FAUSTINA SENIOR

DIVA FAUSTINA SENIOR. Posthumous Commemorative AR Denarius of Rome. Struck A.D.150 under Antoninus Pius. Obverse: DIVA FAVSTINA. Draped bust of Faustina, hair waved and coiled on top of her head, facing right. Reverse: AED DIV FAVSTINAE. Hexastyle temple of Diva Faustina containing seated statue of Faustina I, trellis-work fencing in the foreground in front of steps. RIC III : 343. Construction of the temple shown on the reverse of this coin began in the year following the death of the Empress in A.D.141. It was probably completed about A.D.150, the date assigned to this issue by Philip V. Hill in "The Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types". The temple was later rededicated to Divus Antoninus and Diva Faustina and the shell of the building survives to this day in the Roman Forum, enclosing the Church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda.