with two children on a ceremonial couch is commonly interpreted in relation to dynastic succession and the imperial twins. That interpretation should remain distinct from a claim to identify every child on all maternal reverses. The number and arrangement of children, and the attributes of the adult figure, must be considered type by type.

Consecration imagery moves from the welfare of the living household to remembrance and divine status. The pyre denarius shows a tiered funerary structure crowned by a biga. Other silver groups use a peacock, a throne-related arrangement or a rectangular altar. A peacock accompanying Juno on a lifetime reverse is not itself proof of deification: the complete legend and composition determine its context.

The funerary structure is a symbolic coin image. Architectural details can be described without treating its tiers as a reliable measured reconstruction of a particular monument.

Reverse: Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The reverse legends include names, virtues and commemorative terms. Their translations should preserve distinctions between a deity's name, an abstract quality and a dedication.

• CONCORDIA: "Harmony," a personification with associations of concord.
• FECVNDITAS: "Fertility" or "fruitfulness," expressing dynastic abundance without naming a particular child.
• SAECVLI FELICIT: an abbreviated expression of "felicity of the age."
• IVNONI REGINAE: "To Juno the Queen," a dative dedication.
• HILARITAS: "Joy" or "gladness."
• VENVS: "Venus," naming the goddess.
• CONSECRATIO: "Consecration," the noun announcing the commemorative theme.

The position and division of the letters can vary with the design. An abbreviated legend must be read with its figure, not expanded merely because a familiar design is expected. In the posthumous groups, CONSECRATIO works together with the divine obverse title. It need not be attached to the same reverse object on every issue, and it does not supply a specific funeral date.

Typology and Documented Variants

The silver series is organized most usefully by issuing administration, the honorand's status, and the complete pairing of obverse and reverse. Similar divine themes recur across gold and bronze as well as silver, but the denomination is part of the identification.

The pyre group is catalogued as RIC III Marcus Aurelius 747. The rectangular altar belongs to a different denarius group, RIC 746. These numbers distinguish published type treatments; they do not imply that every worn detail of a particular coin has been resolved. A complete attribution also considers the bust, legend and arrangement of the reverse.

Catalogue date ranges are brackets for the issue, not dates inscribed on the coin. The posthumous bracket cannot be applied retrospectively to the lifetime groups or read as proof that every type was continuously struck for four years.

Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations

Two kinds of chronology must be distinguished: the relative order of designs and their placement in calendar time. Portrait comparison and die relationships can help with the former, while external historical evidence may inform the latter. Neither a hairstyle nor an appealing association with an imperial birth provides an automatic exact date.

The interpretation of maternal imagery is similarly conditional. Children and fertility personifications express the public importance of the dynasty, but they are not necessarily literal portraits of named family members. The relationship between a coin image and sculptural portraiture also requires argument rather than an assumption that all workshops followed one model at once.

The distinction between a temporary funerary pyre and a permanent commemorative structure cannot be settled by a small schematic coin image alone. Terms such as rogus and ustrinum should therefore be used with care. A tiered design can evoke imperial funerary ceremony without documenting a surviving building.

Silver composition raises a separate evidential problem. Surface appearance, a generic material label or the weight of one coin cannot establish a universal standard for the series. Claims about fineness and changes in production require analytical data of appropriate date and scope. They cannot be derived from a study of earlier emperors simply because the denomination is also called a denarius.

References

1. University of Freiburg: consecration denarius for Faustina minor. ID3870; RIC III Marcus Aurelius 747; DIVA AVG FAVSTINA / CONSECRATIO, funerary structure surmounted by a biga; Rome, 176-180.
2. British Museum: posthumous silver denarius for Faustina II. 1853,0105.79; RIC III Marcus Aurelius 746; rectangular altar reverse; Rome, 176-180.
3. Martin Beckmann, Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image. Numismatic Studies 43, ISBN 9780897223669; publisher description and contents. Cited as 2021 in the scholarly review; distributor page lists 2022.
4. University of Osnabrueck: dossier on Marcus Aurelius and Faustina minor coin types. PDF pages 1-4: lifetime denarii and posthumous denarius groups, including RIC 743, 744 and 746. The compilation includes several denominations.
5. Christian Niederhuber, Faustina the Younger: portraiture, public image, and the workings of the imperial mint. Journal of Roman Archaeology 38.1 (2025), 253-263; DOI 10.1017/S1047759425100366.