Jack,
I think the
inscription tells us only that
Lucilla was born on 7 March, not in which year!
I say 152, because I think
Marcus was childless from 149/50 until 152, causing him to renounce
his tribunician power.
Apparently shortly before Antoninus became TR P XV, however,
Marcus and
Faustina had a child, so he resumed
his TR P and became TR P IIII when Antoninus became TR P XV.
That child was very probably
Lucilla, who really can't have been born much later if she was to marry
Lucius Verus in c. 164, when she would have her 12th birthday if born in 152.
As to Antoninus' tribunician day, we know it was 10
Dec. by the end of
his reign in 161, and that day has been assumed to go back to at least 147, when
Marcus was voted that same power.
However, I observed in my
Oxford thesis of 1972 and in a paper at the International Num. Congress of 1973 that virtually all of the bronze medallions of 160-196 were produced at the end of each year, but with their titles dated ahead to the upcoming 1 Jan., obviously so that they could be used as New Year's presents. I deduced that from the imperial titles on the medallions: whenever there was some change of title in the course of the tribunician year, the medallions always dated to the first issue of the year. For example, in 161 Antoninus died on 7 March. All known bronze medallions of that year are for him as TR P XXIIII; none at all exist for
Marcus TR P XV and
Lucius TR P as
Augusti.
In the course of
his TR P XIIII, however, Antoninus changed to a longer
obv. legend on
his coins, and in the course of TR P XV he reverted to the shorter
legend. If the tribunician day was already 10
Dec. at that time, then the medallions of those years would have to fall in the first issue of each year. Wrong: all known medallions of those years fall in the
second issue, with long
obv. legend in TR P XIIII and with short
obv. legend in TR P XV. That means that the tribunician day cannot have been 10 December, and the only option is the
anniversary of that power's first conferment on Antoninus. It seems out of the question that in those two years, contrary to all others, there were no New Year's issues of medallions, but rather two large issues of medallions in the second half of each year.
Now,
Hadrian adopted
Antoninus Pius on 25 Feb. 138, and one would assume that
his tribunician power, recorded on all of
his coins as
Caesar, goes back to that day. However:
Lucilla was born on 7 March, apparently in 152, and her birth caused
Marcus to resume
his tribunician power. But
Marcus seems to have resumed
his TR P slightly
before the end of Antoninus' 14th tribunician year. We must assume, then, that Antoninus' tribunician day fell somewhat later than Lucilla's birthday on 7 March. Probably on the unknown day when the tribunician assembly
met to confirm the tribunician power that the Senate
had voted to Antoninus on 25 February.
So when dating Antoninus' tribunician day in my post above, I should strictly have written not "c. 25 Feb.", but "unknown date after 7 March"!
If Antoninus' TR P XV ended not in March 152 as I suggest, but on 10
Dec. 151 as traditionally assumed, then the birth that caused
Marcus to resume
his tribunician power would have fallen in Nov. or early
Dec. 151, so could not be
Lucilla whose birthday was 7 March. It would then have been difficult for
Marcus and
Faustina to
still produce
Lucilla in time for her to be able to marry L.
Verus in c. 164. Obviously it is more likely that Antoninus' tribunician day was in c. March, and that the baby whose birth restarted
Marcus and Faustina's family was indeed
Lucilla. This consideration strengthens the proof from the medallions that Antoninus' tribunician day in c. 151-2 was not 10
Dec. but the
anniversary of the original conferral of that power in c. March 138.
A little complicated, but I
hope you get the gist!
Moderator: I would recommend moving this
thread to
Roman Coins.