Log in or Sign up
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
Faustina Friday – SAECVLI FELICIT: The Happiness of the Age!
>
Reply to Thread
Message:
<p>[QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 7740962, member: 75937"][ATTACH=full]1325380[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">The portico of the Sanctuary of Juno Sospita at Lanuvium. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_portico_of_the_Sanctuary_of_Juno_Sospita_at_Lanuvium,_Lanuvio,_Italy_(16417319305).jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_portico_of_the_Sanctuary_of_Juno_Sospita_at_Lanuvium,_Lanuvio,_Italy_(16417319305).jpg" rel="nofollow">Photo</a> by Carole Raddato and used with permission.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>It's another sweltering August day in the year 914 <i>Ab urbe condita</i> (AD 161). It's 32 Celsius (90° F) in the village of Lanuvium and it's not even midday. The empress and her family have fled the heat and hubbub of the city of Rome, 32 km (20 miles) to the northwest, to stay at her late-father's ancestral villa in the Alban hills. Faustina, nearing the end of her pregnancy – twins, no less – sits in the shade of an umbrella in the courtyard, drinking a tall glass of water. It's a private area and she has no visitors apart from the slave girls who bring her water and tie the <i>calcei</i> around her swollen ankles. The empress' two oldest daughters, twelve-year-old Lucilla and ten-year-old Faustina III, have taken a break from their Greek lessons and are elsewhere in the villa, in the nursery, playing peek-a-boo with their little sisters, the two-year-old Fadilla and Cornificia, who has just turned one.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here the empress may dress down for the heat, wearing only a <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/matronly-garments-the-stola-and-palla.346585/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/matronly-garments-the-stola-and-palla.346585/"><i>stola</i> over a sleeveless <i>tunica intima</i></a>, without the need for a <i>palla</i> to preserve her modesty; she's sweating enough as it is. There's not a cloud in the sky, for it rains only one or two days in August. Even though it is less humid in the hills of Lanuvium than in Rome, the empress is miserable. Inside her, the twins move every few minutes. Faustina winces as she experiences yet another Braxton-Hicks contraction, a foretaste of the labor to come. But the slave girls know it's not yet time to fetch the midwife. They have seen their mistress through several pregnancies before.</p><p><br /></p><p>Antoninus Pius has been dead merely five months, leaving Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus to rule side-by-side. As an emperor, Marcus is preoccupied, refusing to take his friend Fronto's advice to rest. He is too anxious to relax. The eastern front is a mess. Marcus Attidius Cornelianus' army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians and retreated in disarray. Reinforcements needed to be dispatched to the Parthian frontier and three full legions had been sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany, II Adiutrix from Aquincum, and V Macedonica from Troesmis. The northern frontiers are weakened; frontier governors are doing their best to avoid conflict wherever possible. Lucius Verus may soon have to go to the eastern front to deal with things in person.</p><p><br /></p><p>And there is still no male heir. All of Faustina and Marcus' sons have died. Neither extreme wealth nor the imperial physician Galen could save them from the childhood viruses and bacteria that ravage humankind. The death of his sons weighs heavy on the emperor, who consoles himself with stoic philosophy. What if these unborn twins are girls too?</p><p><br /></p><p>On the last day of the month of August, Faustina's water breaks, the slave girls fetch the midwife, and twins are born! They are boys! BOYS! The emperor has a successor, the firstborn of the twins, Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus! And should it be the will of the gods that something happen to Antoninus, his younger brother Commodus will be there to take his place. It is cause to celebrate the happiness of the age, <i>sæculi felicitati!</i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1325383[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3"><a href="https://brewminate.com/healing-history-the-story-of-agnodice-a-woman-practicing-medicine-in-ancient-greece/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://brewminate.com/healing-history-the-story-of-agnodice-a-woman-practicing-medicine-in-ancient-greece/" rel="nofollow">Plaque depicting a birthing scene</a> excavated at Ostia, Italy. British Museum.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Coins are issued in all metals to celebrate the happy event! They depict the heir and his younger twin Commodus on a <i>pulvinar</i>, a couch dedicated to the gods. The coins depict the empress either bare-headed (all metals), or wearing the <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-stephane-on-roman-imperial-coins.377542/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-stephane-on-roman-imperial-coins.377542/">stephane</a> (AR and Æ), a crown worn only by goddesses and the empress. Many dies depict the boys with a star above each of their heads, likening them to the Dioscuri. The symbolism is clear to the Roman people. By appearing on coins with the headgear of the gods, the couches of the gods, and with the stars of the Dioscuri, the Empress and her boys are the earthly equivalents of the gods of the pantheon.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unless otherwise noted (the aureus and the MB with the veiled bust), all of the coins illustrated are from my own collection. <i>Please post anything you feel is relevant!</i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1325372[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Roman Ꜹ aureus, RIC 709. Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.