Step 4 of 5

Mother of the Heir

Fig. 5. Reverse of a sestertius of Faustina, where she is depicted standing with four [children](https://nnc.dnb.nl/dnb-nnc-ontsluiting-frontend/#/collectie/object/RO-05421)

Fig. 5. Reverse of a sestertius of Faustina, where she is depicted standing with four children

Faustina’s main role was to set an example as a good (if not the best) woman of the Empire. She was the wife of the emperor, after all. She is intentionally associated with all kinds of female virtues like loyalty, generosity and physical beauty, but the most important one is probably motherhood. Especially to highborn Romans, a woman was really only as good as her ability to bear children. If a wife seemed not to be able to provide her husband with children, this was grounds for divorce.B. M. Levick, Faustina I and II - Imperial Women of the Golden Age (Oxford 2014) 24.Faustina delivered. She gave birth 12 times, though not all of her children survived into adulthood. It is almost a miracle that Faustina survived it all herself, since giving birth was often dangerous to women. She gave birth to the heir, a son named Commodus, in 161. Her children seem to have been viewed as her biggest achievement. She is often depicted on coins with her children, calling attention to her fertility and motherhood as her main virtues.Beckmann, Faustina the Younger, 57.

Interestingly, the rumors about Faustina contradicted exactly these female virtues. First, she was made out to be disloyal and immodest, having many affairs during her marriage to Marcus Aurelius. She is said to have had a preference for the ‘rough’ types: sailors, soldiers and gladiators - maybe because her husband was the opposite, a studious philosopher.Levick, Faustina I and II, 81.One particularly nasty rumor is that Commodus, Marcus Aurelius’ heir and successor, was actually the son of a gladiator that Faustina had an affair with. This story probably emerged later, when Commodus was already an adult and it became clear that he was extraordinarily fond of gladiatorial games. He even participated in them himself, which no emperor had done before.Levick, Faustina I and II, 143.

These rumors about Faustina need not have been false. Maybe she did enjoy the company of various lovers, even gladiators. Marcus Aurelius never acknowledged any of the rumors about Faustina, at least as far as we know. He chose instead to highlight her virtue as a wife and mother, maybe as a strategy to save his own reputation and that of his heir Commodus.