Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus (86 – 161), known as Antoninus Pius, was the 15th Roman emperor. He succeeded Hadrian in 138 AD, reigning until the year 161 AD. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors and a member of the Aurelii. It was only after his accession to the throne that Antoninus was given the sobriquet "Pius". Almost certainly, he earned the name "Pius" because he compelled the Senate to deify his adoptive father Hadrian; the Historia Augusta, however, suggests that he may have earned the name by saving senators sentenced to death by Hadrian in his later years.
Antoninus Pius was born on September 19, 86 AD, at Lanuvium, about 20 miles south of Rome. His father was Titus Aurelius Fulvus, who was consul in 89 whose family had come from Nemausus, and his mother was Arria Fadilla. Antoninus’ father and paternal grandfather died when he was young and he was raised by Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus, who was his grandfather on his mother’s side. Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus was a man of integrity and culture and a friend of Pliny the Younger. Long before he took the throne of Rome, between 110 AD and 115 AD, Antoninus Pius married Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder. They had a very happy marriage. She was the daughter of consul Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina. Faustina was a beautiful woman, who was renowned for her wisdom. She spent her whole life caring for the poor and assisting the most disadvantaged Romans.
At the age of 24 Antoninus became quaestor, and then was raise to the rank of praetor. In 120 AD he obtained the consulship; 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. He acquired much favor with the Emperor Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor in 138 AD, after the death of his first adopted son Lucius Aelius, on the condition that Antoninus would in turn adopt Marcus Annius Verus.
His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the Roman Empire. While there were several military disturbances throughout the Empire in his time, in Mauretania, Judaea, and among the Brigantes in Britannia, none of them were serious. Southern Scotland was conquered, with Hadrian’s wall being abandoned and a new defence, the Antonine Wall, was built 40 miles further north.
After the longest reign since Augustus, Antoninus died of fever at Lorium in Etruria, about twelve miles from Rome, on March 7, 161 AD. His body was placed 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 AD to his deified wife Faustina was rededicated to the deified Faustina and the deified Antoninus.
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