Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty and also the fourth of the six adoptive emperors.
Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held various offices during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. He married Hadrian's niece Faustina, and Hadrian adopted him as his son and successor shortly before his death. Antoninus acquired the cognomen Pius after his accession to the throne, either because he compelled the Senate to deify his adoptive father, or because he had saved senators sentenced to death by Hadrian in his later years. His reign is notable for the peaceful state of the Empire, with no major revolts or military incursions during this time. A successful military campaign in southern Scotland early in his reign resulted in the construction of the Antonine Wall.
Antoninus was an effective administrator, leaving his successors a large surplus in the treasury, expanding free access to drinking water throughout the Empire, encouraging legal conformity, and facilitating the enfranchisement of freed slaves. He died of illness in AD 161 and was succeeded by his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as co-emperors.
Early life Childhood and family Antoninus Pius was born Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus in 86, near Lanuvium (modern-day Lanuvio) in Italy to Titus Aurelius Fulvus, consul in 89, and wife Arria Fadilla.Kienast 1990: 134. The Aurelii Fulvi were an Aurelian family settled in Nemausus (modern Nîmes). Titus Aurelius Fulvus was the son of a senator of the same name, who, as legate of Legio III Gallica, had supported Vespasian in his bid to the Imperial office and been rewarded with a suffect consulship, plus an ordinary one under Domitian in 85. The Aurelii Fulvi were therefore a relatively new senatorial family from Gallia Narbonensis whose rise to prominence was supported by the Flavians. The link between Antoninus's family and their home province explains the increasing importance of the post of proconsul of Gallia Narbonensis during the late second century.
Antoninus's father had no other children and died shortly after his 89 ordinary consulship. Antoninus was raised by his maternal grandfather Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus, reputed by contemporaries to be a man of integrity and culture and a friend of Pliny the Younger. The Arrii Antonini were an older senatorial family from Italy, very influential during Nerva's reign. Arria Fadilla, Antoninus's mother, married afterwards Publius Julius Lupus, suffect consul in 98; from that marriage came two daughters, Arria Lupula and Julia Fadilla.
Marriage and children
Some time between 110 and 115, Antoninus married Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder.Weigel, Antoninus Pius They are believed to have enjoyed a happy marriage. Faustina was the daughter of consul Marcus Annius Verus (II) and Rupilia Faustina (often thought to be a step-sister to the Empress Vibia SabinaRupilius . Strachan stemma. or more likely a granddaughter of the emperor Vitellius.) Faustina was a beautiful woman, and despite rumours about her character, it is clear that Antoninus cared for her deeply.
Faustina bore Antoninus four children, two sons and two daughters. They were: Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.Magie, David, Historia Augusta (1921), Life of Antoninus Pius, Note 6Kienast 1990: 135. Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. His name appears on a Greek Imperial coin. Aurelia Fadilla (died in 135); she married Lucius Plautius Lamia Silvanus, consul 145. She appeared to have no children with her husband; and her sepulchral inscription has been found in Italy.Magie, David, Historia Augusta (1921), Life of Antoninus Pius, Note 7Kienast 1990: 135, who refers to Aurelia Fadilla's husband as Aelius Lamia Silvanus. Annia Galeria Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger (between 125 and 130–175), a future Roman Empress, married her maternal cousin Marcus Aurelius in 146.
When Faustina died in 141, Antoninus was greatly distressed. In honour of her memory, he asked the Senate to deify her as a goddess, and authorised the construction of a temple to be built in the Roman Forum in her name, with priestesses serving in her temple. He had various coins with her portrait struck in her honor. These coins were scripted "DIVA FAUSTINA" and were elaborately decorated. He further founded a charity, calling it Puellae Faustinianae or Girls of Faustina, which assisted destitute girls of good family. Finally, Antoninus created a new alimenta, a Roman welfare programme, as part of Cura Annonae.
The emperor never remarried. Instead, he lived with Galeria Lysistrate,Anise K. Strong: Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World Faustina's freedwoman. Concubinage was a form of female companionship sometimes chosen by powerful men in Ancient Rome, especially widowers like Vespasian, and Marcus Aurelius. Their union could not produce any legitimate offspring who could threaten any heirs, such as those of Antoninus. Also, as one could not have a wife and an official concubine (or two concubines) at the same time, Antoninus avoided being pressed into a marriage with a noblewoman from another family. (Later, Marcus Aurelius would also reject the advances of his former fiancée Ceionia Fabia, Lucius Verus's sister, on the grounds of protecting his children from a stepmother, and took a concubine instead.)
