Annia Faustina (daughter of Ummidia Cornificia Faustina)
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Annia Faustina was a noblewoman of Anatolian Roman descent
and a wealthy heiress who lived in the Roman Empire
.
Annia Faustina was the daughter and only child of the wealthy Roman heiress Ummidia Cornificia Faustina
by an unnamed Roman Senator
. The full name of Annia Faustina is unknown. It appears she was named in honor of her mother and her late maternal grandmother, the noblewoman Annia Cornificia Faustina
. The maternal grandmother of Annia Faustina was the sister of the Roman Emperor
Marcus Aurelius and her maternal grandfather was Gaius Ummidius Quadratus Annianus Verus a Roman Senator
who served as a suffect consul in 146. She was the great niece of Marcus Aurelius and through her mother, Annia Faustina was a distant relative of the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire
. She is not mentioned in any ancient Roman historical sources. Annia Faustina has been only known through surviving inscriptions about her and her family found in Anatolia.
Annia Faustina was born and raised in her mother’s estate in Pisidia
. The estate she was born and raised in is one of a number of estates in Pisidia called the Cyllanian Estates. These estates were very large properties and were around from the time of the Roman Dictator of the Roman Republic
, Lucius Cornelius Sulla
(c. 138 BC
-78 BC
). There are surviving inscriptions at the estate recording Ummidia Cornificia Faustina with her daughter Annia Faustina.
The mother of Annia Faustina in 182 was involved in a failed plot to kill her first maternal cousin the Roman Emperor Commodus
. When the plot was revealed, her mother was banished to the Italian island of Capri
. Later in 182, Commodus sent a centurion to execute her mother.
After the death of her mother, Annia Faustina inherited the estate and her mother’s fortune. Before 200, she had a posthumous honorific inscription dedicated to late mother at the estate.
There is an inscription dated about 200, stating that Annia Faustina was the owner of the estate. After 200, Annia Faustina married her maternal second cousin the Roman Senator
and Consul Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus
, who was a grandson of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger
. There is an inscription dated in 207, stating that the owners of the estate were Annia Faustina and Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus.
Around 201, Annia Faustina bore Severus Proculus a daughter called Annia Aurelia Faustina
. When their child was born, Severus Proculus did not name the child after himself. It appears that Annia Faustina and Severus Proculus named their daughter in honor of their ancestry and relations from the gens Aurelia, the gens Annia
and the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Their daughter was born and raised on the Pisidian Estate. It appears that Annia Faustina had no more children with Severus Proculus.
About 216, Severus Proculus may have made a political alliance with a Roman Senator who was a member of the Pomponia (gens)
. In the result, their daughter married her first husband, the Roman Politician Pomponius Bassus
. Later in 221 Annia Aurelia Faustina, would become a brief Roman Empress and marry the Roman Emperor Elagabalus
(218-222) as her second husband. Elagabalus’ marriage with Annia Aurelia Faustina would have been his third marriage.
When Annia Faustina and Severus Proculus died, Annia Aurelia Faustina inherited the estate and the fortunes of her parents. According to the inscriptions, Annia Faustina seems to have been a person of a virtuous character who had principle and prudence. This personality that Annia Faustina had, was evident with her ancestors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty.
History of Anatolia
The history of Anatolia encompasses the region known as Anatolia , known by the Latin name of Asia Minor, considered to be the westernmost extent of Western Asia...
and a wealthy heiress who lived in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
.
Annia Faustina was the daughter and only child of the wealthy Roman heiress Ummidia Cornificia Faustina
Ummidia Cornificia Faustina
Ummidia Cornificia Faustina was a wealthy Roman noblewoman, an heiress and the niece of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.Cornificia Faustina was the daughter of Marcus Aurelius’ sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina and the Roman Senator who served as a suffect consul in 146, Gaius Ummidius Quadratus...
by an unnamed Roman Senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
. The full name of Annia Faustina is unknown. It appears she was named in honor of her mother and her late maternal grandmother, the noblewoman Annia Cornificia Faustina
Annia Cornificia Faustina
Annia Cornificia Faustina was the youngest child and only daughter to Praetor Marcus Annius Verus and Domitia Lucilla. The parents of Cornificia came from wealthy senatorial families who were of consular rank. She was born and raised in Rome. The brother of Cornificia was the future Roman Emperor...
. The maternal grandmother of Annia Faustina was the sister of the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Marcus Aurelius and her maternal grandfather was Gaius Ummidius Quadratus Annianus Verus a Roman Senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
who served as a suffect consul in 146. She was the great niece of Marcus Aurelius and through her mother, Annia Faustina was a distant relative of the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. She is not mentioned in any ancient Roman historical sources. Annia Faustina has been only known through surviving inscriptions about her and her family found in Anatolia.
