Faustina Friday -- The Empress as Mater Castrorum

For much of the early 170s, Faustina II accompanied her husband Marcus Aurelius on campaign to the northern front, probably in what is now modern Hungary. This was not unprecedented. Livia is said to have traveled with Augustus during his trips to the eastern and western parts of the empire,[1] and with him in Gaul.[2] During Augustus' reign, Julia and Antonia traveled outside of Italy with their husbands (Julia first as wife of Agrippa, then as the wife of Tiberius; Antonia as the wife of Drusus).[3] Agrippina, pregnant with Caligula, was with Germanicus and the first and twentieth legions at Ara Uborium,[4] and across the Rhine the following year when they battled the Cherusci.[5] Agrippina later traveled with Germanicus to the East.[6] Plotina was with Trajan when he died on campaign in Cilicia.[7] Sabina accompanied Hadrian on his first great provincial tour and later in Egypt.[8]

Although not the first imperial woman to accompany her husband in his travels, Faustina II was the first to be awarded the title of Mater Castrorum, "the mother of the camps." The title may have been awarded fleetingly to Crispina, the wife of Commodus.[9] It was awarded to Julia Domna by her husband, Septimius Severus, and appears on coins of all three metals.[10] Julia Domna's sister, Julia Maesa, held the title,[11] as did her niece, Julia Mamaea, the mother of Severus Alexander.[12] Herennia Etruscilla, the wife of Decius, and Magnia Urbica, the wife of Carinus, also bore the title.[13]

Cassius Dio[14] provides the most detailed description of how Faustina was awarded the title of Mater Castrorum. Dio describes a ferocious encounter between Marcus Aurelius' troops and the Quadi. The desperate Romans, hemmed in by the Quadi and kept from water in blazing heat, were losing until a sudden, drenching rainstorm brought the Romans water and struck the Quadi with thunderbolts. This "miracle of the rain god" brought victory to the Romans, and the soldiers saluted Marcus Aurelius as imperator for the seventh time. At the end of Dio's long excerpt, we read "Moreover, Faustina was given the title 'Mother of the Camp.'"[15] Faustina's title would thus date to June of 174,[16] the date of the battle and of Marcus Aurelius' seventh acclamation as imperator.

However, the Historia Augusta[17] reports that Faustina received the title from Marcus Aurelius at the time of her death. This cannot be the case, however, based upon the numismatic evidence; several coins issued in Faustina's lifetime bear the title of Mater Castrorum. One intriguing possibility is an inscription discovered in Carnuntum in Upper Pannonia and published in 1983.[18] This inscription has been dated to 172 and reconstructed as reading "[I. O. M. K.] / [Pro s]alu[te] / [uxo]ris Aug(usti) / [Faustinae] Aug(ustae) mat[ris] / [ca]stror(um)." This would seemingly attest to Faustina's presence in Carnuntum in 172 as well as imply that she had already been bestowed the title of Mater Castrorum by that date. However, both the reconstruction and dating of this inscription have been called into question.[19]

A posthumous denarius reading MATRI CASTRORVM

Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman AR denarius, 2.80 g, 18.1 mm, 6 h.
Rome, third posthumous issue, AD 176 and later.
Obv: DIVAE FAVSTINAE PIAE, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: MATRI CASTRORVM, Faustina II seated left, holding phoenix on globe in right hand and transverse scepter in left hand; before her, two standards.
Refs: RIC 753 corr.; BMCRE 705; Cohen 161 corr.; RSC 161; RCV 5220; MIR 49-4/19; CRE 175.
Notes: Cohen (corrected by Seaby in RSC), cited without correction by RIC, reports Faustina's portrait as diademed as well as veiled -- an error, probably caused by the added prominence the die engravers give to the front edge of the veil. ​

For an excellent review of Faustina's lifetime and posthumous coinage as Mater Castrorum, I highly recommend Thirion's excellent paper.[20] See also a paper by Aleksander Bursche[21] describing a previously unreported aureus of this series bearing the dative obverse legend FAVSTINAE AVGVSTAE, previously known only on sestertii (RIC 1661) and asses (RIC 1662) of that reverse type.

