FAUSTINA II Marcus Aurelius Wife 161AD Pautalia Thrace Roman Coin TYCHE i52874

Item: i52874

 Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Faustina II
–
Roman Empress
& Wife of
Emperor

Marcus Aurelius
–
161-175 A.D. –
Bronze 20mm (5.51 grams) of

Pautalia
in
Thrace

Reference: Moushmov 4114
ΦAVCTEINA CEBACTH, draped bust right
OVΛΠIAC ΠAVTAΛIAC, Tyche standing left, turreted, with
rudder & cornucopia.

You

Authenticity.

Kyustendil (Bulgarian:

Кюстендил, historically

Велбъжд, Velbazhd) is a town in the

far west of Bulgaria

, the capital of

Kyustendil Province

, with a population of 58,059 (2005 census). Kyustendil

is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, 90 km southwest of

Sofia
. It was

named after the medieval lord of the surrounding region,

Constantine Dragaš

.

A Thracian

settlement was founded at the place of the modern town in the

5th
-4th

century BC and the

Romans

developed it into an important stronghold, balneological resort and trade

junction called Pautalia in the 1st century AD.

The Hisarlaka fortress was built in the 4th century and the town was

mentioned under the

Slavic

name of Velbazhd (Велбъжд, meaning “camel”)

in a 1019 charter by the

Byzantine

Emperor

Basil II
.

It became a major religious and administrative centre.

Tyche (Greek for luck; the Roman equivalent was
Fortuna
) was the
presiding
tutelary deity
that
governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its
destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period,
cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche,
wearing a
mural crown
(a crown
like the walls of the city).

The
Greek historian
Polybius
believed that
when no cause can be discovered to events such as
floods, droughts, frosts or even in politics, then the
cause of these events may be fairly attributed to Tyche.

Stylianos Spyridakis  concisely expressed Tyche’s
appeal in a Hellenistic world of arbitrary violence and
unmeaning reverses: “In the turbulent years of the
Epigoni of Alexander
,
an awareness of the instability of human affairs led
people to believe that Tyche, the blind mistress of
Fortune, governed mankind with an inconstancy which
explained the vicissitudes of the time.”

In literature, she might be given various
genealogies, as a daughter of
Hermes
and
Aphrodite
, or
considered as one of the
Oceanids
, daughters of
Oceanus
and
Tethys
, or of
Zeus
. She was connected
with
Nemesis
and
Agathos Daimon
(“good
spirit”).

She was uniquely venerated at
Itanos
in Crete, as
Tyche Protogeneia, linked with the Athenian
Protogeneia

(“firstborn”), daughter of
Erechtheus
, whose
self-sacrifice saved the city.

She had temples at
Caesarea Maritima
,
Antioch
,
Alexandria
and
Constantinople
. In
Alexandria
the
Tychaeon, the temple of Tyche, was described by
Libanius
as one of the
most magnificent of the entire Hellenistic world.

Tyche appears on many
coins
of the
Hellenistic period in the three centuries before the
Christian era, especially from cities in the Aegean.
Unpredictable turns of fortune drive the complicated
plotlines of
Hellenistic romances
,
such as
Leucippe and Clitophon

or
Daphnis and Chloe
.
She experienced a resurgence in another era of uneasy
change, the final days of publicly sanctioned
Paganism
, between the
late-fourth-century emperors
Julian
and
Theodosius I
who
definitively closed the temples. The effectiveness of
her capricious power even achieved respectability in
philosophical circles during that generation, though
among poets it was a commonplace to revile her for a
fickle harlot.

In
medieval art
, she was
depicted as carrying a
cornucopia
, an
emblematic
ship’s
rudder, and the
wheel of fortune
, or
she may stand on the wheel, presiding over the entire
circle of fate.

The constellation of
Virgo
is sometimes
identified as the heavenly figure of Tyche, as well as
other goddesses such as
Demeter
and
Astraea
.

Annia

Galeria Faustina Minor (Minor Latin for

the younger), Faustina Minor or Faustina

the Younger

(February

16 between 125 and 130-175) was a daughter of

Roman Emperor

Antoninus Pius

and Roman Empress

Faustina the Elder

. She was a Roman Empress and wife

to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor

Marcus Aurelius

. Though Roman sources give a

generally negative view of her character, she was held

in high esteem by soldiers and her own husband and was

given divine honours after her death.

//

 Biography

Faustina, named after her mother, was

her parents’ fourth and youngest child and their second

daughter; she was also their only child to survive to

adulthood. She was born and raised in

Rome

.

Her great uncle, the Emperor

Hadrian

, had arranged with her father for Faustina

to marry

Lucius Verus

. On February 25, 138, she and Verus

were betrothed.

Verus’ father

was Hadrian’s first adopted son and

his intended heir. However when Verus’ father died,

Hadrian chose Faustina’s father to be his second adopted

son, and eventually, he became Hadrian’s successor.

Faustina’s father ended the engagement between his

daughter and Verus and arranged for Faustina’s betrothal

to her maternal cousin,

Marcus Aurelius

; Aurelius was also adopted by her

father. On May 13, 145, Faustina and Marcus Aurelius

were married. When her father died on March 7, 161, her

husband and Lucius Verus succeeded to her father’s

throne and became co-rulers. Faustina was given the

title of

and became Empress.

Unfortunately, not much has survived

from the Roman sources regarding Faustina’s life, but

what is available does not give a good report.

Cassius Dio

and the

accuse Faustina of ordering

deaths by poison and execution; she has also been

accused of instigating the revolt of

Avidius Cassius

against her husband. The Augustan

History mentions adultery with sailors, gladiators,

and men of rank. However, Faustina and Aurelius seem to

have been very close and mutually devoted. Her husband

trusted her and defended her vigorously against

detractors.

Faustina accompanied her husband on

various military campaigns and enjoyed the love and

reverence of Roman soldiers. Aurelius gave her the title

of Mater Castrorum or Mother of the Camp.

Between 170-174, she was in the north, and in 175, she

accompanied Aurelius to the east. However, these

experiences took their toll on Faustina, who died in the

winter of 175, after an accident, at the military camp

in Halala (a city in the

Taurus Mountains

in

Cappadocia

).

Aurelius grieved much for his wife

and buried her in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. She

was deified: her statue was placed in the Temple of

Venus in Rome and a temple was dedicated to her in her

honor. Halala’s name was changed to Faustinopolis

and Aurelius opened charity schools for orphan girls

called Puellae Faustinianae or ‘Girls of

Faustina’.^[1]

The Baths of Faustina in

Miletus

are named after her.

In their thirty years of marriage,

Faustina bore Marcus Aurelius thirteen children:

1. Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina

   (147-after 165)

2. Gemellus Lucillae (died around

   150), twin brother of Lucilla

3. Annia Aurelia Galeria

   Lucilla

   (148/50-182), twin sister of Gemellus,

   married her father’s co-ruler

   Lucius Verus

4. Titus Aelius Antoninus (born

   after 150, died before 7 March 161)

5. Titus Aelius Aurelius (born after

   150, died before 7 March 161)

6. Hadrianus (152-157)

7. Domitia Faustina (born after 150,

   died before 7 March 161)

8. Fadilla

   (159-after 211)

9. Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor

   (160-after 211)

10. Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus

    (161-165), twin brother of Commodus

11. Commodus

    (161-192), twin brother of Titus

    Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, later emperor

12. Marcus Annius Verus Caesar

    (162-169)

13. Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170-died before 217)