Matidia

Matidia, daughter of Marciana Denarius, circa 112, AR 20mm., 3.00g. MATIDIA AVG DIVAE – MARCIANAE F Draped bust r., hair arranged in coils with jewels on crown of head. Rev. PIETAS AVG Matidia as Pietas, veiled, standing l., sacrificing over altar decorated with garlands. RIC Trajan 758. BMC Trajan 658. C 8.Very rare. Toned and very fine.Ex CNG sale 36, 1995, 2383 and NAC 42, November 2007, 338. From the Barry Feirstein Collection.Matidia was the only niece of the emperor Trajan who, having no children of his own, displayed the greatest affection for her. He essentially treated her as a daughter, and she often accompanied him on his travels. In addition to her close connection to Trajan, Matidia shared a mutual fondness for the future emperor Hadrian, who she admired enough to permit him to marry her youngest daughter Sabina. When Matidia died in 119, her funeral oration was delivered by Hadrian himself, as her uncle Trajan had died two years earlier.