(Triton XIX), 5 January 2016, <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2836108" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2836108" rel="nofollow">lot 575</a>.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1325373[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Faustina Junior, AD 147 – 175.</font></p><p><font size="3">Roman AR denarius, 3.22 g, 17.0 mm, 12 h.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rome, AD 161.</font></p><p><font size="3">Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT, Throne, upon which are seated two infant boys, Antoninus and Commodus.</font></p><p><font size="3">Refs: RIC 711; BMCRE 136; Cohen 191; RCV 5260 var. (no stephane); CRE 221; MIR27-4/10a, b.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1325374[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Faustina Junior, AD 147 – 175.</font></p><p><font size="3">Roman AR denarius; 3.36 g, 17.1 mm, 6 h.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rome, AD 161.</font></p><p><font size="3">Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust, right, wearing stephane.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT, Throne, upon which are seated two infant boys, Antoninus and Commodus.</font></p><p><font size="3">Refs: RIC 712; BMCRE 139; Cohen 191; RCV 5260; CRE 222; MIR 27-4/10a, b Diad.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1325376[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Faustina II, AD 147-175.</font></p><p><font size="3">Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.65 g, 30.4 mm, 12 h.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rome, AD 161.</font></p><p><font size="3">Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT SC, draped throne on which there are two infant boys, Antoninus and Commodus, with stars above their heads.</font></p><p><font size="3">Refs: RIC 1665; BMCRE 936; Cohen 193; RCV 5282; MIR27-6/10a.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1325375[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Faustina II, AD 147-175.</font></p><p><font size="3">Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.65 g, 30.4 mm, 12 h.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rome, AD 161.</font></p><p><font size="3">Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust, right, wearing stephane.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT SC, draped throne on which there are two infant boys, Antoninus and Commodus, with stars above their heads.</font></p><p><font size="3">Refs: RIC 1665n; BMCRE 939, 941; Cohen 193; RCV –; MIR27-6/10a, b Diad.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1325378[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Faustina II, AD 147-175.</font></p><p><font size="3">Roman Æ as, 9.78 g, 26.1 mm, 5 h.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rome, AD 161.</font></p><p><font size="3">Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, r.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT SC, draped throne on which there are two infant boys with stars above their heads.</font></p><p><font size="3">Refs: RIC 1666; BMCRE 991; Cohen 194; RCV 5302.</font></p><p><font size="3">Notes: Ex Henry Clay Lindgren.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1325379[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Roman Æ as or dupondius, RIC—; BMCRE 991n. Münzen & Medaillen GmbH (Auction 41), 11 December 2014, <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2274841" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2274841" rel="nofollow">lot 154</a>.</font></p></blockquote><p>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 7740962, member: 75937"][ATTACH=full]1325380[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3]The portico of the Sanctuary of Juno Sospita at Lanuvium. [URL='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_portico_of_the_Sanctuary_of_Juno_Sospita_at_Lanuvium,_Lanuvio,_Italy_(16417319305).jpg']Photo[/URL] by Carole Raddato and used with permission.[/SIZE][/INDENT] It's another sweltering August day in the year 914 [I]Ab urbe condita[/I] (AD 161). It's 32 Celsius (90° F) in the village of Lanuvium and it's not even midday. The empress and her family have fled the heat and hubbub of the city of Rome, 32 km (20 miles) to the northwest, to stay at her late-father's ancestral villa in the Alban hills. Faustina, nearing the end of her pregnancy – twins, no less – sits in the shade of an umbrella in the courtyard, drinking a tall glass of water. It's a private area and she has no visitors apart from the slave girls who bring her water and tie the [I]calcei[/I] around her swollen ankles. The empress' two oldest daughters, twelve-year-old Lucilla and ten-year-old Faustina III, have taken a break from their Greek lessons and are elsewhere in the villa, in the nursery, playing peek-a-boo with their little sisters, the two-year-old Fadilla and Cornificia, who has just turned one. Here the empress may dress down for the heat, wearing only a [URL='https://www.cointalk.com/threads/matronly-garments-the-stola-and-palla.346585/'][I]stola[/I] over a sleeveless [I]tunica intima[/I][/URL], without the need for a [I]palla[/I] to preserve her modesty; she's sweating enough as it is. There's not a cloud in the sky, for it rains only one or two days in August. Even though it is less humid in the hills of Lanuvium than in Rome, the empress is miserable. Inside her, the twins move every few minutes. Faustina winces as she experiences yet another Braxton-Hicks contraction, a foretaste of the labor to come. But the slave girls know it's not yet time to fetch the midwife. They have seen their mistress through several pregnancies before. Antoninus Pius has been dead merely five months, leaving Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus to rule side-by-side. As an emperor, Marcus is preoccupied, refusing to take his friend Fronto's advice to rest. He is too anxious to relax. The eastern front is a mess. Marcus Attidius Cornelianus' army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians and retreated in disarray. Reinforcements needed to be dispatched to the Parthian frontier and three full