Annia Faustina was born and raised in her mother’s estate in Pisidia
Pisidia
Pisidia was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Lycia, and bordering Caria, Lydia, Phrygia and Pamphylia. It corresponds roughly to the modern-day province of Antalya in Turkey...
. The estate she was born and raised in is one of a number of estates in Pisidia called the Cyllanian Estates. These estates were very large properties and were around from the time of the Roman Dictator of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
(c. 138 BC
138 BC
Year 138 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Serapio and Callaicus...
-78 BC
78 BC
Year 78 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lepidus and Catulus...
). There are surviving inscriptions at the estate recording Ummidia Cornificia Faustina with her daughter Annia Faustina.
The mother of Annia Faustina in 182 was involved in a failed plot to kill her first maternal cousin the Roman Emperor Commodus
Commodus
Commodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...
. When the plot was revealed, her mother was banished to the Italian island of Capri
Capri
Capri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
. Later in 182, Commodus sent a centurion to execute her mother.
After the death of her mother, Annia Faustina inherited the estate and her mother’s fortune. Before 200, she had a posthumous honorific inscription dedicated to late mother at the estate.
There is an inscription dated about 200, stating that Annia Faustina was the owner of the estate. After 200, Annia Faustina married her maternal second cousin the Roman Senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
and Consul Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus
Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus
Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus was a Roman Senator that lived in the Roman Empire.-Descent and Family:Severus Proculus was born of noble descent. He was from a wealthy, prominent, distinguished family in Pompeiopolis, a city in the Roman province of Galatia...
, who was a grandson of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger
Faustina the Younger
Annia Galeria Faustina Minor , Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius...
. There is an inscription dated in 207, stating that the owners of the estate were Annia Faustina and Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus.
Around 201, Annia Faustina bore Severus Proculus a daughter called Annia Aurelia Faustina
Annia Faustina
Annia Aurelia Faustina was an Anatolian Roman noblewoman. She was an Empress of Rome and third wife of Roman Emperor Elagabalus briefly in 221.-Ancestry & Family:...
. When their child was born, Severus Proculus did not name the child after himself. It appears that Annia Faustina and Severus Proculus named their daughter in honor of their ancestry and relations from the gens Aurelia, the gens Annia
Annia (gens)
The gens Annia was a plebeian family of considerable antiquity at Rome. The first person of this name whom Titus Livius mentions is the Latin praetor Lucius Annius of Setia, a Roman colony in 340 BC. By the time of the Second Punic War, the Annii were obtaining minor magistracies at Rome, and in...
and the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Their daughter was born and raised on the Pisidian Estate. It appears that Annia Faustina had no more children with Severus Proculus.
About 216, Severus Proculus may have made a political alliance with a Roman Senator who was a member of the Pomponia (gens)
Pomponia (gens)
The gens Pomponia was a plebeian family at Rome throughout the period of the Republic and into imperial times. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Marcus Pomponius, tribune of the plebs in 449 BC; the first who obtained the consulship was Manius Pomponius Matho in 233 BC.-Origin of the...
. In the result, their daughter married her first husband, the Roman Politician Pomponius Bassus
Pomponius Bassus (consul 211)
Pomponius Bassus was a Roman Senator that lived in the Roman Empire.The father of Pomponius Bassus was probably Gaius Pomponius Bassus Terentianus , who served as a suffect consul around 193 and the name of his mother is unknown....
. Later in 221 Annia Aurelia Faustina, would become a brief Roman Empress and marry the Roman Emperor Elagabalus
Elagabalus
Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...
(218-222) as her second husband. Elagabalus’ marriage with Annia Aurelia Faustina would have been his third marriage.
When Annia Faustina and Severus Proculus died, Annia Aurelia Faustina inherited the estate and the fortunes of her parents. According to the inscriptions, Annia Faustina seems to have been a person of a virtuous character who had principle and prudence. This personality that Annia Faustina had, was evident with her ancestors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty.
Sources
- Marcus Aurelius, by Anthony Richard Birley, Routledge, 2000
- Septimius Severus: the African emperor, by Anthony Richard Birley Edition: 2 - 1999
- The Cities and Bishoprics of Phyrgia: Being an Essay of the Local History of Phrygia from the Earliest Times to the Turkish Conquest Volume One, Part One - By William M. Ramsay 2004
- Descriptive catalogue of a cabinet of Roman imperial large-brass medals By William Henry Smyth 1834
- Roman Emperors
- http://www.roman-empire.net/highpoint/commodus.html