Faustina II with one child -- & with 2, 3, 4, & 6 children -- plus other empresses with children

....Thanks Donna, I actually spent quite a lot of time working on it but it was primarily designed to research Faustina I connection with her Spanish ancestry and as you can see I hit a brick wall at her grandfather! So the children of Faustina II was an offshoot and I can't remember offhand where I acquired the '8 infant mortalities' figure?.....I did send this to @Roman Collector a while back but I didn't receive a reply? As you've said he's one of the main authorities in this area, maybe he'll check it out?
I don't know about others but I find creating a family tree a really thorough way of researching particular characters and certainly brings up some surprises.....At the moment I'm working on Lucius Verus being my most recent purchase and will post a thread when completed.
Paul

 

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I'm so sorry, Paul, if I didn't get back to you. And now after so long, I no longer even remember receiving a family tree of the Antonines from you. It may have come during a time when I didn't have time to write a proper reply and then I forgot about it in the following days.

I have been studying well-researched secondary sources to learn more about Faustina's children. I have drawn new conclusions over the past few years about the birth order and identity of Faustina's children (the ancient sources are very vague and sometimes contradictory). I currently accept the names and birth orders outlined by Walter Ameling and by Barbara Levick. In light of the numismatic evidence, I have narrowed down some of the birth years more than they do.

I currently accept the following (there is scholarly disagreement about the details). Twelve children in 11 pregnancies:

1. Domitia Faustina, born 30 November 147. She was dead for sure by 161, but died most likely in 150 or 151.
2. Lucilla, born 7 March 149.
3. Faustina III, born 150/151. She survived until about 180/81.
4. T. Aelius Antoninus, born 152. Died in infancy/early childhood.
5. Son dead in infancy, late 157 or early 158. He might have been T. Aelius Aurelius.
6. Fadilla, born 159. She survived Commodus.
7. Cornificia, born August 160. She survived until 212, when she was killed by Caracalla.
8. Twins T. Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus and L. Aurelius Commodus, born 31 August 161. The first born twin died in infancy or early childhood.
   
9. M. Annius Verus, born towards the end of 162. He died at the age of 7 after having a tumor surgically removed from his head.
10. Hadrianus, born mid 163-164 (likely before Lucilla's marriage to Varus in 164). Still alive as "son of Emperor Marcus" in inscriptions from c. 180.
11. Vibia Sabina, born c. 170-171, who would have been the three-year-old at Sirmium when Herodes Atticus was there in 174.

 

I've always been lousy at genealogy! So perhaps, based on this post, and copying from RC above, the child on my sestertius is presumably

Domitia Faustina, born 30 November 147. She was dead for sure by 161, but died most likely in 150 or 151.

My coin has a 149 terminal date, so it is possible it could be:

Lucilla, born 7 March 149.

But in 149 Lucilla'd be a babe-in-arms and not standing up.

 

Assuming that child is supposed to represent a real member of the Antonine family and not just an attribute of Pietas, that would have to be Domitia Faustina, the first born, on the basis of chronology. Moreover, if that were Lucilla, why wouldn't her older sister be included?

Here's a coin depicting the two oldest girls. Lucilla, just a baby, is on the left and Domitia is on the right. You can see a hint of Domitia's stephane on my coin.


Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161
Roman orichalcum sestertius; 22.64 gm, 31.5 mm, 12 h
Rome, AD 149
Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XII, laureate bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder
Rev: TEMPORVM FELICITAS, COS IIII in exergue, S C across field, crossed cornucopiae from which a grape bunch flanked by two grain ears hang, surmounted by confronted busts of two children
Refs: RIC 857; BMCRE 1827-29; Cohen 813; RCV 4236; Strack 1026; Banti 411.

You can see these details better on coins I simply can't afford or which are in museums.


BMCRE 4, p. 97, 679.


BMCRE 4, p.298, 1828.

And this one from a CNG Triton VIII sale:



You'll notice on these coins, the child on the right wears a stephane and also looks to be about two years old, whereas the child on the left appears to be a newborn.

 

Thanks for the write up , Donna great coins too.
I only have 1 Faustina with 4 of her children depicted:

 

@Roman Collector.....There is absolutely no need to apologise! I'd forgotten about it until Donna posted and I thought it would be helpful/informative to add the family tree.....I know that you're busy on with your own research and your response shows this, great breakdown of the infants and allows me and others to update our data bases...
Thanks the reply it really is appreciated.....Paul