Faustina the Younger Silver Denarius, RIC III Marcus Aurelius 694

Monetary Context and Imperial Policy

During the Antonine era, the silver denarius functioned as the foundational unit of regular state expenditures, civic trade, and military compensation across the Roman Empire. Under Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Lucius Verus, imperial women played a prominent ideological role in numismatic messaging. Faustina the Younger, daughter of Antoninus Pius and empress to Marcus Aurelius, received an extensive coinage under both her father and her husband. RIC III Marcus Aurelius 694 belongs to the prolific series struck under the authority of Marcus Aurelius following the death of Antoninus Pius in AD 161. While the denarius standard had experienced gradual debasement since the reforms of Nero, the issues struck during the earlier to mid-reign of Marcus Aurelius typically maintained a standard mass centered near 3.3 grams, with silver purities falling within approximately 75 to 80 percent. The issue reflects the administrative commitment of the central government to maintain a stable, high-volume silver currency capable of meeting growing provincial and military overhead, especially as frontier conflicts intensified along the northern and eastern borders.

Production and Mint Organization

The entire regular precious-metal coinage for the imperial family during this era was concentrated at the principal mint of the capital city of Rome. The mint operated an organized officina system where die-cutters, flan casters, and strikers worked in specialized divisions. Surviving specimens of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 694 show that flans were cast in molds before being struck hot between hand-cut iron or bronze dies. Production was executed at high volume, as evidenced by the considerable number of surviving die varieties, differing subtly in hair arrangement, drapery folds, and lettering spacing. The weight of preserved specimens generally clusters between 2.8 and 3.5 grams, with typical diameters measuring from 17 to 19 mm. Alignment of dies (die axis) on Antonine denarii is predominantly regular, typically conforming to an approximate 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock orientation, indicating careful control over the striking process despite massive output.

Obverse Iconography and Coiffure

The obverse presents a right-facing, draped bust of Faustina the Younger, depicted bare-headed without a diadem. The portrait reflects the sophisticated coiffure adopted by the empress during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, distinct from her earlier youthful representations under Antoninus Pius. Her hair is parted centrally, brushed back in regular, deeply scalloped waves along the temples, and gathered at the nape of the neck into a compact bun (chignon). The truncation of the bust is carefully enveloped in delicate classical drapery, leaving the neck and profile exposed. Numismatists and art historians note that Faustina II's changing hairstyles provide essential stylistic criteria for establishing internal relative chronologies. The simplified legend FAVSTINA AVGVSTA curves clockwise around the perimeter, identifying the empress with dignity and restraint.

Reverse Iconography of Juno Regina

The reverse iconography is dedicated to Juno Regina, queen of the gods and patroness of the Roman state, family life, and female virtue. The goddess is shown standing facing left, fully draped in chiton and mantle, with a veil covering the back of her head, denoting ritual purity and marital status. In her extended right hand she holds a patera, a shallow libation dish used in sacrificial rites, while her raised left hand rests upon a tall, vertical sceptre, the ancient emblem of divine majesty and governance. At her feet to the left stands a peacock, the sacred avian companion of Juno, frequently rendered facing left or looking back up toward the goddess. This combination of ritual patera, royal sceptre, and peacock served as an unmistakable visual shorthand linking the heavenly authority of Juno directly to the earthly standing and domestic legitimacy of Faustina Augusta.

Epigraphy and Legends

The inscriptions on RIC III Marcus Aurelius 694 are concise, regular, and clear. The obverse legend reads FAVSTINA AVGVSTA without additional patronymic or marital formulas, which were commonly omitted on the silver coinage of the empress during Marcus Aurelius's reign in contrast to earlier issues reading FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL. The reverse inscription reads IVNONI REGINAE, inscribed in the dative case to signify a formal dedication: 'To Juno the Queen.' This dedicatory syntax was a traditional Roman formula indicating that the coin issue was offered in gratitude and honor to the deity for her continued guardianship over the empress and the state. Lettering is rendered in clean, monumental Roman capital letters with sharp serifs, positioned neatly along the beaded border.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard reference work Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC III), this denarius is catalogued as number 694 under Marcus Aurelius, within the lifetime coinage struck for Faustina the Younger between AD 161 and her death at Halala in Cappadocia late in AD 175 (with consecration issues beginning in AD 176). In Harold Mattingly's Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum (CREBM IV), the type corresponds to numbers 118-124 under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Paul Strack, in his fundamental study of second-century Roman imperial coinage, examined the series within the stylistic development of Faustina's hair arrangements. While the catalogue date range spans the entirety of her time as Augusta under Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-176), internal stylistic comparisons with dated aurei of Marcus Aurelius suggest the peak of production for this specific reverse type with the waved-hair chignon style occurred between approximately AD 161 and the late 160s AD.

Circulation, Hoards, and Deposition

RIC III Marcus Aurelius 694 was struck in vast numbers and circulated extensively throughout the European, Mediterranean, and Danubian provinces. Antonine silver maintained its nominal purchasing power and circulated side-by-side with earlier Flavian, Trajanic, and Hadrianic denarii for decades. The type is ubiquitous in major second- and third-century hoards, such as the Shapwick hoard in Britain and numerous savings deposits across the German and Danubian frontiers. Because the debasements initiated later under Septimius Severus lowered the silver purity of newly minted denarii, Antonine denarii like RIC 694 were often hoarded preferentially as better-quality silver or remained in active circulation until the massive coin recalls and hyper-inflationary cycles of the mid-third century AD. Many surviving examples exhibit moderate to heavy wear, demonstrating prolonged utility in day-to-day commercial transactions across several generations.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. pp. 399-400, nos. 118-124
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Marcus Aurelius 694. ric.3.m_aur.694
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 269, no. 694
4. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil III: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Antoninus Pius. Type analysis of Faustina II portraits