Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Lucilla (daughter of M. Aurelius and wife of L. Verus) AV Aureus. Rome, AD 164-169. LVCILLA AVGVSTA, draped bust right, hair in chignon / PVDICITIA, Pudicitia standing to left, drawing back veil with right hand. RIC 779 (Aurelius); BMCRE 347 (Aurelius, same dies); Calicó 2216 (same obverse die). 7.37g, 20mm, 12h.
Near Mint State. Rare.
Ex Hess-Divo AG, Auction 307, 8 June 2007, lot 1634;
Ex Gilbert Steinberg Collection, Numismatica Ars Classica AG - Spink Taisei, 16 November 1994, lot 500;
Ex Numismatic Fine Arts Inc., Auction XIV, 29 November 1984, lot 449;
Ex Numismatics Fine Arts Inc., Auction I, 20 March 1975, lot 369.
Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla was born in AD 148 to Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina Minor. Little is recorded of Lucilla's early life but by the time she wed aged 14-16 (her year of birth is uncertain) she had already entered into an adult life which was to be beset by unsatisfactory husbands, family feuds and banishment.
Lucilla was married off twice by her father to create politically advantageous relationships; first to Lucius Verus, who jointly ruled with her father and was 18 years her senior. The Historia Augusta cites several rumours surrounding Lucilla and Lucius' marriage, including that Verus had an affair with Lucilla's mother Faustina and that she then poisoned him for telling Lucilla about it, followed closely by the claim that many believed Lucilla to have killed her husband out of jealousy at the power he granted his sister Fabia. Contemporary scholars such as Burns (Great Women of Imperial Rome: Mothers and wives of the Caesars, 2006) cast great scepticism on these claims, but the rumours elucidate the kind of world that Lucilla lived in and how her marriage to Lucius was perceived. On the death of Lucius Verus and at the age of 21, Lucilla was married to Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, a close friend of the emperor and one of his most trusted military commanders. At the time of the marriage Pompeianus was over 50 and modern authors tend to report Lucilla as extremely displeased with the match, citing both the significant age difference and Pompeianus' perceived inferior social standing.
On the death of Marcus Aurelius, Lucilla's brother Commodus became emperor. Crispina Bruttia, her sister-in-law, now supplanted Lucilla as the principal female figure within the imperial household, thus relegating Lucilla from her privileged position alongside her mother during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. This decline in standing is reflected in the coinage under Commodus which recognised his wife but not his sister (Duncan-Jones, Crispina and the Coinage of the Empress, 2006). Resentment, perhaps born of her jealousy of Crispina and her alarm at her brother's actions as emperor, led Lucilla to conspire against Commodus by planning to overthrow and murder him. The plot failed as the would-be murderer, her husband's nephew, was arrested whilst pre-empting the act by exclaiming to Commodus his intention to stab him. Lucilla was banished to Capri where she was executed a year later; her husband had not participated in the conspiracy and so was spared, withdrawing from public life to his estates in the country and remaining there, citing old age and an ailment of the eyes as an excuse.
Near Mint State. Rare.
Ex Hess-Divo AG, Auction 307, 8 June 2007, lot 1634;
Ex Gilbert Steinberg Collection, Numismatica Ars Classica AG - Spink Taisei, 16 November 1994, lot 500;
Ex Numismatic Fine Arts Inc., Auction XIV, 29 November 1984, lot 449;
Ex Numismatics Fine Arts Inc., Auction I, 20 March 1975, lot 369.
Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla was born in AD 148 to Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina Minor. Little is recorded of Lucilla's early life but by the time she wed aged 14-16 (her year of birth is uncertain) she had already entered into an adult life which was to be beset by unsatisfactory husbands, family feuds and banishment.
Lucilla was married off twice by her father to create politically advantageous relationships; first to Lucius Verus, who jointly ruled with her father and was 18 years her senior. The Historia Augusta cites several rumours surrounding Lucilla and Lucius' marriage, including that Verus had an affair with Lucilla's mother Faustina and that she then poisoned him for telling Lucilla about it, followed closely by the claim that many believed Lucilla to have killed her husband out of jealousy at the power he granted his sister Fabia. Contemporary scholars such as Burns (Great Women of Imperial Rome: Mothers and wives of the Caesars, 2006) cast great scepticism on these claims, but the rumours elucidate the kind of world that Lucilla lived in and how her marriage to Lucius was perceived. On the death of Lucius Verus and at the age of 21, Lucilla was married to Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, a close friend of the emperor and one of his most trusted military commanders. At the time of the marriage Pompeianus was over 50 and modern authors tend to report Lucilla as extremely displeased with the match, citing both the significant age difference and Pompeianus' perceived inferior social standing.
On the death of Marcus Aurelius, Lucilla's brother Commodus became emperor. Crispina Bruttia, her sister-in-law, now supplanted Lucilla as the principal female figure within the imperial household, thus relegating Lucilla from her privileged position alongside her mother during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. This decline in standing is reflected in the coinage under Commodus which recognised his wife but not his sister (Duncan-Jones, Crispina and the Coinage of the Empress, 2006). Resentment, perhaps born of her jealousy of Crispina and her alarm at her brother's actions as emperor, led Lucilla to conspire against Commodus by planning to overthrow and murder him. The plot failed as the would-be murderer, her husband's nephew, was arrested whilst pre-empting the act by exclaiming to Commodus his intention to stab him. Lucilla was banished to Capri where she was executed a year later; her husband had not participated in the conspiracy and so was spared, withdrawing from public life to his estates in the country and remaining there, citing old age and an ailment of the eyes as an excuse.