Lucilla, wife of Lucius Verus

Aureus 164-169 or 183 (?), AV 21 mm, 7.26 g. LVCILLAE AVG – ANTONINI AVG F Draped bust r. Rev. VOTA / PVBLI / CA within wreath. C 97. BMC M. Aurelius 327. RIC M. Aurelius 790. Calicó 2219a (this reverse die).
In exceptional state of preservation, possibly the finest aureus of Lucilla in private hands.
A very elegant portrait of fine style struck in high relief. A perfect Fdc

Ex Ars Classica sale XVI, 1933, 1910.
Lucilla was the second of six daughters born to the emperor Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina II. She was a twin of Titus Aurelianus Antoninus, but he died within a year of their birth. When the emperor Antoninus Pius died in 161 and was succeeded by Lucilla’s father and his co-heir Lucius Verus, Lucilla was betrothed to Verus in a gesture meant to tie the two emperors along family lines as well as by their collective Imperial duties. However, since she was just twelve years old, the marriage was delayed until 164, when Lucilla was fifteen or sixteen. At that time her prospective husband was in Asia Minor leading a campaign against the Parthians, so she sailed east and he took leave of campaign to marry her at Ephesus. The imperial couple had at least one child, but the fate of it or any others they may have had is unknown. After Verus’ unexpected death in 169, Lucilla’s personal life worsened. The young woman was next married to an elderly senator and she engaged in frequent infidelities. A decade later Lucilla was involved in the plot to assassinate her only surviving brother Commodus, who had become unstable and despotic as emperor. However, her role was discovered in the plot before it came to fruition, and in 182 or 183 she was banished to Capri where she subsequently was executed.