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

1. ANNIA GALERIA FAUSTINA, commonly distinguished as Faustina Senior, whose descent is given in the genealogical table prefixed to the life of M. AURELIUS, married Antoninus Pius, while he was yet in a private station, and, when he became emperor, in A. D. 138, received the title of Augusta. She did not, however, long enjoy

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her honours, for she died, A. D. 141, in the thirty-seventh year of her age. The profligacy of her life, and the honours with which she was loaded both before and after her decease, have been noticed under ANTONINUS PIUS. The medals bearing her name and effigy exceed, both in number and variety of types, those struck in honour of any other royal personage after death. One of these represents the temple dedicated to her memory in the Via Sacra, which still remains in a very perfect state. (Capitolin. Anton. Pius, 3, 5; Eckhel, vol. vii. p. 37.)