| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 146 | Auction date: 8 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 2344 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Faustina I, wife of Antoninus Pius. Diva Faustina. Aureus after 141, AV 19 mm, 7.31 g. DIVA AVG – FAVSTINA Draped bust l. with hair waved and coiled on top of head. Rev. CONSECRATIO Faustina standing facing in quadriga galloping l., holding hasta pura, and accompanied by Sol, who leans forward, his arm outstretched toward the horses. C 167. BMC A. Pius 302. RIC A. Pius 383. Calicó 1780. Very rare. An elegant portrait of fine style and an interesting reverse composition. Good extremely fine Faustina the Elder had married Antoninus Pius sometime between 110 and 115, before he was chosen to become the adoptive heir of her uncle Hadrian in 138. When Hadrian died on 10 July of that year, Antoninus Pius was proclaimed Augustus and the Senate accorded Faustina the title of Augusta. Unfortunately, while she was a devoted wife and an exemplary empress who spent a great deal of time supporting charities and education, she died in late October 140, after reigning for only a few years. Antoninus Pius was devastated by her death and ordered a lavish public funeral at which the Augusta was proclaimed to have ascended to the gods and become Diva Faustina ("the Divine Faustina"). She was cremated at Rome on a great funeral pyre and her ashes were interred in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. Lest there be any chance of her memory being forgotten, Pius ordered the erection of a Temple of Faustina in the Forum and the Senate authorised gold and silver statues of the Diva Faustina to be displayed in a cart drawn by elephants at the Circus Maximus. At the same time, new charities aimed at the education of orphan girls known as the puellae Faustinianae ("Faustinian girls") and the distribution of grain to poor citizens of Rome were established in her name. The present gold aureus belongs to this elaborate outpouring of imperial grief, which saw large numbers of gold and silver coins struck in the name of the Diva Faustina with types related to her funeral and apotheosis. The reverse type of this coin depicts Faustina the Elder ascending to the heavens in a four-horse chariot. The identity of her driver is uncertain although he is often tentatively identified as Sol, the Roman god of the sun who was increasingly recognized as the divine patron of emperors and their households over the course of the second and third centuries. Coins such as this may have been distributed as imperial largesse at Faustina's funeral or were used to pay the costs related to the expensive aspects of maintaining her memory before the public. Estimate: 15000 CHF |  |
