Not every spouse of the Roman Emperor became augusta, a title sometimes translated as ‘Empress’, but with a variety of meanings not covered by that modern designation. The title augusta was given to specific Imperial women the Emperor wished to favour. The list was not limited to spouses: daughters, mothers, grandmothers and even mothers-in-law were so honoured. The title came with a number of benefits; the augusta operated her own court, was able to mint her own coinage and, most usually, was deified after death. The first augusta was the very first Empress, Livia, though the position was not bestowed upon her until after her death. It was the Emperor Claudius who invented the title, to honour Livia, his own mother Anonia Minor, and his wife Agrippina the Younger. It was Agrippina who was the first woman to actually benefit from the use of the title in her lifetime. Nero, forever vainly seeking ways to promote himself and his family, bestowed the title both on his wide Poppaea Sabina and his daughter Claudia; he set the pattern for the title to be applied at the Emperor’s pleasure, regardless of the actual perceived qualities or leadership of the bearer. But augustae generally kept themselves to themselves; it took an especially active and engaged aigista, Vibia Sabina, the wife of Hadrian, to really fulfil the title’s potential. She was an avid minter of coins, a wide traveller around the Empire, and an active campaigner on a number of political issues.

Julia Cornelia Paula was created augusta upon her marriage to Elagabalus in AD 219. A noblewoman of high birth, descended from the gens Cornelia, a family whose pedigree predated the foundation of Rome and which produced at least seventy-five consuls (similar to Prime Ministers). She was a favourite of Julia Maesa, the sister of the dowager Empress Julia Domina, wife of the late Septimius Severus. It was through Maesa’s influence that she was introduced to, and eventually married to, Elagabalus. The Emperor, who acceded to the throne at the age of fourteen in AD 218, was among Rome’s most notorious. The son of Julia Maesa, Elagabalus was a descendent of Caracalla (another notorious Emperor)l when Caracalla was murdered, his successor Macrinus exiled Elagabalus’ family to Syria. Maesa instigated a coup against Macrinus, and he was shortly after deposed. Elagabalus was brought to the throne, largely as a proxy for his mother. He made a number of, what later commentators at least considered, questionable decisions, like the raising of the god Elagabal (after whom he was named) ti replace Jupiter at the top of the Roman pantheon. The Emperor was given to sexual depravity, apparently prostituting himself in brothels in the city of Rome. Later scholars ascribed to Elagabalus a confused gender identity, based on reports that he once apparently asked courtiers to ‘call me lady, not lord’, wore make-up and feminine clothes, and even apparently offered doctors considerable sums of money to explore the prospect of a vaginoplasty/ His relationships with women were short-lived; he was married to Julia Cornelia Paula for less than a year, before, in August of AD 220, he moved his attentions on to the Vestal Virgin Julia Aquilla Severa. Since Julia Severa was supposed to be celibate, due to her religious role, this caused outrage. He married once more during his four-year reign, to Annia Aurelia Faustina, and also engaged in apparent informal marriages with men, including slave-charioteer Hierocles and the eunuch athlete Zoticus. Elagabalus was assassinated in March of AD 222; the fate of his wives, and especially of Julia Cornelia Paula, remains unknown, though it is hard to imagine that they survived long after. Certainly, his lover Hierocles was also murdered.

The short and unhappy marriage of Elagabalus and Julia Cornelia Paula produced little art; there simply was not enough time for the augusta to establish herself, or to produce a state image that could be transferred across the Empire. But this small medallion may well be one of these rare portraits. Consisting of sixteen floral motifs on stalks standing proud of a central roundel, and with two loops for suspension, this charming piece of silver jewellery bears the front-facing portrait of a woman. She has flat hair, which hangs loose by her shoulders, with slight curls evidenced behind the ears. Her nose is straight, and dominates her face; her features are robust and severe, and she wears a stola, a long flowing dress which spoke of modesty and femininity which is held in place with two small round brooches. Her garment hangs loosely, disguising the shape of her breast. Her features are close to those of the Empress Julia Cornelia Paula, as expressed in a bust in the Ephesus Archaeological Museum, and her straight hair with slight ringlets would be paralleled by the bust in the Musei Capitolini (380). The fact that this medallion is made from a significant weight of silver would seem to suggest that this is unlikely to be a mere representation of a private citizen.