- Katılım
- 4 Şub 2022
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On this reverse of this aureus is a charming scene representing the harmony [concordia] that prevailed between Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior, who had been married in AD 145. Struck under Antoninus Pius, the depiction of Concordia gathering and sheltering Aurelius and Faustina near her, a representation of harmony in marriage and hope for a life of happiness, belies nothing of the forethought and planning that was undertaken to arrange the match. Instituted by Hadrian during his final two years of life with his adoption of Pius and the subsequent direction for Pius to adopt Aurelius, the wedding commemorated on this coin was, as seen under Roman law, of a brother marrying his sister and Pius would have had to formally release either the bride or groom from his paternal authority in order for the ceremony to go ahead.
Inauspicious as the legal challenges may have been at the start of their union, Aurelius and Faustina were married for thirty years and Faustina bore thirteen children over this period, heralding a time of stability in the imperial family. With the decline of independent senatorial authority and concurrent ascent to power of those individuals who had privileged access to the emperor, especially emperors' wives, concordia within the imperial family, above all between emperor and empress, became paramount. Following the carefully orchestrated succession organised by Hadrian, propaganda such as this reverse type, which emphasised the harmony and benefits brought to the empire by the Antonine dynasty, were plentiful and became a lasting feature of imperial coinage.
CONCORDIA TR POT III COS II - Concordia. Tribunicia Potestate Tertia, Consul Secundum: Harmony, Holder of tribunician power for the third time, consul for the second time.
Inauspicious as the legal challenges may have been at the start of their union, Aurelius and Faustina were married for thirty years and Faustina bore thirteen children over this period, heralding a time of stability in the imperial family. With the decline of independent senatorial authority and concurrent ascent to power of those individuals who had privileged access to the emperor, especially emperors' wives, concordia within the imperial family, above all between emperor and empress, became paramount. Following the carefully orchestrated succession organised by Hadrian, propaganda such as this reverse type, which emphasised the harmony and benefits brought to the empire by the Antonine dynasty, were plentiful and became a lasting feature of imperial coinage.
CONCORDIA TR POT III COS II - Concordia. Tribunicia Potestate Tertia, Consul Secundum: Harmony, Holder of tribunician power for the third time, consul for the second time.