Shameless Facts About Faustina the Younger, The Most Scandalous Roman Empress
Stories from the Roman Empire rarely disappoint. With all its tales of gladiators, conquests, and messy love stories, reality tv producers would have had a field day if television existed back then.
One character from the Roman empire that doesn’t get much airtime is the Roman empress, Faustina the Younger—one of the most shameless and scandalous royals of her time.
1. She Had A Hard Act To Follow
Faustina had impossibly large shoes to fill. You see, her illustrious mother, Annia Galeria Faustina, left a virtually flawless legacy. She graciously did her duty as a Roman empress, and the countrymen loved her so much that they gave her the highest title a woman could receive at that time, “Augusta”. Faustina's father also declared her mother a goddess.
But despite having to follow in the shadow of greatness, there was one thing about little Faustina that made her stand out from all the rest.
2. She Got Lucky
Child mortality in Rome rocketed past the rest of modern society at the time Faustina was born in 130 AD. Babies rarely survived through childhood. In fact, Faustina became the only child of her parents to survive to adulthood. Faustina was lucky to be alive at all, but also lucky to be alive in Rome when she was. Fortune had certainly smiled on her...for now.
3. She Had The Best Of Rome
At her birth, Rome experienced a time historians called the “Pax Romana". While they continued to repress enemy countries and cultures, Rome itself lived in peace, with diplomatic transfers of power from one emperor to another.
This soon came to an end, however, and in some ways, Faustina may have played a disturbingly major role in the end of the great Roman period.
4. She Had No Control
Faustina never got the chance to make her own life plans. She lived with all the lavish comforts and luxuries afforded to the highest members of the wealthy Roman empire, but there was one disturbing downfall to her station. She had no control over her own life. Her father steered her wherever he pleased, and the consequences were chilling.
Long before becoming an adult by our contemporary standards, Faustina's family forced her into very adult, life-altering positions.
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