Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden AgeThe Roman empress Faustina the Elder (c. 97-140) and her daughter Faustina II (c. 130-175) have been subject to criticism from the earliest records, described in turn as fickle, unfaithful, and treasonous. Yet their husbands, the emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, have reputations as golden as that of the whole Antonine age and seem to have thought favorably of them as prolific mothers, loyal spouses, and useful complements to the military and political proceedings of the empire. On the most basic level of lineage and procreation, the two women were naturally important for establishing the Antonine dynasty. Yet, the Faustinae, as they are commonly referred, also proved instrumental in solidifying in Roman minds the image of a nurturing and harmonious empire. Barbara M. Levick's Faustina I and II carefully synthesizes the many competing sources on the Faustinae into one comprehensive study, demonstrating the extent to which women could and did influence both the internal workings and external standing of the imperial dynasty. The book traces Faustina I's formation of her family's heritage amid a new empire through to Faustina II's enhancement of that legacy, focusing especially on the younger Faustina's deep involvement in palace politics and her possible role in the revolt of Avidius Cassius in 175. Through an analysis of everything from textual evidence to portraiture and coin inscriptions, this study ultimately evokes these two women whose exact biographies are not always certain, but whose relevance to their contemporaries and current scholarship is perfectly distinct. |
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Contents
3 | |
ONE Sources | 13 |
TWO The Empresses and Womens Power | 19 |
THREE The Succession to Hadrian | 41 |
FOUR The Faustinas as Empresses 138175 | 57 |
FIVE Public and Private in the Dynasty | 91 |
Association Assimilation and Consecration | 119 |
SEVEN Faustinas Children and the End of the Antonines | 139 |
Family Trees | 161 |
Abbreviations | 165 |
Chronology | 169 |
Notes | 173 |
Glossary | 213 |
215 | |
233 | |
241 | |
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Common terms and phrases
A. R. Birley adoption Aelius Caesar Agrippina Alföldi Ameling Annia Annius Verus Antoninus Pius Asia Aurelius Avidius Avidius Cassius betrothed birth Boatwright Caes Ceionia century Ceres Champlin chapter Chausson child citing Claudius Severus coinage coins Commodus Commodus’s Concord connexion consul consulship Cornificia CREBM daughter death deified Faustina deities Diva Domitia Lucilla Domna dynasty Elagabalus emperor empire empress Ephesus Fadilla father Faus Faustina II favour Fittschen 1982 Fronto Galeria Hadrian Haines heir Hekster Herodes Atticus Historia Augusta honour husband imperial family inscriptions Julia Julia Domna Levick Livia Marcus and Faustina Marcus’s Marius marriage married Matidia mother Nero Noreńa ofMarcus Pflaum PIR2 Pius’s Pliny Plotina Pompeianus prefect Priwitzer 2009 Quintillus reign Rémy Roman Rome Rupilia Senate senatorial Septimius Severus Servianus Severan sister status story surviving Syme temple Temporini Tiberius Trajan twins Ummidius Quadratus Verus’s Vibia Sabina Wallinger 1990 wife woman women younger