Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius (Latin: Titus Fulvius Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius; born 19 September, 86 AD â€" died 7 March, 161 AD), also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nervaâ€"Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii.

He acquired the name Pius after his accession to the throne, either because he compelled the Senate to deify his adoptive father Hadrian, or because he had saved senators sentenced to death by Hadrian in his later years.

Early life

Childhood and family

He was born as the only child of Titus Aurelius Fulvus, consul in 89 whose family came from Nemausus (modern Nîmes). He was born near Lanuvium and his mother was Arria Fadilla. Antoninus’ father and paternal grandfather died when he was young and he was raised by Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus, his maternal grandfather, reputed by contemporaries to be a man of integrity and culture and a friend of Pliny the Younger. His mother married Publius Julius Lupus (a man of consular rank) suffect consul in 98, and two daughters, Arria Lupula and Julia Fadilla, were born from that union.

Marriage and children

Some time between 110 and 115, he married Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder. They are believed to have enjoyed a happy marriage. Faustina was the daughter of consul Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina (a half-sister to Roman Empress Vibia Sabina). Faustina was a beautiful woman, well known for her wisdom. She spent her whole life caring for the poor and assisting the most disadvantaged Romans.

Faustina bore Antoninus four children, two sons and two daughters. They were:

• Marcus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
• 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 Lamia Silvanus, consul 145. She appeared to have no children with her husband and her sepulchral inscription has been found in Italy.
• Annia Galeria Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger (between 125â€"130â€"175), a future Roman Empress, married her maternal cousin, future Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 146.

When Faustina died in 141, Antoninus was greatly distressed. In honor 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 created a charity which he founded and called it Puellae Faustinianae or Girls of Faustina, which assisted orphaned girls. Finally, Antoninus created a new alimenta (see Grain supply to the city of Rome).

Favor with Hadrian

Having filled the offices of quaestor and praetor with more than usual success, he obtained the consulship in 120. He was next appointed by the Emperor Hadrian as one of the four proconsuls to administer Italia, then greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as proconsul of Asia, probably during 134â€"135.

He acquired much favor with the Emperor 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 Aelius Verus, who afterwards became the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

Emperor

On his accession, Antoninus' name became "Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pontifex Maximus". 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' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal.

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 intact as far as possible the arrangements instituted by Hadrian.

There are no records of any military related acts in his time in which he participated. One modern scholar has written "It is almost certain not only that at no time in his life did he ever see, let alone command, a Roman army, but that, throughout the twenty-three years of his reign, he never went within five hundred miles of a legion".

His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the Principate; while there were several military disturbances throughout the Empire in his time, in Mauretania, Iudaea, and amongst the Brigantes in Britannia, none of them are considered serious. 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.

Under instructions from the emperor, he undertook an invasion of southern Scotland, winning some significant victories, and constructing the Antonine Wall from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde, although it was soon abandoned for reasons that are still not quite clear. There were also some troubles in Dacia Inferior which required the granting of additional powers to the procurator governor and the dispatchment of additional soldiers to the province. Also during his reign the governor of Upper Germany, probably Caius Popillius Carus Pedo, built new fortifications in the Agri Decumates, advancing the Limes Germanicus fifteen miles forward in his province and neighboring Raetia.

Nevertheless, Antoninus was virtually unique among emperors in that he dealt with these crises without leaving Italy once during his reign, but instead dealt with provincial matters of war and peace through their governors or through imperial letters to the cities such as Ephesus (of which some were publicly displayed). This style of government was highly praised by his contemporaries and by later generations.

Legal reforms

Of the public transactions of this period there is only the scantiest of information, but, to judge by what is extant, those twenty-two years were not remarkably eventful in comparison to those before and after his reign. However, he did take a great interest in the revision and practice of the law throughout the empire. Although he was not an innovator, he would not follow the absolute letter of the law; rather he was driven by concerns over humanity and equality, and introduced into Roman law many important new principles based upon this notion.

In this, the emperor was assisted by five chief lawyers: L. Fulvius Aburnius Valens, an author of legal treatises; L. Volusius Maecianus, chosen to conduct the legal studies of Marcus Aurelius, and author of a large work on Fidei Commissa (Testamentary Trusts); L. Ulpius Marcellus, a prolific writer; and two others . His reign saw the appearance of the Institutes of Gaius, an elementary legal manual for beginners (see Gaius (jurist)).

Antoninus passed measures to facilitate the enfranchisement of slaves. In criminal law, Antoninus introduced the important principle that accused persons are not to be treated as guilty before trial. He also asserted the principle, that the trial was to be held, and the punishment inflicted, in the place where the crime had been committed. He mitigated the use of torture in examining slaves by certain limitations. Thus he prohibited the application of torture to children under fourteen years, though this rule had exceptions.

