Faustina the Younger

Faustina the Younger~one of the most shameless and scandalous royals of her time

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When Faustina was born in 130 AD, Rome was experiencing a time historians called the “Pax Romana”.

Rome itself lived in peace, with diplomatic transfers of power from one emperor to another.

This soon came to an end, however, and in some ways, Faustina may have played a disturbingly major role in the end of the great Roman period......

Faustina was born to privilege and wealth, she lived with all the lavish comforts and luxuries afforded to the highest members of the wealthy Roman empire.

Sadly, long before becoming an adult by our contemporary standards, Faustina’s family forced her into very adult, life-altering positions.

Faustina’s family arranged her first marriage.

Roman Emperor Hadrian, adopted Lucius Verus to be his heir, her family then arranged Faustina’s marriage to him.

This set an eight-year-old Faustina as the future Roman empress. Marrying at eight is traumatizing enough, but her drama's were only just beginning.

Seven years after her first marriage, Faustina’s father ended the betrothal and remarried her to his heir, Marcus Aurelius.

Marcus Aurelius was Faustina’s cousin on her mother’s side, and also her adopted brother.

None of this was questionable at the time, though Faustina didn’t really have a choice either way.

Doing as she was told, 15-year-old Faustina married her cousin, and adopted brother~a man nearly ten years her senior.

Now a young teenager, and soon to be empress, Faustina turned to her next huge responsibility as a Roman royal...bearing heirs.

Faustina was unbelievably fertile, having nearly 14 children over the course of 21 years.

But despite birthing baby after baby, this took an undeniable toll on the empress.

Faustina spent a good deal of her reign pregnant, but she’d ultimately lose most of her children.

More than half of them died before reaching adulthood, a fact that must have been difficult for both her and her husband.

Marcus Aurelius eventually became emperor in 161, with his supposedly virtuous and well-loved wife Faustina, at his side.

Faustina seemed ready to perform her role as the perfect empress, the reality however, was very different.

Her behaviour was far from perfect!

Like many empresses before her, Faustina accompanied her emperor husband as he led many wars during his reign.

Lewd rumors or not, Faustina stood by her husband throughout these dangerous times.

She clearly had a way with men, leaving a lasting impression on the workers she encountered during her extensive travels.

The men so loved her that they dubbed her “mother of the camp”.

Once Marcus Aurelius and Faustina came to power, tides started to shift in the Roman empire.

Plagues swept the country, lowering the population and hurting the economy.

Neighboring countries made advances on Rome, and the health of Marcus Aurelius began to waver.

The stress of these outward forces affected Faustina in a strange way, and she reacted scandalously.

Multiple rumors insist she continually had passionate extramarital affairs with sailors, soldiers, and even gladiators.

Among many other notable rumored affairs, Faustina may have also became romantically involved with her first husband, Verus.

The affair becomes less forgivable when considering her new family connection to her last husband....

Verus was married to her daughter Lucilla, making him not only her first husband, but also her son~in~Law!

A shamed Verus eventually admitted the whole affair to his wife, Lucilla.

An angry Faustina reportedly poisoned Verus, once she found out that he’d betrayed her trust.

However, Verus may not have been the only person to cross this passionate empress, and suffer the consequences.

Roman executions were notoriously gruesome, including crucifixions, being impaled, and, sometimes, torture.

As empress, Faustina clearly carried great weight in the affairs of the day.

As such, rumors have it that she ordered the deaths of many others during her reign.

While her reasons remain unclear, she didn’t hesitate to order the gruesome end of her enemies.

Strangely, Marcus Aurelius didn’t seem to hold any of his wife's behavior against her, and the public thought poorly of Aurelius’ lack of action.

Faustina’s husband did the opposite of what people expected.

He not only excused his wife’s behavior, but he also often promoted her lovers to positions of great status.

With his power as emperor, Marcus Aurelius could have surely ordered these lovers killed, but no, instead he honored them.

This looked like weakness on Marcus Aurelius’ part, but unfortunately for Faustina, he had other, more selfish, motivations.

To Marcus Aurelius, Faustina was just a pawn in the political game he played to hold his position.

Faustina, was free to woo and bed whoever she pleased, and she took her infidelity a little too far.

Faustina seemed to get away with most of her affairs, so much so that she eventually stopped caring whether her husband knew or not.

In fact, her husband once caught her having breakfast with one of her lovers.

Her shameless behavior likely embarrassed the emperor, but little did he know, an even bigger humiliation was just around the corner.

Faustina’s behavior not only threatened her husband’s image, but eventually threatened his rule as well.

In 174, Faustina’s husband became extremely ill.

Marcus Aurelius’ diminished state concerned Faustina, so much so that she allegedly made a decision of dire betrayal.

Reports state that she encouraged a revolt against her husband’s rule.

Faustina allegedly gave her secret support to Roman general Avidius Cassius, who ultimately proclaimed himself emperor after a false report on Marcus Aurelius’ death.

Faustina’s reputation caused many to think that she was romantically involved with the general.

At the time of the revolt, Faustina’s son, Commodus, the next heir to the empire, was only thirteen.

Faustina worried for her son’s safety in the absence of an emperor that she could trust, providing a motive for her support of Cassius.

It would look like Faustina backed the wrong horse though, Cassius ruled Rome for about three months.

Marcus Aurelius made a surprising recovery, and ordered Cassius dethroned.

Marcus Aurelius was so enraged by the betrayal, that he refused to even look at Cassius’ severed head before having it buried.

Faustina should have met the same lethal fate as her defeated lover, but luckily letters in which Faustina denounced the traitor and commanded his punishment, conveniently surfaced.

These letters supposedly cleared her name, and Faustina and her husband returned to the glories of Roman royalty.

Faustina son became known for being aggressive, mean, and rude, even as a child.

Many suspected that Commodus was actually the son of Faustina's most legendary lover, a Roman gladiator.

It’s no surprise that people thought he was a child of a murderous gladiator.

Commodus’ awful behavior ultimately stained his family, and the entire Roman empire, forever.

One of her most notorious rumored affairs, Faustina romantically involved herself with a powerful Roman gladiator.

Gladiators in Rome were symbols of all things powerful, forbidden, and irresistibly appealing.

For once, Marcus Aurelius reacted with dangerous rage.

Marcus Aurelius ordered the execution of the gladiator, and ordered Faustina to bathe in the blood of her executed lover.

Supposedly, such an act should rid her of her passions and urges, turning her into the pious Roman Royal she was meant to be.

The final act of Faustina’s cleansing took the whole procedure another notch up on the creepiness scale.

After bathing in her lover’s blood, Marcus Aurelius ordered Faustina to have intercourse with him, which she willingly did.

As disturbing as this whole event came to be, it seemingly did nothing to quell Faustina’s raging passions and desires.

In the winter of 175, Faustina died suddenly aged 45.

She had been accompanying her husband on one of his many wars.

Scholars and historians remain undecided on the cause of the empress’ demise.

Some reports claim she passed from natural causes, while others declare the empress took her own life, perhaps to cover up some further wrongdoing.

Some reports say she was killed because of her romantic involvement with the traitor, Cassius.

Marcus Aurelius was distraught at Faustina's death, and buried her in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome

In the Roman tradition, the rulers could crown great people gods and goddesses at their passing, and Aurelius made a quick move on his wife’s part.

He declared his wife a goddess, and erected temples in her honor.

Marcus Aurelius even renamed the place she died, changing it to Faustinopolis.

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https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-faustina-the-younger/

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

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Lisa Chappell as Faustina the Younger in The Netflix series 'Roman Empire' 2016