File:Colossal head of Plotina - wife of Trajan - 118 to 120 AD.jpg

English: This head of Plotina was discovered between 1802 and 1804 in Ostia. Made of Marmara marble, (ancient Proconnese, Turkey), this monumental portrait reveals a majestic face inscribed in an elongated oval surmounting a thickened neck. Work of a workshop in Rome (very early reign of Hadrian). This portrait, dated between 118 and 120, could also be posthumous and date shortly after 121. Daughter of Lucius Pompeius and Plotia, Pompeia Plotina Claudia Phoebe Piso was probably born in Nîmes, around 68, during the reign of Nero. She married Trajan before her accession to the purple. A follower of the Epicurean School of Athens, worthy and virtuous, she used her influence to reduce taxes, improve the living conditions of the poor and promote tolerance in society. Plotina and Trajan had no children; they adopted in 86-87 Hadrian who will in turn accede to the supreme office thanks to the unwavering support of his adoptive mother. She died probably at the end of 121. Former Franz Trau collection, Austria. It is now in the Musée d'art et d'histoire of Geneva (MAH).