Nysa (AD 147-175) AE 18 - Faustina II

Faustina Junior, daughter of Antoninus Pius, wife of Marcus Aurelius, Augusta, 147-175 AD. AE18 (4.68g, 12h). ΦAVCT[EI]NA CEBACTH, diademed and draped bust right / NVCA-EΩN, Hades dragging away protesting Persephone in quadriga right. VF, green patina. Ex Marcel Burstein Collection (Peus 366, 10/2000), lot 709.

According to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 15-18, Persephone was picking flowers with her companions in the Vale of Nysa, when the ground opened up and Hades seized her.