Favour with Hadrian
Having filled the offices of quaestor and praetor with more than usual success,Traver, Andrew G., From polis to empire, the ancient world, c. 800 B.C. – A.D. 500, (2002) p. 33; Historia Augusta, Life of Antoninus Pius 2:9 he obtained the consulship in 120 having as his colleague Lucius Catilius Severus.E.E. Bryant, The Reign of Antoninus Pius. Cambridge University Press, 1895, p. 12 He was next appointed by the Emperor Hadrian as one of the four proconsuls to administer Italia, his district including Etruria, where he had estates.Bryant, p. 15 He then greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as proconsul of Asia, probably during 134–135.
He acquired much favor with Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor on 25 February 138, after the death of his first adopted son Lucius Aelius, on the condition that Antoninus would in turn adopt Marcus Annius Verus, the son of his wife's brother, and Lucius, son of Lucius Aelius, who afterwards became the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. He also adopted (briefly) the name Imperator Titus Aelius Caesar Antoninus, in preparation for his rule. There seems to have been some opposition to Antoninus's appointment on the part of other potential claimants, among them his former consular colleague Lucius Catilius Severus, then prefect of the city. Nevertheless, Antoninus assumed power without opposition.Grant, Michael, The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition, (1996), Routledge, , pp. 10–11
Emperor
On his accession, Antoninus's name and style became Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus. One of his first acts as emperor was to persuade the Senate to grant divine honours to Hadrian, which they had at first refused; his efforts to persuade the Senate to grant these honours is the most likely reason given for his title of Pius (dutiful in affection; compare pietas). Two other reasons for this title are that he would support his aged father-in-law with his hand at Senate meetings and that he had saved those men that Hadrian, during his period of ill health, had condemned to death.
Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus's betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus's daughter instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus, Marcus's future co-emperor, would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus's proposal.HA Marcus 6.2; Verus 2.3–4
Antoninus built temples, theaters, and mausoleums, promoted the arts and sciences, and bestowed honours and financial rewards upon the teachers of rhetoric and philosophy. Antoninus made few initial changes when he became emperor, leaving the arrangements instituted by Hadrian as undisturbed as possible. Epigraphical and prosopographical research has revealed that Antoninus's imperial ruling team centered around a group of closely knit senatorial families, most of them members of the priestly congregation for the cult of Hadrian, the sodales Hadrianales. According to the German historian H.-G. Pflaum, prosopographical research of Antoninus's ruling team allows us to grasp the deeply conservative character of the ruling senatorial caste.H.-G. Pflaum, "Les prêtres du culte impérial sous le règne d'Antonin le Pieux". In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 111e année, N. 2, 1967. pp. 194–209. Available at . Accessed 27 January 2016
He owned palatial villas near Lanuvium and Villa Magna (Latium) and his ancestral estate at Lorium (Etruria).Eutropius, Breviarium ab Urbe condita, VIII, 8
Lack of warfare
There are no records of his involvement in military acts during his tenure, with J. J. Wilkes noting that he likely never saw or commanded a Roman army and was never within five hundred miles of a legion throughout his twenty-three-year reign.J.J. Wilkes, The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. LXXV 19 book , p. 242.
His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the Principate, even though there were several military disturbances in the Empire in his time. Such disturbances happened in Mauretania, where a senator was named as governor of Mauretania Tingitana in place of the usual equestrian procuratorRené Rebuffat, '"Enceintes urbaines et insécurité en Maurétanie Tingitane" In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome, Antiquité, tome 86, n°1. 1974. pp. 501–522. Available at . Accessed 26 December 2015 and cavalry reinforcements from Pannonia were brought in,Michel Christol, "L'armée des provinces pannoniennes et la pacification des révoltes maures sous Antonin le Pieux". In: Antiquités africaines, 17, 1981. pp. 133–141. towns such as Sala and Tipasa being fortified.Michael Grant, The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition. Abingdon: Routledge, 1996, , p. 17; Rebuffat "Enceintes urbaines" Similar disturbances took place in Judea, and amongst the Brigantes in Britannia; however, these were considered less serious than prior (and later) revolts among both. It was however in Britain that Antoninus decided to follow a new, more aggressive path, with the appointment of a new governor in 139, Quintus Lollius Urbicus, a native of Numidia and previously governor of Germania InferiorSalway, A History of Roman Britain. Oxford University Press: 2001, , p. 149 as well as a new man.Birley, Anthony (2005), The Roman Government of Britain. Oxford U.P., , p. 137