SEG 39.245 Architrave naming Empress Faustina

Architrave naming Empress Faustina

SEG 39.245 Date: 145/6 AD

. . . tribunician power for the 9th time . . . . . . and of Faustina [the goddess . . . ]^[1]

Previous - SEG 38.68 Next - SEG 40.74

References:

SEG 39.245 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 5210 (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Architectural fragment (architrave)

Inscription type: Building inscription

Findspot: Athens (in situ, National Gardens, Athens 3rd ephorate no. 13) (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This fragmentary epistyle block is now located in the National Gardens in Athens with some related architectural fragments. It must have been part of a small building, perhaps a little stoa (C.C. Vermeule, Roman Imperial Art in Greece and Asia Minor, 1968, 268-69, 431). There were two Roman empresses called Faustina: Faustina Maior, wife of Antoninus Pius, who died in 140 AD, and her daughter Faustina Minor, wife of Marcus Aurelius, who died in 175/6 AD. The imperial titulature in l. 1 probably belongs to Antoninus Pius, indicating a date of 145/6 AD, in which case the monument could have commemorated the marriage of Faustina Minor to Marcus Aurelius, which took place that year and solidified Marcus' position as Imperial heir (E. Sironen, Arctos 23, 1989, 178-181). On Antoninus Pius, see Oliver, Constitutions 134 with notes and on Marcus Aurelius, see IG II² 3410 with notes. There are four sockets on top for joining the epistyle to higher blocks. The right side of the block has been cut smoothly, perhaps for reuse.

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
Feedback

ID: AIO_3618