Faustina II Orichalcum Sestertius, RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1635

Monetary Context and Denominational Role

During the Antonine era, the monetary system of the Roman Empire operated on a multi-tiered bimetallic and base-metal standard established in its broad outlines during the Augustan monetary reforms. Within this framework, the sestertius represented the principal large-module base-metal coin, valued at one-quarter of a silver denarius or four copper asses. Struck from orichalcum, a golden-toned copper-zinc brass alloy, the denomination provided both substantial purchasing power in domestic daily transactions and an exceptionally broad physical flan ideal for elaborate imperial messaging. While precious metal aurei and denarii facilitated elite commerce, military stipends, and interprovincial trade, bronze and brass denominations bore the brunt of urban commercial life in Rome and the western provinces. By issuing heavy sestertii under senatorial sanction, signified by the letters S C (Senatus Consulto), the imperial court reinforced the formal constitutional partnership between the princeps and the Roman Senate. For an empress such as Faustina the Younger, the large module of the sestertius allowed die cutters to render complex family groupings and intricate hairstyles with a degree of artistic detail impossible on smaller silver and bronze denominations. Coinage of this module was essential for distributing dynastic iconography across diverse demographic layers of the empire, grounding imperial legitimacy in visible symbols of abundance and lineage.

Production Standards and Mint Organization

The entire production of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1635 was concentrated at the central imperial mint in Rome. Under the Antonines, the Rome mint was organized into specialized workshops or officinae, each staffed by skilled engravers, flan casters, and strikers working under the supervision of imperial officials. Production of sestertii required cast orichalcum blanks that were individually heated and struck between hardened intaglio dies. While classical Augustan orichalcum possessed a zinc content approaching twenty percent, metallurgical analyses of Antonine brass demonstrate a gradual decrease in zinc levels and an increased presence of lead and tin, resulting in varying shades from bright golden brass to warm bronze. In weight and dimensions, sestertii of Faustina II struck during the sole and joint reigns of Marcus Aurelius generally adhered to a median standard around 23 to 28 grams, with flan diameters typically spanning 30 to 33 millimeters, although production tolerances permitted noticeable individual deviations. The high relief of the empress's portrait and the multi-figure composition on the reverse placed considerable mechanical demands on the dies, frequently leading to localized die wear, radial stress fractures along the coin edges, and slight off-center strikes common to heavy ancient hammer-struck coinage.

Obverse Portraiture and Iconography

The obverse of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1635 presents a right-facing bust of Faustina the Younger, shown draped in a tunic and mantle. Her portrait exemplifies the mature stylistic phase of her Antonine numismatic portraiture, distinct from the youthful portraits struck under her father, Antoninus Pius. Engravers depicted her hair arranged in carefully sculpted, nearly vertical wavy melon-style ridges that sweep back across the head, culminating in a heavy, low-set braided chignon at the nape of the neck. Soft curls frame the cheek and temple, reflecting contemporary aristocratic fashion popularized by the imperial court in Rome. The relief captures the serene, idealized naturalism characteristic of mid-second-century Roman portrait sculpture. Through this refined visual presentation, Faustina II was presented not merely as the consort of Marcus Aurelius, but as the daughter of Antoninus Pius and a primary conduit of divine legitimacy and continuity within the imperial household. Minor stylistic variations in the volume of the chignon, the depth of the waves, and the arrangement of the neckline drapery occur across distinct die pairs, reflecting the hands of multiple engravers working simultaneously within the Rome mint.

