Mother of the Camp
Opposite from the seated Faustina on this coin, we see three military banners (signa), indicating Faustina’s relationship to the Roman army. She is depicted sitting next to the banners, so she must be in a military environment. We know that Faustina did travel with her husband and his troops on several military campaigns, staying with him in the army camps. It was because of this that she received the title mater castrorum, mother of the camp.
Faustina is the very first person to receive the title mater castrorum. We do not know exactly what she did to earn it, but it seems clear that she established a bond with the soldiers by simply traveling with them on campaigns, instead of staying safely in Rome.
The soldiers might have spontaneously started to refer to Faustina as the ‘mother of the camp’ because of her presence there, and Emperor Marcus Aurelius would have gladly picked up on that. He was involved in many military campaigns during his reign, and he knew very well how important it was for the emperor to secure the loyalty of the army. The morale among the troops would have been a constant concern. It is then no surprise that he took the opportunity to solidify his wife Faustina’s bond with the army by putting her image with the title matri castrorum on coins of all values. This coin was probably even used to pay soldiers, who were reminded of their ‘mother’ and benefactor. Thus, even though Faustina could not hold any official military power, she appears to have had a major influence on the army.