One highlight during his reign occurred in 148, with the nine-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Rome being celebrated by the hosting of magnificent games in Rome. It lasted a number of days, and a host of exotic animals were killed, including elephants, giraffes, tigers, rhinoceroses, crocodiles and hippopotami. While this increased Antoninus’s popularity, the frugal emperor had to debase the Roman currency. He decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 89% to 83.5% â€" the actual silver weight dropping from 2.88 grams to 2.68 grams.

Scholars place Antoninus Pius as the leading candidate for fulfilling the role as a friend of Rabbi Judah the Prince. According to the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 10a-b), Rabbi Judah was very wealthy and greatly revered in Rome. He had a close friendship with "Antoninus", possibly Antoninus Pius, who would consult Rabbi Judah on various worldly and spiritual matters.

Death

In 156, Antoninus Pius turned 70. He found it difficult to keep himself upright without stays. He started nibbling on dry bread to give him the strength to stay awake through his morning receptions. As Antoninus aged, Marcus would take on more administrative duties, more still when he became the praetorian prefect (an office that was as much secretarial as military) Gavius Maximus died in 156 or 157. In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Perhaps Antoninus was already ill; in any case, he died before the year was out.

Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral estate at Lorium, in Etruria, about twelve miles (19 km) from Rome. He ate Alpine cheese at dinner quite greedily. In the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day. The day after that, 7 March 161, he summoned the imperial council, and passed the state and his daughter to Marcus. The emperor gave the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered when the tribune of the night-watch came to ask the passwordâ€""aequanimitas" (equanimity). He then turned over, as if going to sleep, and died. His death closed out the longest reign since Augustus (surpassing Tiberius by a couple of months).

Antoninus Pius' funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, "elaborate". If his funeral followed the pattern of past funerals, his body would have been incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, while his spirit would rise to the gods' home in the heavens. Marcus and Lucius nominated their father for deification. In contrast to their behavior during Antoninus' campaign to deify Hadrian, the senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes. A flamen, or cultic priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Antoninus, now Divus Antoninus.

Antoninus Pius' remains were laid to rest in Hadrian's mausoleum, a column was dedicated to him on the Campus Martius, and the temple he had built in the Forum in 141 to his deified wife Faustina was rededicated to the deified Faustina and the deified Antoninus. It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda.

Historiography

The only account of his life handed down to us is that of the Augustan History, an unreliable and mostly fabricated work. Nevertheless, it still contains information that is considered reasonably sound â€" for instance, it is the only source that mentions the erection of the Antonine Wall in Britain. Antoninus is unique among Roman emperors in that he has no other biographies. Historians have therefore turned to public records for what details we know.

In later scholarship

Antoninus in many ways was the ideal of the landed gentleman praised not only by ancient Romans, but also by later scholars of classical history, such as Edward Gibbon or the author of the article on Antoninus Pius in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica:

A few months afterwards, on Hadrian's death, he was enthusiastically welcomed to the throne by the Roman people, who, for once, were not disappointed in their anticipation of a happy reign. For Antoninus came to his new office with simple tastes, kindly disposition, extensive experience, a well-trained intelligence and the sincerest desire for the welfare of his subjects. Instead of plundering to support his prodigality, he emptied his private treasury to assist distressed provinces and cities, and everywhere exercised rigid economy (hence the nickname κυμινοπριστης "cummin-splitter"). Instead of exaggerating into treason whatever was susceptible of unfavorable interpretation, he turned the very conspiracies that were formed against him into opportunities for demonstrating his clemency. Instead of stirring up persecution against the Christians, he extended to them the strong hand of his protection throughout the empire. Rather than give occasion to that oppression which he regarded as inseparable from an emperor's progress through his dominions, he was content to spend all the years of his reign in Rome, or its neighbourhood.

Later historians had a more nuanced view of his reign. According to the historian J. B. Bury,

however estimable the man, Antoninus was hardly a great statesman. The rest which the Empire enjoyed under his auspices had been rendered possible through Hadrian’s activity, and was not due to his own exertions; on the other hand, he carried the policy of peace at any price too far, and so entailed calamities on the state after his death. He not only had no originality or power of initiative, but he had not even the insight or boldness to work further on the new lines marked out by Hadrian.