Reverse Iconography: Fecunditas and the Imperial Children

The reverse of the type features Fecunditas, the personification of fruitful reproduction, standing in a frontal stance with her head turned to the left. She is draped in traditional matronly stola and palla. In her arms she cradles two swaddled infants, while two older children, depicted as small standing figures, flank her on either side at ground level, often shown reaching toward her skirts. This distinctive four-child composition is directly tied to the prolific offspring of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina II, who had at least thirteen children during their thirty-year marriage, including two sets of twins. The personification of Fecunditas serves as an allegorical surrogate for the empress herself, translating biological motherhood into a public virtue ensuring the salvation and perpetual succession of the Roman state. Flanking the lower fields of the design are the prominent letters S and C, denoting Senatus Consulto, the traditional marker affirming that the base-metal issue was struck under the authority of the Roman Senate in accordance with long-standing constitutional convention. The complex grouping of five figures within a circular flan represents one of the most ambitious narrative compositions executed on second-century Roman sestertii.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The legends on RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1635 are concise and direct, reflecting well-established Antonine epigraphic traditions. The obverse bears the continuous peripheral inscription FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, reading clockwise from the lower left. Unlike issues of her early marriage which designated her as FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, this simplified formula was adopted following the death of Antoninus Pius and the accession of Marcus Aurelius in AD 161, affirming her senior status as the reigning Augusta. On the reverse, the legend reads FECVND AVGVSTAE, an abbreviation of Fecunditati Augustae, framed in the dative case to signify a dedication to the fertility of the empress, or alternately as a genitive reference to the fecundity belonging to the Augusta. The central field contains the letters S C across the lower left and right fields. The lettering is executed in classic Roman square capitals with pronounced serifs, spaced evenly along the inner perimeter of the beaded border. The pairing of the Augusta title with Fecunditas explicitly elevated the private domestic realm of childbearing into an official state ideology of dynastic permanence.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification of Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1635 forms part of an extensive sequence of coinage struck for Faustina II between AD 161 and her death in late AD 175 or early AD 176. Numismatists including Harold Mattingly and Curtis Clay have examined the internal sequence of Faustina's issues by tracing changes in coiffure and correlating reverse motifs with known imperial births. The birth of twin sons, Commodus and Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, on August 31, AD 161, was celebrated across imperial media and initiated an intense focus on childbearing imagery. The reverse of RIC 1635, showing four children in total, has been plausibly linked to issues struck during the early to mid-160s AD, when four surviving imperial offspring could be highlighted simultaneously, although some scholars suggest the type remained in production or served as a generalized representation of domestic abundance into the 170s AD. Typologically, RIC 1635 is closely related to sestertius issues depicting Fecunditas with two, three, or six children, as well as contemporaneous denarii and middle bronzes bearing matching legends. Because Faustina was deified promptly after her death at Halala under the title Diva Faustina Pia, the lifetime obverse title FAVSTINA AVGVSTA provides a definite terminus ante quem of AD 175 or 176.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Cultural Impact

Sestertii of Faustina II circulated extensively across Italy and the western provinces of the Roman Empire, including Gaul, Britannia, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian provinces. Archaeological excavations and stray finds confirm that Antonine sestertii enjoyed extended circulation lives, frequently remaining in active commercial use for several decades, and in some instances down into the mid-third-century crisis. Because orichalcum sestertii represented substantial intrinsic and token value, worn specimens were regularly handled alongside earlier Trajanic and Hadrianic bronzes. Hoard evidence from western Europe demonstrates that bronze issues of Faustina the Younger were routinely hoarded during periods of economic instability under the Severans and later military emperors. Beyond their functional role as currency, coins such as RIC 1635 carried profound ideological resonance. To Roman citizens and provincial subjects, the depiction of an imperial mother surrounded by healthy children communicated peace, stability, and relief from the specter of civil succession crises, presenting the Antonine dynasty as an enduring guarantor of cosmic and political order.

References

1. Die Kinder des Marc Aurel und die Bildnistypen der Faustina Minor. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 90 (1992), pp. 147-166
2. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. pp. 531-532, nos. 902-904
3. The Chronology of the Coinage of Faustina the Younger under Marcus Aurelius. Numismatic Chronicle (special studies)
4. Die Bildnistypen der Faustina minor und die Fecunditas Augustae. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen (1982)
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 345, no. 1635
6. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1635. ric.3.m_aur.1635