A Divine Family

As empress, Faustina was expected to have a certain public presence. Naturally, she was expected to show her face at official gatherings from time to time, but her image was also to be seen in the form of statues in public places, and of course on coins. She inevitably became a fashion role model, with many women - even later empresses - copying her (frequently changing) hairstyles.M. Beckmann, Faustina the Younger: Coins, Portraits, and Public Image (New York 2021) 75On this coin her hairstyle is partly covered by a veil, which was not the case on her earlier coin portraits. The veil was part of a religious dress code, and was usually worn when participating in ritual.Beckmann, Faustina the Younger, 88.It is possible that to ordinary Romans, the veil was just another reminder that they were looking at Faustina in a religious (or divine) context.

It was probably not at all shocking to the citizens of Rome to see their deceased empress depicted as a goddess. There was already a long tradition of emperors ánd empresses being proclaimed gods after their deaths (only after their deaths; Julius Caesar became a little too comfortable calling himself a god during his life, and he got stabbed 23 times for it). We need only to look at Faustina’s own family tree for examples. Her father, Emperor Antoninus Pius, was deified, and so was her mother Faustina the Elder, and they were similarly depicted on coins. The temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder at the Roman Forum - which can still be admired there today - would have been a very public reminder of Faustina’s divine ancestry.

Suddenly it seems that people might have expected nothing less than deification of Faustina herself, if only to honor her important lineage. Maybe it was also because, as you might imagine, Faustina’s public image was not as bad as it is made out to be, or at least it is a bit more nuanced. We can see more of that on the other side of this coin…