Inevitably, the surviving evidence is not complete enough to determine whether one should interpret, with older scholars, that he wisely curtailed the activities of the Roman Empire to a careful minimum, or perhaps that he was uninterested in events away from Rome and Italy and his inaction contributed to the pressing troubles that faced not only Marcus Aurelius but also the emperors of the third century. German historian Ernst Kornemann has had it in his Römische Geschichte [2 vols., ed. by H. Bengtson, Stuttgart 1954] that the reign of Antoninus comprised "a succession of grossly wasted opportunities," given the upheavals that were to come. There is more to this argument, given that the Parthians in the East were themselves soon to make no small amount of mischief after Antoninus' passing. Kornemann's brief is that Antoninus might have waged preventive wars to head off these outsiders.

Descendants

Although only one of his four children survived to adulthood, Antoninus came to be ancestor to generations of prominent Roman statesmen and socialites, including at least one empress consort and as the maternal grandfather of the Emperor Commodus. The family of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder also represents one of the few periods in ancient Roman history where the position of Emperor passed smoothly from father to son. Direct descendants of Antoninus and Faustina were confirmed to exist at least into the fifth century AD.

1. Marcus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus (died before 138), died young without issue

2. Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (died before 138), died young without issue

3. Aurelia Fadilla (died in 135), died without issue

4. Faustina the Younger (16 February between 125 and 130 â€" 175), had thirteen children

A. Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina (30 November 147 - after 165), had one child

I. Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus (c. 163 - 218), had one child

a. Annia Faustina (about 201 â€" after 222), had two children

i. Pomponia Ummidia (219 - after 275), died without known issue

ii. Pomponius Bassus (220 - after 271), had one child

i. Pomponia Bassa (born c. 250), had one child

i. Septimius Bassus, had one child

i. Septimia (born c. 305), had one child

i. Lucius Valerius Septimius Bassus (c. 328 - aft. 379 or 383), had one child

i. Valerius Adelphius Bassus (c. 360 â€" aft. 383), had one child

i. Valerius Adelphius (born c. 385), had one child

i. Adelphia (c. 410 - aft. 459), had possibly one child

i. Anicia Ulfina

B. Gemellus Lucillae (7 March 148 or 150 - c. 150), died young without issue

C. Lucilla (7 March 148 or 150 - 182), had four children

I. Aurelia Lucilla (born 165), died young without issue

II. Lucilla Plautia (after 165 - 182), died without issue

III. Lucius Verus, died young without issue

IV. Pompeianus (170 â€" between 212 and 217), died without issue

D. Titus Aelius Antoninus (after 150 - before 7 March 161), died young without issue

E. Titus Aelius Aurelius (after 150 - before 7 March 161), died young without issue

F. Hadrianus (152 - 157), died young without issue

G. Domitia Faustina (after 150 - before 7 March 161), died young without issue

H. Fadilla (159 - after 192), had two children

I. Plautius Quintillus

II. Plautia Servilla

I. Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (160 - after 211), had one child

I. Petronius Antoninus (after 173 - between 190 and 192), died young without issue

J. Titus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus (161 - 165), died young without issue

K. Commodus (31 August 161 â€" 31 December 192), died without issue

L. Marcus Annius Verus Caesar (after May 162 â€" 10 September 169), died young without issue

M. Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170 - before 217), died without issue

Nervaâ€"Antonine family tree

• (1) = 1st spouse
• (2) = 2nd spouse (not shown)
• (3) = 3rd spouse
• Darker purple indicates Emperor of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty; lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned
• dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
• small caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)

Notes

References

Primary sources

• Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book 70, [1]
• Aurelius Victor, "Epitome de Caesaribus", English version of Epitome de Caesaribus
• Historia Augusta, The Life of Antoninus Pius, English version of Historia Augusta Note that the Historia Augusta includes pseudohistorical elements.

Secondary sources

• Weigel, Richard D., "Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138â€"161)", De Imperatoribus Romanis
• Bowman, Alan K. The Cambridge Ancient History: The High Empire, A.D. 70â€"192. Cambridge University Press, 2000
• Birley, Anthony, Marcus Aurelius, Routledge, 2000
• Canduci, Alexander (2010), Triumph & Tragedy: The Rise and Fall of Rome's Immortal Emperors, Pier 9, ISBN 978-1-74196-598-8 
• Bury, J. B. A History of the Roman Empire from its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius (1893)
• Hüttl, W. Antoninus Pius vol. I & II, Prag 1933 & 1936.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Antoninus Pius". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.  This source lists:
  • Bossart-Mueller, Zur Geschichte des Kaisers A. (1868)
  • Bryant, The Reign of Antonine (Cambridge Historical Essays, 1895)
  • Lacour-Gayet, A. le Pieux et son Temps (1888)
  • Watson, P. B. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (London, 1884), chap. ii.

External links

• Media related to Antoninus Pius at Wikimedia Commons