Faustina the Elder

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Faustina the Elder

Annia Galeria Faustina, more familiarly referred to as Faustina the Elder (Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
: Faustina Major; born September 21 about 100, died 141), was a Roman Empress and wife of Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius

Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus , generally known in English as Antoninus Pius was Roman Emperors from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors and a member of the Aurelii....
.

Faustina was the only daughter of consul and prefect Marcus Annius Verus

Marcus Annius Verus

Marcus Annius Verus was a Ancient Rome man who lived in the 1st century and 2nd century. He was the son of an elder Annius Verus, who gained the rank of senator and praetor....
and Rupilia

Rupilia

Rupilia Faustina was a Roman woman. She was daughter to Salonina Matidia from her third marriage to Lucius Scribonius Libo Rupilio Frugi Bonus consul of 88, who died in 101....
Faustina. Her younger brothers were consul Marcus Annius Libo

Marcus Annius Libo

Marcus Annius Libo or Annius Libo was a Roman who lived in the 2nd century. He was the son of Roman consul Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina....
and praetor

Praetor

Praetor was a Title#Titles_for_heads_of_state granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, either before it was mustered or more typically in the field, or an elected Magistratus assigned duties that varied depending on the historical period....
Marcus Annius Verus

Marcus Annius Verus (praetor)

Marcus Annius Verus was a distinguished Roman politician, a praetor, and the father of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.He was the son of Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina....
. Her maternal aunts were Matidia Minor

Matidia Minor

Mindia Matidia or Matidia Minor or Matidia the Younger was related to several important ancient Roman Empire List of Roman Emperors....
, Roman Empress Vibia Sabina

Vibia Sabina

Vibia Sabina was a Roman Empress, wife and third cousin to Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was the daughter to Salonina Matidia, niece of Roman Emperor Trajan and Lucius Vibius Sabinus, a man of consular rank....
and Rupilia Annia. Her paternal grandfather had the same name as her father and her maternal grandparents were Salonina Matidia

Salonina Matidia

Salonina Matidia was a daughter and only child to Ulpia Marciana and wealthy praetor Gaius Salonius Matidius Patruinus. Her maternal uncle was Roman Emperor Trajan....
(niece of Roman Emperor Trajan

Trajan

Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperors who reigned from 98 until his death in 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a nonpatrician family in the Hispania Baetica province , Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian, serving as a general in the Roman army along the Limes G...
) and consul Lucius Scribonius Libo Rupilio Frugi or Bonus.

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Annia Galeria Faustina, more familiarly referred to as Faustina the Elder (Latin

Latin

Roman Emperor

Antoninus Pius

Marcus Annius Verus

Marcus Annius Verus was a Ancient Rome man who lived in the 1st century and 2nd century. He was the son of an elder Annius Verus, who gained the rank of senator and praetor....
and Rupilia

Rupilia

Marcus Annius Libo

Marcus Annius Libo or Annius Libo was a Roman who lived in the 2nd century. He was the son of Roman consul Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina....
and praetor

Praetor

Marcus Annius Verus (praetor)

Matidia Minor

Mindia Matidia or Matidia Minor or Matidia the Younger was related to several important ancient Roman Empire List of Roman Emperors....
, Roman Empress Vibia Sabina

Vibia Sabina

Salonina Matidia

Trajan

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
.

As a private citizen, she married Antoninus Pius between 110 and 115. Faustina and Antoninus had a very happy marriage. Faustina bore Antoninus four children, two sons and two daughters. They were:

Marcus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. His name appears on a Greek Imperial coin.
Aurelia Fadilla (died in 135); she married Aelius Lamia Silvanus or Syllanus. She appears to have had no children with her husband and her sepulchral inscription has been found in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
.
Annia Galeria Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger
Faustina the Younger

Annia Galeria Faustina Minor , Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder....
(between 125-130-175), a future Roman Empress; she married her maternal cousin, future Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important stoicism philosophy....
. She was the only child who survived to adulthood.

On July 10 138

138

Events...
, her uncle emperor Hadrian

Hadrian

Publius Aelius Hadrianus , as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis, known as Hadrian in English language, was Roman Emperor of Roman Empire from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoicism and Epicureanism philosopher....
had died and her husband became the new emperor. Antoninus was Hadrian's adopted son and heir. Faustina became Roman Empress and the senate accorded her the title of Augusta. Faustina as an empress was well respected and this beautiful woman was renowned for her wisdom. The Augustan History impugned her character, criticizing her as having "excessive frankness" and "levity". However, this doesn’t appear to be the case with her character. Throughout her life, Faustina – as a private citizen and an empress – was involved in assisting with charities, assisting the poor, and sponsoring and assisting in the education of Roman children, particularly of Roman girls.

She can be viewed as one of the most moral, stable and respected empresses in the history of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. When Faustina died, Antoninus was in complete mourning for Faustina.

Antoninus did the following in memory of his loving wife:

Deified her as a goddess (her apotheosis was portrayed on an honorary column
Column of Antoninus Pius

The Column of Antoninus Pius is an honorific column in Rome, devoted in 161 to the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, in the Campus Martius, on the edge of the hill now known as Monte Citorio, and set up by his successors, the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus....
)
Had a temple built in the Roman Forum
Roman Forum

The Roman Forum , sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the Ancient Rome developed....
in her name, with priestesses in the temple.
Had various coins with her portrait struck in her honor. These coins were inscribed DIVA FAVSTINA ("Divine Faustina") and were elaborately decorated.
Founded a charity called Puellae Faustinianae or Girls of Faustina, which assisted orphaned girls.
Created a new alimenta (see Grain supply to the city of Rome
Grain supply to the city of Rome

The megalopolis of ancient Rome could never be fed entirely from its own surrounding countryside, especially as this region was increasingly used to produce fruit, vegetables and other perishable goods, and also taken up with the villas and parks of the aristocracy....
).

In 2008, archaeologists digging at the ancient site of Sagalassos

Sagalassos

Sagalassos is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya , and 30 km from Burdur and Isparta. The ancient ruins of Sagalassos are 7 km from Aglasun in the province of Burdur, on Akdag, in the Western Taurus mountains mountain range, at an altitude of 1450-1700 metres....
in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
discovered a colossal marble head which is believed to be that of Faustina.

Sources

Augustan History - Antoninus Pius
coinscatalog.com