Diva Faustina I, wife of Antoninus Pius
Aureus after 141, AV 7.26 g. DIVA AVG – FAVSTINA Draped bust r., hair coiled on top of head. Rev. AETER – NITAS Fortuna standing l., holding patera and rudder on globe. C 4. BMC A. Pius 285. RIC A. Pius 349b. Calicó 1746. In an exceptional state of preservation. A perfect Fdc Privately purchased from Kurt Spanier in 1985. This coin is sold with an export licence issued by the government of Spain. The daughter of consul and prefect Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina, Faustina the Elder married Antoninus Pius between AD 110 and 115, before he became emperor in AD 138. They appear to have had a happy marriage, producing four children including Faustina the Younger and another daughter and two sons, all except Faustina the Younger dying before their father's elevation. When Faustina the Elder died in AD 140, Antoninus Pius was grief stricken and took several steps to publicly honour her memory. He arranged for the Senate to declare her deification, as indicated by the obverse legend of this aureus. Here the wife of the emperor is not named as Faustina Augusta as in life, but as Diva Faustina - the Divine Faustina. Gold and silver statues of the new goddess were also placed in prominent locations, like the spina of the Circus Maximus and in the Forum, and a charity for orphaned girls (the puellae Faustinianae) was established in her name. The most impressive honour paid by Antoninus Pius to his dead wife was the foundation of a new temple dedicated to the cult of the Diva Faustina