CE 0147 - 0175/6 ROMAN EMPIRE. Faustina the Younger (Diva). AR Denarius, Rome, AD 147–175/176. Draped Diademed Bust / Seated Figure Reverse.
Description
Faustina the Younger Denarius (AD 147–175/176)
Roman Empire — Rome
This silver denarius was issued in Rome for Faustina the Younger, daughter of Faustina the Elder and wife of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Empresses in the Roman world often appeared on coinage as powerful symbols of dynastic continuity, civic stability, and imperial virtue. The obverse of this coin presents Faustina II as a dignified, diademed figure, reflecting her official status at the heart of Roman power during the second century AD.
The reverse typically depicts allegorical figures or deities associated with well-being, harmony, or prosperity; these motifs reinforced the cultural and moral values upheld by Roman state ideology. Such coins circulated widely across the empire, bringing images of the imperial family into everyday economic life. As objects of both monetary and symbolic value, denarii of Faustina the Younger offer insight into how the Roman state celebrated women of the imperial house, and how those images were integrated into the rhythms of commerce and civic identity.
