A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

Some very rare coins in third brass are extant bearing upon the obverse a female head, with the words FAUSTA N. F.; on the reverse a star within a wreath of laurel, and below the letters TSA. Who this Nobilissima Femina may have been is quite unknown. Some have imagined that she was the first wife of Constantius; but this and every other hypothesis hitherto proposed rests upon pure conjecture. Numismatoligists seem to agree that the medal in question belongs to the age of Constantine, and it bears the clearest resemblance to that struck in honour of the Helena supposed to have been married to Crispus [HELENA]. (Eckhel, vol. viii. p. 118.) In 1823, the coin figured below was dug up near Douai. It differs in its details from that described by Eckhel, but evidently belongs to the same personage.

[W.R]