The Roman Empire
Faustina II, daughter of Antoninus Pius and wife of Marcus Aurelius
Diva Faustina. Sestertius 176-180, Æ 24.02 g. DIVA FAV – STINA PIA Draped bust r. Rev. AETERNITAS Faustina, holding sceptre, seated l. between two dancing girls with veils flying above their heads; below, S C. C 10. BMC M. Aurelius 1568. RIC M. Aurelius 1697.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. Struck on a very broad flan
and with a pleasant grey-green patina, extremely fine Aeternitas – eternity – was an extremely common theme with the diva coinages of both Faustinas, and there are a great many design types that accompany the inscription. The one on this sestertius of the younger Faustina ranks among the more elaborate and enigmatic of these types. Faustina, now deified, enthroned and holding a sceptre, as if a reflection of Juno, is accompanied by two young women holding billowed veils over their heads. The identity of the women is vague, and both Mattingly and Sydenham describe them rather literally as dancing girls. Mattingly, however, suggests they may be ‘the Hours’ (the Horae). If this remarkable scene is meant to represent Faustina’s heavenward journey, it joins company with three other reverse types that her widower Marcus Aurelius struck on her behalf: Faustina being escorted by a torch- bearing Victory, the empress seated on the back of Juno’s peacock, and her holding a billowed veil while standing in a biga.