PERSON

Faustina the Younger

Annia Galeria Faustina Minor
In brief

wife of Marcus Aurelius (married 145); daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder; mother of many of Marcus's children, including Commodus

§ IBiography

Annia Galeria Faustina Minor (c. 130–175/176) — daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder, cousin and, from 145, wife of Marcus Aurelius. She bore him many children (of the survivors, Commodus and Lucilla). She accompanied Marcus on campaign and received the title mater castrorum ("mother of the camps"). She died in the East c. 175; Marcus deified her and founded the puellae Faustinianae (a charity for girls) in her memory. A later hostile tradition (SHA) charged her with debauchery — hence the tart footnote in translators (Petrarch: "he might have been called happy, had he not had Faustina for a wife and Commodus for a son"); the historical reliability of these charges is doubtful.

§ IIMentions in Marcus

  • 01-17 — in the list of thanks to the gods: "so devoted, so affectionate, so frank a wife" (τοιαύτηἡ γυνή). The one direct, warm mention of his wife in the whole corpus — an important testimony to Marcus's domestic peace, against the later slander.
PERSON

Faustina the Younger

Annia Galeria Faustina Minor
In brief

wife of Marcus Aurelius (married 145); daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder; mother of many of Marcus's children, including Commodus

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§ IBiography

Annia Galeria Faustina Minor (c. 130–175/176) — daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder, cousin and, from 145, wife of Marcus Aurelius. She bore him many children (of the survivors, Commodus and Lucilla). She accompanied Marcus on campaign and received the title mater castrorum ("mother of the camps"). She died in the East c. 175; Marcus deified her and founded the puellae Faustinianae (a charity for girls) in her memory. A later hostile tradition (SHA) charged her with debauchery — hence the tart footnote in translators (Petrarch: "he might have been called happy, had he not had Faustina for a wife and Commodus for a son"); the historical reliability of these charges is doubtful.

§ IIMentions in Marcus

  • 01-17 — in the list of thanks to the gods: "so devoted, so affectionate, so frank a wife" (τοιαύτηἡ γυνή). The one direct, warm mention of his wife in the whole corpus — an important testimony to Marcus's domestic peace, against the later slander.
Appears in1
1.17To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything…
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