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Ruler: Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius
Denomination: Sestertius
Obverse: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right.
Reverse: FECVNDITAS S C, Fecunditas standing right, holding long scepter and child.
Mint: Rome, 161-164 AD
Weight: 25,57 g
Diameter: 32 mm
Reference: RIC III 1638 (Aurelius); MIR 18
Provenance: Lipsia Numismatics auction 1 lot 212 = ex Kreß, Auction 133, 1965, lot 836.
Note: Faustina probably had up to 14 children with Marcus Aurelius, although very few of them survived their parents. Coins praised the Empress's fecunditas (fertility) and the happy times due to her large number of children. She was elevated to Augusta after the birth of her first daughter.
Annia Galeria Faustina the Younger (c. 130 AD,– 175/176 AD) was Roman empress from 161 to her death as the wife of emperor Marcus Aurelius, her maternal cousin. Faustina was the youngest child of emperor Antoninus Pius and empress Faustina the Elder. She was held in high esteem by soldiers and her husband as Augusta and Mater Castrorum ('Mother of the Camp') and was given divine honours after her death.
The facts concerning the death of Faustina are not definite. She died in the winter of 175 at the military camp in Halala (a city in the Taurus Mountains in Cappadocia). The causes of her death are of speculation of scholars and range from death from natural causes, suicide, an accident, or even possibly assassination in retaliation for her alleged affair with Cassius earlier that year, depending on the source.
Aurelius grieved much for his wife and buried her in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. She was deified, with her statue placed in the Temple of Venus in Rome and a temple dedicated to her in her honor. Halala's name was changed to Faustinopolis and Aurelius opened charity schools for orphan girls called Puellae Faustinianae or 'Girls of Faustina'. The Baths of Faustina in Miletus are named after her.
In Roman mythology, Fecunditas (Latin: "fecundity, fertility") was the goddess of fertility (płodność). She was portrayed as a matron, sometimes holding a cornucopia or a hasta pura, with children in her arms or standing next to her.
Collection : 30 Roman Sestertii, asses and dupondii