Die vorbildliche Kaiserehe. Zwei Senatsbeschlüsse beim Tod der älteren und der jüngeren Faustina, neue Paradigmen und die Herausbildung des ‹antoninischen› Prinzipats

Abstract

After the crisis of power during the last months of Hadrian’s rule, his successor Antoninus Pius was concerned with obtaining acceptance and establishing his own profile. The consecration of his deceased wife Faustina in the autumn of 140 AD played a key role in attaining this goal, and in particular the decree of the senate which declared his marriage to be an ideal model and ordered the erection of a new ritual monument for all bridal couples in Rome, presumably in the new temple district of Venus and Roma. Thereby the paradigm of the Hadrianic period was completely changed while the ‹antonine› principate and the dynastic rule of succession were given an ideological foundation which had a broad and far reaching impact. The reconstruction and analysis of this neglected context makes use of all possible sources and media, including the constitutions of citizenship for auxiliary soldiers whose children became subject to a more restrictive regulation.