Post comments, Mater Castrorum coins of other empresses, or anything you feel is relevant!

~~~

Notes:

1. Tacitus Ann. 3.34.6

2. Seneca Clem. 1.9.2 and 6

3. Halfmann, Helmut. Itinera Principum: Geschichte Und Typologie Der Kaiserreisen Im Romischen Reich. Steiner, 1986, p. 90.

4. Tacitus Ann. 1.39-44.

5. Tacitus Ann. 1.69.1-4.

6. Tacitus Ann. 2.54.1, 2.57.4, 2.75.1.

7. Hist. Aug. Hadr. 4.10.

8. Hist Aug. Hadr. 11.3.

9. A sestertius of Crispina under Commodus, BMCRE 418, about which Mattingly writes, "The B.M. coin is in sad condition, and has considerably been altered. There is, however, just a chance that it is a genuine ancient piece." Mattingly, Harold, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. Introduction, indexes and plates. London, BMP, 1968, p. 766, n. 418. RIC3 notes the coin has been "probably tooled and altered." Mattingly, Harold and Sydenham, Edward A. The Roman imperial coinage, vol. 3: Antoninus Pius to Commodus, London, Spink, 1986, p. 442. note.

10. For example: BMCRE5 56, 57, and 774.

11. Calabria, Patrizia. "La Leggenda 'Mater Castrorum' Sulla Monetazione Imperiale." Miscellanea Graeca e Romana, vol. 14, 1989, pp. 225–233.

12. "Julia Avita Mamaea." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Avita_Mamaea.

13. Calabria, op. cit.

14. Cassius Dio Hist. Rom. 71.8-10.

15. Cassius Dio Hist. Rom. 71.10.5.

16. Mattingly, Harold and Sydenham, Edward A. op. cit., pp. 206, 211.

17. Hist Aug. Aur. 26.4-9.

18. Knibbe, D. "I(uppiter) O(ptimus) M(aximus) K(arnuntinus). Kaiser Marcus, Faustina, Commodus und der 11. Juni 172 n. Chr." ÖJh 54, 1983, pp. 138-140.

19. Boatwright, Mary T. "Faustina the Younger, 'Mater Castrorum'" in Les Femmes Antiques Entre sphère privée Et sphère Publique: Actes Du Diplôme D'Etudes Avancées, Universités De Lausanne Et Neuchâtel, 2000-2002, Bielman, Anne, et al., eds. Peter Lang, 2003, pp. 249-268.

20. Thirion, M. "Faustina augusta, mater castrorum : un aureus inédit." GNS 17, pp. 41-49. https://www.e-periodica.ch/cntmng?pid=smb-001:1963:13::1120.

21. Bursche, Aleksander. "A UNIQUE AUREUS OF FAUSTINA II WITH THE LEGEND MATER CASTRORUM FROM A LATE ROMAN AREA OF HOARDS IN THE SOUTHERN BALTIC REGION." JOURNAL OF ANCIENT HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, vol. 7, no. 1_SI, 2020, doi:10.14795/j.v7i1_si.478.

 

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nice write-up as always.

The die cutter of this type was very talented, especially the portraits of Faustina are very nice. The reverse of my example is quite ugly but the obverse shows one of the best portraits in my Faustina collection:

Faustina Minor
AR-Denar, Rome
Obv.: DIVAE FAVSTINAE PIAE, veiled and draped bust right
Rev.: MATRI CASTRORVM, Faustina seated left, holding globe surmounted by Phoenix and sceptre; two signa before
Ag, 3.19g

 

Great writeup, and nice coin. Here's a Domna:

JULIA DOMNA
AE As. 10.16g, 26.1mm. Rome mint, AD 196-211. RIC 881 (scarce); Cohen 121; BMC 789. O: IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right. R: MATER CASTRORVM, Julia, diademed and veiled, standing front, head to left, sacrificing out of patera over altar with her right hand and holding long caduceus with her left; before her, three standards; S C in exergue.
Ex G.G. Collection; reportedly ex Robert Friedinger-Pranter Collection, and privately acquired by him from Oberstleutnant Otto Voetter on 29 January 1913 for 6 crowns.

 

Nice @Roman Collector and a very interesting write-up - thanks.

 

Love these Faustina Fridays, RC.

Here's my MATRI CASTORVM sestertius - it is so worn the standards are not really visible:


Faustina II Æ Sestertius
(176-180 A.D.)
Rome Mint
DIVAE FAVSTINAE [PIAE], draped and veiled bust right /[MATRI CASTRO]RV[M] SC below, Faustina II seated l., holding globe w. phoenix and sceptre; two standards in l. field.
RIC 1712; Cohen 163.
(24.43 grams / 29 mm)

And since you mention it, here is a denarius of Marcus Aurelius purportedly commemorating the "Rain Miracle" of the Quadi:


Marcus Aurelius Denarius
(173-174 A.D.)
Rome Mint
M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVIII, laureate head right / RELIG AVG IMP VI COS III
Mercury standing left holding patera and caduceus.
RIC 298; RSC 530e
(3.05 grams / 19 mm)
Quadi "Rain Miracle" comm.

Here's the "Rain Miracle" from the Column of Marcus Aurelius (scary bird-like figure upper right):



By Cristiano64 - Fotografia personale, self made, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2409338

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcomannic_Wars

 

Nice writeup, @Roman Collector
Interesting to see many empresses are following their husbands in campaigns. Can't just relax in Rome.

 

Julia Domna:

Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. AR Denarius (16mm; 3.15 gm; 6h). Struck 196 AD. Obv: IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right. Rev: MATRI CASTRORVM (Mother of the Camps), Domna standing left, sacrificing from patera held in right hand, holding box in left hand; two standards left. RIC IV 567; BMCRE 57; RSC 134.

 

Very interesting post, @Roman Collector !

 

Another insightful, well done writeup RC! I knew mama Domna was a Mater Castrorum but don't recall that Faustina II was the first. Very cool!
Here are a couple of my camp mamas:

 

Update!!! I was able to acquire this lifetime sestertius of the empress with the nominative case obverse inscription.

Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 23.24 g, 29.5 mm, 1 h.
Rome, AD 174-175.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: MATRI CASTRORVM S C, Faustina standing left, sacrificing over lighted altar and holding incense-box; three standards before.
Refs: RIC 1659; BMCRE 930-31; Cohen 164; RCV 5280; MIR 23-6/10a.
Notes: BMCRE 929 erroneously gives FAVSTINA AVGVSTA on obverse. The obverse inscription on that coin is in the dative case.​

 

Congrats to your great pickup, @Roman Collector.
"Mother of the camp" in a large size coin. Nice!