Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age by Barbara K. Levick

Abstract

246 BOOK REVIEWS * * * * * FaustinaIandII:ImperialWomenoftheGoldenAge. ByBARBARAK.LEVICK.Oxford WomeninAntiquity.OxfordandNewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,Date.Pp.xi + 248. Hardcover, $65.00. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9. ThetwoFaustinaswerethemostprominentwomenoftheRomanEmpireforthe forty years of the combined reigns of their husbands, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. In her Introduction,Levick outlinesthe methodologyshe will use in the absenceofdefinite,reliablebiographicalinformation:shewillsituatetheFaustinas in the context of women in Roman history, as links between powerful, prominent families, and in a few occasions, as interveners in events. Levick will also contrast theFaustinaswiththeir predecessors,includingthetransgressiveimperialwomen such as Agrippina the Younger and with modest and discreet imperial wives such as the Matidiae. The many survivingcoins, statues,and inscriptionsenable Levick toelicitinsightintotheempresses’publicstatusaroundtheempireandtheirmodelingofconjugal Concordia. In Chapter 1 (“Sources”) Levick admits that we do not have much definite information on the Faustinas, such astheir datesofbirth and death. Levick points out that we have no second century biographers of either the Faustinas or their husbands (which might give some information on the two women) and only one historian,Dio,while theHistoriaAugustahasitsownproblemsasa reliable source. Chapter 2 (“The Empresses and Women’s Power”) discusses what is meant by“women’s‘power’”in theimperialcontext. The Faustinasare likelytohavehad no more education than other elite women, and like them were subject to their husbands. Theydid, however,have wealth,which theycould manage themselves, and the influence that wealth, and marriage to an emperor, brought. One of the more interesting sections in this chapter is Levick’s analysis of what qualified a woman to be an empress, or rather the wife of a man that could be selected as an emperor’s successor. While Levick analyzes the empresses’ dependency upon theirhusbandsandtheirvulnerability,shealsoemphasizestheirabilitytoactindependentlyoftheir husbandsand the distinctionsand public honorstheymight be awarded (e.g. “Augusta”), including, in the case of Faustina II, “the right to coin”, though itis unclearwhat thatrightmighthave meant. How Faustina I and her husband came to be the imperial couple Levick reviews in Chapter 3 (“The Succession to Hadrian”), which focuses primarily upon BOOK REVIEWS 247 Antoninus Pius and Hadrian’s succession plans and sets the scene for the next chapter. Chapter 4 (“The Faustinas as Empresses, 138–175”) discusses whether thenewtitles“Pius,Pia”giventoAntoninusandFaustinaIareindicativeofatrend to monarchy, and how the Faustinas functioned as advisors to their men and, in the case of Faustina II, what role she played in marrying her daughter Lucilla to AugustusL.Verus. Levickcoversthescandals,politicalinterference,andthemany adulteries attributed to Faustina II, and the “mystery” behind her sudden death at age forty-five. One important aspectof Antonine imperial life and politics was their theatricality , which Levick points out was “a vital part of the imperial family’s public face anditsconstructionasadurabledynasty”,andthusChapter5(“PublicandPrivate in the Dynasty”) takesup how the two women were presented as modelsand ideals for Roman society. Levick reviews the changing portraits of the empresses, their various public activities and public progresses, before taking up the question how the two women helped Pius create whathe hoped would be a stable dynasty. She reviews the information on the “Faustinian Girls”, the private (including sexual ) lives of the emperors and their wives, and the numerous progeny of Faustina II and the questionsoftheir birth order. Chapter6(“TheDeifiedFaustinas:Association,Assimilation,andConsecration ”)contraststhemwiththeirdefiedpredecessorsandsurveystheirassimilation to various deities and the ceremony of their consecration. Levick, however, focuses only on how the Greek east handled their divinization; it would be useful if shehaddonethesamewiththeLatinwesttodeterminewhat,ifany,differencesin reception there were between the two cultural halves of the empire. The final chapter, “Faustina’s Children and the End of the Antonines”, reviews how CommoduscametopowerandwhathappenedtohissistersLucilla ,Fadilla,Cornificia, andVibia,and(ratheroddlyinmymind,butnonethelessofsomeinterest)towhat extent the name Faustinus/Faustina survived among the Roman elite, later saints, and into later times. Levick helpfully provides a “Who’s Who” of the multitude of names mentioned in the chapters; stemmata of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, the Annii and Ummidii Quadrati, and Ceionii and L. Verus; and a chronology beginning with Augustus ’ reign and ending with the reign of Philip the Arabian. In addition to the Notesthereisa PersonsIndex (verymuch needed asa separateindex givenall the names mentioned) and a detailed SubjectIndex. 248 BOOK REVIEWS Levicksucceedsindemonstratingthat,despiteomissionsandthestereotypes of gender in our sources, it is possible to delineate in broad terms the significance of these two women in imperial politics and life. Unfortunately she does not discusshow theyaffectedorcomplicatedtheroleofempressfor their successor,Julia Domna,which isa...