Faustina the Younger

Wife of Marcus Aurelius

Faustina the Younger was the daughter of the emperor Antoninus Pius and his wife Faustina the Elder. She was married to Marcus Aurelius in A. D. 145 before he became a Roman emperor. We do not have a great deal of primary source material on her life, but the evidence we do have suggests that the couple was very close. They were blessed with an abundance of children, amongst whom were the future emperor Commodus and the future empress Lucilla. Faustina accompanied her emperor husband during his numerous campaigns in the field, attempting to make a home out of an army camp. She was loved and revered by the Roman soldiers, who called her Matri Castrorum, or, "Mother of the Camp". The years spent on military campaigns at the side of her husband began to take their toll. Faustina the Younger died at the village of Halala in faraway Cappadocia in A. D. 176. She was only forty six years old.