Faustina the Younger

Annia Galeria Faustina, "the Younger", (c. 125/130 - 175) was the younger daughter of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder, wife of his successor Marcus Aurelius, and mother of Commodus.

Originally promised by Hadrian to Lucius Verus, Atoninus betrothed her to his cousin Marcus Aurelius in 139; they married in 145. She was raised to an Augusta the following year.

She was said to have had a lively personality, but the late and unreliable Augustan History impugns her character, relating stories of adultery with sailors and gladiators, suggesting that Commodus was either the son of a gladiator (as explanation for his interest in gladiatorial combat), or that Faustina washed herself with the blood of an executed gladiator and then lay with Aurelius in that state.

Faustina went with Aurelius on his campaign to the north (170-174) and then to the East, where she died (175). Aurelius consecrated her and founded a second Puellae Faustinianae in her name.