legions had been sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany, II Adiutrix from Aquincum, and V Macedonica from Troesmis. The northern frontiers are weakened; frontier governors are doing their best to avoid conflict wherever possible. Lucius Verus may soon have to go to the eastern front to deal with things in person. And there is still no male heir. All of Faustina and Marcus' sons have died. Neither extreme wealth nor the imperial physician Galen could save them from the childhood viruses and bacteria that ravage humankind. The death of his sons weighs heavy on the emperor, who consoles himself with stoic philosophy. What if these unborn twins are girls too? On the last day of the month of August, Faustina's water breaks, the slave girls fetch the midwife, and twins are born! They are boys! BOYS! The emperor has a successor, the firstborn of the twins, Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus! And should it be the will of the gods that something happen to Antoninus, his younger brother Commodus will be there to take his place. It is cause to celebrate the happiness of the age, [I]sæculi felicitati![/I] [ATTACH=full]1325383[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3][URL='https://brewminate.com/healing-history-the-story-of-agnodice-a-woman-practicing-medicine-in-ancient-greece/']Plaque depicting a birthing scene[/URL] excavated at Ostia, Italy. British Museum.[/SIZE][/INDENT] Coins are issued in all metals to celebrate the happy event! They depict the heir and his younger twin Commodus on a [I]pulvinar[/I], a couch dedicated to the gods. The coins depict the empress either bare-headed (all metals), or wearing the [URL='https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-stephane-on-roman-imperial-coins.377542/']stephane[/URL] (AR and Æ), a crown worn only by goddesses and the empress. Many dies depict the boys with a star above each of their heads, likening them to the Dioscuri. The symbolism is clear to the Roman people. By appearing on coins with the headgear of the gods, the couches of the gods, and with the stars of the Dioscuri, the Empress and her boys are the earthly equivalents of the gods of the pantheon. Unless otherwise noted (the aureus and the MB with the veiled bust), all of the coins illustrated are from my own collection. [I]Please post anything you feel is relevant![/I] [ATTACH=full]1325372[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3]Roman Ꜹ aureus, RIC 709. Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.(Triton XIX), 5 January 2016, [URL='https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2836108']lot 575[/URL].[/SIZE][/INDENT] [ATTACH=full]1325373[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3]Faustina Junior, AD 147 – 175. Roman AR denarius, 3.22 g, 17.0 mm, 12 h. Rome, AD 161. Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT, Throne, upon which are seated two infant boys, Antoninus and Commodus. Refs: RIC 711; BMCRE 136; Cohen 191; RCV 5260 var. (no stephane); CRE 221; MIR27-4/10a, b.[/SIZE][/INDENT] [ATTACH=full]1325374[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3]Faustina Junior, AD 147 – 175. Roman AR denarius; 3.36 g, 17.1 mm, 6 h. Rome, AD 161. Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust, right, wearing stephane. Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT, Throne, upon which are seated two infant boys, Antoninus and Commodus. Refs: RIC 712; BMCRE 139; Cohen 191; RCV 5260; CRE 222; MIR 27-4/10a, b Diad.[/SIZE][/INDENT] [ATTACH=full]1325376[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3]Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.65 g, 30.4 mm, 12 h. Rome, AD 161. Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT SC, draped throne on which there are two infant boys, Antoninus and Commodus, with stars above their heads. Refs: RIC 1665; BMCRE 936; Cohen 193; RCV 5282; MIR27-6/10a.[/SIZE][/INDENT] [ATTACH=full]1325375[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3]Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.65 g, 30.4 mm, 12 h. Rome, AD 161. Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust, right, wearing stephane. Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT SC, draped throne on which there are two infant boys, Antoninus and Commodus, with stars above their heads. Refs: RIC 1665n; BMCRE 939, 941; Cohen 193; RCV –; MIR27-6/10a, b Diad.[/SIZE][/INDENT] [ATTACH=full]1325378[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3]Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman Æ as, 9.78 g, 26.1 mm, 5 h. Rome, AD 161. Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, r. Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT SC, draped throne on which there are two infant boys with stars above their heads. Refs: RIC 1666; BMCRE 991; Cohen 194; RCV 5302. Notes: Ex Henry Clay Lindgren.[/SIZE][/INDENT] [ATTACH=full]1325379[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=3]Roman Æ as or dupondius, RIC—; BMCRE 991n. Münzen & Medaillen GmbH (Auction 41), 11 December 2014, [URL='https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2274841']lot 154[/URL].[/SIZE][/INDENT][/QUOTE]
Your name or email address:
Do you already have an account?
No, create an account now.
Yes, my password is:
Forgot your password?
Stay logged in
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
Faustina Friday – SAECVLI FELICIT: The Happiness of the Age!
>
Home
Home
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Activity
Recent Posts
Forums
Forums
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Posts
Competitions
Competitions
Quick Links
Competition Index
Rules, Terms & Conditions
Gallery
Gallery
Quick Links
Search Media
New Media
Showcase
Showcase
Quick Links
Search Items
Most Active Members
New Items
Directory
Directory
Quick Links
Directory Home
New Listings
Members
Members
Quick Links
Notable Members
Current Visitors
Recent Activity
New Profile Posts
Sponsors
Menu
Search
Search titles only
Posted by Member:
Separate names with a comma.
Newer Than:
Search this thread only
Search this forum only
Display results as threads
Useful Searches
Recent Posts
More...
