Obverse of coin type, volume IV, temp. № 8717, depicting a draped bust of the deified Faustina I.
Annia Galeria Faustina the elder (Faustina I) was the wife of Antoninus Pius. With her husband’s accession to the imperial throne in July 138 Faustina I became Augusta. After her death during the first half of 141 she was deified, and some mints produced deification coins for her.
At Alexandria deification coins, which call Faustina I Thea, were struck in 141/2, and again in 158/9, the later issue perhaps reflecting the inauguration of the temple of Diva Faustina at Rome. Alexandria thus seems to use Thea as an equivalent to the Latin Diva. However, Theos and Thea could be applied to both living and deified emperors and empresses in the east, so that they are not always a safe criterion for dating.