LUCILLE Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla 164 - 169 †182 - Lot 236

LUCILLE Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla 164 - 169 †182 LVCILLA AVGVSTA. Her bust draped to the right, hair raised in a braided bun at the nape of her neck. R/. PVDICITIA. Veiled Modesty standing left. ♦ Cohen 59/130 frs or; RIC 779; Calicó 2216 Aureus struck in Rome in 164-169. (7,28 g) Remarkably well preserved. Rare. Superb piece. Exemplaire vente JVN 12 avril 1988 n°613 Lucille was the second of six daughters of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the daughter. Lucilla grew up as an imperial princess, with the strange mixture of power and powerlessness that such a position implied in ancient Rome. In 161, at the age of 12, she was betrothed to Lucius Verus, her father's adoptive brother and co-emperor. The wedding took place three years later in Ephesus, while Lucius was campaigning against the Parthians in the East. Although Lucius had a wandering eye and Lucilla was not a model of fidelity, the marriage lasted until her sudden death from a stroke in 169. Much against her will, her father then married her off to a distinguished elderly senator, Tiberius Claudius Pompienus. Although her husband was one of the most powerful men in the government, Lucilla was no longer Augusta, nor empress, a situation she found increasingly intolerable. The death of Marcus and the accession of his brother Commodus in 180 made matters worse, as she frequently quarreled with him and envied his wife, Crispina, who now bore the title of Augusta. In 182, she entered into a plot with one of her lovers to get rid of Commodus. But the assassin hesitated after pulling out the knife and was tackled to the ground before he could strike. When Lucille's role in the plot was revealed, she was arrested and exiled to the island of Capri.