Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor

Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius' daughter (160-212)
Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor
Statue of Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (Archaeological Museum in Ostia antica)
Born160 AD
Rome, Italy
Died212 AD
SpouseMarcus Petronius Sura Mamertinus
DynastyNerva–Antonine
FatherMarcus Aurelius
MotherFaustina the Younger

Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (Minor Latin for the younger, 160–212 AD) was a daughter of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and his wife, Faustina the Younger. She was sister to Lucilla and Commodus. Her maternal grandparents were Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder, and her paternal grandparents were Domitia Lucilla and praetor Marcus Annius Verus. She was named in honor of her late paternal aunt Annia Cornificia Faustina.

Life

Cornificia Faustina was born and raised in Rome and later married the African Roman politician Marcus Petronius Sura Mamertinus, who served as consul in 182. Sometime after 173, they had a son, Petronius Antoninus. It is possible that she and her family were at the winter camp where Marcus Aurelius died in early 180.[citation needed]

Her brother Commodus succeeded her father as emperor and, sometime between 190 and 192, he ordered the deaths of her husband, her son, her brother-in-law and her sister-in-law's family. Cornificia survived the political executions of Commodus and later married Lucius Didius Marinus, a powerful Roman noble of equestrian rank who served as Procurator in various provinces. He later became a tax collector and tribune of the first Praetorian cohort.[citation needed]

During the brief reign of Pertinax (193), she was involved in an affair with the emperor. In 212, when she was in her fifties, Caracalla ordered her death and that of her son,[1] thus eliminating the last surviving child of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger. Historian Cassius Dio recorded the manner of her death:

Her last words were 'My poor, unhappy soul, trapped in an unworthy body, go forth, be free, show them that you are the daughter of Marcus Aurelius!' Then she took off her ornaments, composed herself, opened her veins, and died.

Nerva–Antonine family tree

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Nerva–Antonine family tree
Q. Marcius Barea SoranusQ. Marcius Barea SuraAntonia FurnillaM. Cocceius NervaSergia PlautillaP. Aelius Hadrianus
Titus
(r. 79–81)		Marcia FurnillaMarciaTrajanus PaterNerva
(r. 96–98)		Ulpia[i]Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus
Flavia[ii]Marciana[iii]C. Salonius Matidius[iv]Trajan
(r. 98–117)		PlotinaP. Acilius AttianusP. Aelius Afer[v]Paulina Major[vi]
Lucius Mindius (2)Libo Rupilius Frugi (3)Salonia Matidia[vii]L. Vibius Sabinus (1)[viii]
Paulina Minor[vi]L. Julius Ursus Servianus[ix]
Matidia Minor[vii]Sabina[iii]Hadrian[v][x][vi] (r. 117–138)Antinous[xi]
C. Fuscus Salinator IJulia Serviana Paulina
M. Annius Verus[xii]Rupilia Faustina[xiii][xiv]Boionia ProcillaCn. Arrius Antoninus
L. Ceionius CommodusAppia SeveraC. Fuscus Salinator II
L. Caesennius PaetusArria AntoninaArria Fadilla[xv]T. Aurelius Fulvus
L. Caesennius AntoninusL. CommodusPlautiaunknown[xvi]C. Avidius Nigrinus
M. Annius Verus[xiii]Calvisia Domitia Lucilla[xvii]Fundania[xviii]M. Annius Libo[xiii]Faustina[xv]Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)[xv]		L. Aelius Caesar[xvi]Avidia[xvi]
Cornificia[xiii]Marcus Aurelius
(r. 161–180)[xix]		Faustina Minor[xix]C. Avidius Cassius[xx]Aurelia Fadilla[xv]Lucius Verus
(r. 161–169)[xvi] (1)		Ceionia Fabia[xvi]Plautius Quintillus[xxi]Q. Servilius PudensCeionia Plautia[xvi]
Cornificia Minor[xxii]M. Petronius SuraCommodus
(r. 177–192)[xix]		Fadilla[xxii]M. Annius Verus Caesar[xix]Ti. Claudius Pompeianus (2)Lucilla[xix]M. Plautius Quintillus[xvi]Junius Licinius BalbusServilia Ceionia
Petronius AntoninusL. Aurelius Agaclytus (2)Aurelia Sabina[xxii]L. Antistius Burrus (1)Plautius QuintillusPlautia ServillaC. Furius Sabinus TimesitheusAntonia GordianaJunius Licinius Balbus?
Furia Sabina TranquillinaGordian III
(r. 238–244)
  • (1) = 1st spouse
  • (2) = 2nd spouse
  • (3) = 3rd spouse
  •   Reddish-purple indicates emperor of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty
      lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned
      grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants
      bluish-purple indicates emperors of other dynasties
  • dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
  • Small Caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)
Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

  1. ^ Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
  2. ^ Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
  3. ^ a b Levick (2014), p. 161.
  4. ^ Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
  5. ^ a b Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
  6. ^ a b c DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
  7. ^ a b Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
  8. ^ Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
  9. ^ Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
  10. ^ Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
  11. ^ Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2–5, etc.
  12. ^ Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
  13. ^ a b c d Levick (2014), p. 163.
  14. ^ It is uncertain whether Rupilia Faustina was Frugi's daughter by Salonia Matidia or another woman.
  15. ^ a b c d Levick (2014), p. 162.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Levick (2014), p. 164.
  17. ^ Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
  18. ^ Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
  19. ^ a b c d e Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
  20. ^ The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed in HA "Marcus Aurelius" 24.
  21. ^ Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
  22. ^ a b c Levick (2014), p. 117.
References:
  • DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 2015-04-14.
  • Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2.
  • Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
  • Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
  • Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

References

  1. ^ I. Syvanne, Caracalla, a Military Biography, Pen & Sword Books Ltd., South Yorkshire, ç2017, p.138

Sources

  • Septimius Severus: the African emperor, By Anthony Richard Birley Edition: 2 – 1999
  • Roman social history: a sourcebook By Tim G. Parkin, Arthur John Pomeroy 2007
  • A commentary on the Letters of M. Cornelius Fronto, By Michael Petrus Josephus van den Hout, Marcus Cornelius Fronto 1999
  • From Tiberius to the Antonines: a history of the Roman Empire AD 14–192, by Albino Garzetti, 1974.
  • Stefan Priwitzer, Faustina minor - Ehefrau eines Idealkaisers und Mutter eines Tyrannen quellenkritische Untersuchungen zum dynastischen Potential, zur Darstellung und zu Handlungsspielraeumen von Kaiserfrauen im Prinzipat (Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt, 2008) (Tuebinger althistorische Studien, 6).

External links

  • Did Faustina the Younger sleep around? Archived 2020-10-14 at the Wayback Machine
  • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
  • Faustina II Archived 2013-05-18 at the Wayback Machine