- Choice Almost Uncirculated Roman Empire silver denarius coin.
- Struck for Empress Faustina Senior after her death at the Rome Mint by her devoted husband Emperor Antoninus Pius.
- Faustina Senior was the mother-in--law of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
- RIC 351, 3.40g.
- Certified by NGC to Ch AU.
- Well struck with lustrous surfaces and minimal wear in fine style, very appealing in hand.
- Obverse: DIVA FAVSTINA, draped head right with hair waved and coiled on top of head.
- Reverse: AETERNITAS, Providentia (?) standing left veil blown out behind head, holding globe.
- The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority (auctoritas) of the Roman State. Its framework was based on Roman and Greek precedents, and was formulated during the early Principate of Augustus.
- A deceased emperor held worthy of the honor could be voted a state divinity (divus, plural divi) by the Senate and elevated as such in an act of apotheosis. The granting of apotheosis served religious, political and moral judgment on Imperial rulers and allowed living Emperors to associate themselves with a well-regarded lineage of Imperial divi from which unpopular or unworthy predecessors were excluded.
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