Diva Mariniana AD 254-256. Consecration issue. Rome
Antoninianus AR

23 mm, 3,93 g

DIVA MARINIANAE, veiled and draped bust right, set on crescent / CONSECRATIO, Apotheosis of Mariniana: Mariniana, raising hand and holding scepter, reclining left on peacock flying upward to the right.

Very Fine

RIC V 6; MIR 36, 220b; RSC 16.

Egnatia Mariniana was the wife of the Roman Emperor Valerian, who ruled from 253 to 260 AD. She came from a prominent senatorial family, the Egnatii. She likely passed away before her husband became emperor, and in the spring of 254 AD, she was posthumously deified. This honor was reflected on coins, with inscriptions like "DIVAE MARINIANAE" on one side, and on the reverse side, typical imagery for the consecration of a deceased empress, such as a wheel-turning peacock. Despite not living to see her husband's rule, she was granted the divine title. Egnatia Mariniana was also the mother of Valerian's son, Gallienus, who later became a co-emperor and succeeded his father. Although she couldn't hold the official title of Augusta due to her passing before her husband's reign, her deification exemplifies the Roman practice of honoring and elevating empresses and noblewomen in a divine context even in such circumstances.