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Message:: [QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 5136809, member: 75937"]The identity of the children on the reverse of this are not known with absolute certainty -- and it's possible they are simply the attributes of the personification of Fecunditas and not intended to represent actual members of the imperial family -- but they are thought by some numismatists to represent (from oldest to youngest) Lucilla, Faustina III, Fadilla, and newborn Cornificia.[1] How do we know this? First of all, we have to know when the coin was issued. In the absence of titulature beyond AVGVSTA, we have to turn to the parallel issues of her father and husband, who also issued coins with this motif on the reverse. <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/antoninus-pius-pietati-avg-cos-iiii-fecunditas-denarius-jpg.1162927/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161.Roman AR denarius, 3.15 g, 18.1 mm, 11 h.Rome, December, AD 160- March, AD 161.Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XXIIII, laureate head, right.Rev: PIETATI AVG COS IIII, Faustina II (as Pietas) standing left, holding a child on each arm; at each side of her, a child standing looking towards her and raising hand.Refs: RIC <a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.313C" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.313C" rel="nofollow">313c</a>; BMCRE <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1894-1105-18" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1894-1105-18" rel="nofollow">1013</a>-14; Cohen 631; Strack 384; RCV 4098. <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/5075254-jpg.1162928/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />Marcus Aurelius as Caesar, AD 139-161.Roman AV aureus, 6.81 g.Rome, 10 December - 31 December, AD 160.Obv: AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F, bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust of Marcus right.Rev: TR POT XV COS II DESIG III, Faustina standing facing, head left, holding two infants in each arm, two small children standing at her feet.Refs: RIC (Pius) 487b. Calico 1979.Photo: Ira & Larry Goldberg auction 104, <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5075254" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5075254" rel="nofollow">lot 3322</a>, 12 June 2018. Given the similarity in reverse motif, I think it is highly likely that these coins were issued simultaneously and to commemorate an actual event, the birth of Princess Cornificia.[2] Moreover, I believe it likely that the reverse figure is Faustina II herself and that the reverse inscriptions FECVND AVGVSTAE and PIETATI AVG refer not to the figure depicted on the reverse, but the attributes of the person on the obverse: the fecundity of the Augusta and the piety of the Augustus. Note that the aureus of Marcus Aurelius does not identify the female figure as either Fecunditas or Pietas. I think that's because her identity would have been obvious to the Roman people: Faustina II. We can date these coins to the last three weeks of AD 160, for the combination of titles on the coins of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius was only possible from 10 December through 31 December, 160. Having established that the coin depicts Faustina II and was issued in December, AD 160, we can set out on the task of identifying the children. Although there is some uncertainty about the birth dates of some of her children, and it's not clear whether a boy known as Gemellus Lucillae (which literally means "twin (masc.) of Lucilla") actually existed, here's what we know about Faustina and Marcus' children[3]: <ul> <li>Her first child was a daughter, Domitia Faustina, born November 30, 147 AD. She is thought to have died in AD 150 or 151 </li> <li>Titus Aurelius Antoninus ("Antoninus" #2) and his twin brother Titus Aelius Aurelius ("Aelius" #3) were POSSIBLY her second and third children; the historical record is inconsistent and the dates these children were born is not known with certainty or whether they were twins. The birth of the two boys in AD 149 is suggested by coins with the legend temporum felicitas ("happiness of these times"), because their birth meant that dynastic continuity was guaranteed. In ancient Rome, that was another way of saying that a civil war was averted. If these two were twins, Antoninus must have been the elder of the two, because Marcus Aurelius gave this name to the son who he believed would be his successor. However, Aelius died within a year, and Antoninus appears to have died soon after. The evidence is limited to coinage: there is a coin that shows Faustina III and Antoninus; the next coin shows Faustina III alone. There is nothing exceptional to this: infant mortality was high in pre-industrial societies. Aelius and Antoninus were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian.</li> <li>Annia Galeria Aurelia Lucilla (#4 or #2), better known as simply Lucilla, was born in AD 149 or 150.</li> <li>Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina (#5 or #3), better known as Faustina III, was born in AD 150/151.</li> <li>T. Aelius Antoninus (#6 or #4) was born in AD 152 if not in AD 149, as discussed above. Some identify this male child with T. Aurelius Antoninus or perhaps with Hadrianus. He died in infancy.</li> <li>Son (#7 or #5) dead in infancy, late AD 157 or early 158, known from a letter of Marcus Aurelius acknowledging congratulations on his birth. Some identify him with the T. Aelius Aurelius if not born in AD 149, as discussed above. </li> <li>Annia Aurelia Fadilla, most commonly known as Fadilla (#8 or #6), was born in AD 159.</li> <li>Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (#9 or #7), was born in August, 160.</li> <li>Of the twins born 31 August 161, the elder (#10 or #8) was called Titus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus and the younger (#11 or #9) Lucius Aurelius Commodus. Titus died in AD 165.</li> <li>Marcus Annius Verus (#12 or #10) was born in late AD 162.</li> <li>Hadrianus, the youngest son (#13 or #11), was born about AD 165 or 166.</li> <li>Vibia Aurelia Sabina was the youngest child (#14 or #12), a daughter, born in AD 170.</li> </ul> That's ONE OR TWO SETS OF TWINS in ELEVEN OR TWELVE PREGNANCIES. The "fecundity of the empress," indeed! Having established a date of December, 160 for your coin, and proposing that the figure on the reverse is the empress herself and not simply a personification of Fecunditas or Pietas, let's try to identify which children the reverse may depict. At the time of the coin's issue, the following children had already died: Domitia Faustina, Antoninus, Aelius, Titus Aelius Antoninus, and a son, the identity of which is unclear. This left only the four daughters, Lucilla, Faustina III, Fadilla, and Cornificia. Four children were alive (all girls) at the time this coin was issued, two were older (middle-school age) and two were very young, no more than two and one years of age, respectively. The coin depicts four children, two old enough to stand and two young enough to be held in an arm. Although the children at the reverse figure's feet are preschooler size, not tween size, I consider this an artistic convention, similar to the way barbarian captives are rendered tiny compared to Roman soldiers on many issues. Additional evidence that the reverse depicts Faustina and her four living children in AD 160 is that coins issued by Pius the previous year, such as <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R1874-0715-43" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R1874-0715-43" rel="nofollow">this example in the British Museum</a> (BMCRE 983, RIC 302b) with the titles TR P XXIII and COS IIII, and dated to AD 159 depict a similar reverse motif but with only three children. One quite naturally concludes that this coin was issued to commemorate the birth of Fadilla in that year,[4] with Faustina III and Lucilla being the older children standing at her feet.<img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/canvas-png.1162946/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> For these reasons, I believe the coins of Faustina II with the FECVND AVGVSTAE reverse legend and the parallel issues of her father and husband were issued starting in mid- to late-December, AD 160 to commemorate the birth of Cornificia, and depict Faustina II herself on the reverse, along with her four children, Lucilla, Faustina III, Fadilla, and Cornificia. The coin with the SAECVLI FELICIT reverse type depicting the twin boys Antoninus and Commodus must have been issued shortly after their birth in AD 161. ~~~ 1. Strack, Paul L. Untersuchungen Zur Romischen Reichspragung Des Zweiten Jahrhunderts. Kohlhammer, 1937, pp. 113-18. 2. So too 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. lxxv. 3. For a discussion of the chronology and identities of all of Faustina's children and the difficulties in reconciling the ancient sources, see Levick, Barbara. Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 115-18. 4. So Mattingly, op. cit., p. lxxiv.[/QUOTE]

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