' nymphaeum at Olympia. Faustina died near Rome in 140, perhaps at Antoninus Pius's estate at
Lorium. Antoninus was devastated at Faustina's death and took several steps to honor her memory. He had the Senate
deify her (her
apotheosis was portrayed on an
honorary column) and dedicate the
Temple of Faustina to her in the
Roman Forum. The Senate authorized gold and silver statues of her, including an image to appear in the
circus, where it might be displayed in a
carpentum (a kind of covered wagon) or
currus elephantorum (a cart drawn by elephants). Antoninus also ordered various coins with her portrait struck, inscribed DIVA FAVSTINA ("Divine Faustina") and elaborately decorated. He also established a charity called
Puellae Faustinianae ("Girls of Faustina") to assist orphaned Roman girls and created a new
alimenta (see
Grain supply to the city of Rome). Her remains were interred in the
Mausoleum of Hadrian. Certain cities struck coin issues in honour of the "divine Faustina" (); the most notable such cities were
Delphi,
Alexandria,
Bostra, and
Nicopolis. Martin Beckmann suggests that the coins of Nicopolis might have been minted at Rome and given out as imperial largesse at the
Actian Games. The coins issued in the wake of Faustina's funeral illustrate her elaborate funeral pyre, which may have influenced the design of later private mausolea; the deities
Pietas and
Aeternitas, among others; and an eagle (or less often a winged genius) bearing a figure aloft, with the legend CONSECRATIO (i.e. Faustina's ascension into heaven). Coins of Faustina were sometimes incorporated into jewellery and worn as amulets. with the abbreviated legend AED DIV FAVSTINAE (‘temple of the divine Faustina’) . The posthumous cult of Faustina was exceptionally widespread, and Faustina's image continued to be omnipresent throughout Antoninus Pius' principate. A colossal marble head, believed to be that of Faustina and discovered in 2008, figured as one of several monumental imperial statues at the ancient site of
Sagalassos in today's
Turkey. In Olympia,
Herodes Atticus dedicated a nymphaeum that displayed statues of Faustina and other Antonines as well as his own ancestors. Faustina also appears on the
Parthian Monument at Ephesus commemorating members of the imperial family. Bergmann and Watson have characterized the commemoration of Faustina as central to Antoninus Pius' political persona. One larger-than-life statue, discovered
in situ near the Termini railway station at Rome, appears to depict Faustina as
Concordia, with a
patera and cornucopia; it would have been displayed alongside statues of
Diana Lucifera and
Apollo-
Sol in
baths privately owned but available to the public. Antoninus and Faustina were officially held up as such exemplars of conjugal harmony that newlyweds were directed to pray at an altar of Antoninus and Faustina that they might live up to their example. This was evidently the case in Ostia, and probably so in Rome. The
Temple of Faustina is thought to have been dedicated in 144. It is a grand
hexastyle structure with
Corinthian columns, possibly designed originally to be a temple of
Ceres. Depictions on coins appear to show a cult image of Faustina seated on a throne and holding a tall staff in her left hand. Faustina's portrait on coins from this period is often crowned as well as veiled, which may also recall a feature of Faustina's cult image from the temple. near Rome, originally built as a private shrine of Ceres and Faustina The deified Faustina was associated particularly closely with
Ceres, who featured prominently on coins of Faustina; for some years, the torch-bearing Ceres was the dominant motif in her gold coinage. Herodes Atticus venerated Faustina as the “new
Demeter” (the Greek equivalent of Ceres) at a private sanctuary he established outside Rome, now the church of
Sant'Urbano. In addition to Ceres,
Vesta and
Juno feature prominently in Faustina's coinage. She was also associated with the
Magna Mater and at Cyrene with
Isis; at
Sardis she was worshipped conjointly with
Artemis. Ten years after Faustina's death, a new commemorative coinage was introduced, featuring the legend
Aeternitas ('eternity'); such coins may have been introduced to be distributed at a public ceremony in her memory. After Antoninus Pius' death, his adoptive sons and successors
Marcus Aurelius and
Lucius Verus erected the
Column of Antoninus Pius, which dramatically depicted Antoninus and Faustina being elevated heavenward together on the back of a winged figure. Marcus Aurelius also built a Temple of Faustina at
Elefsina in
Greece. Faustina continued to be commemorated in certain Renaissance depictions as a “model wife”. ==Notes==