Editing Antoninus Pius (section)

==Early life==
===Childhood and family===
Antoninus Pius was born Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus in 86, near [[Lanuvium]] (modern-day [[Lanuvio]]) in [[Roman Italy|Italy]] to [[Titus Aurelius Fulvus (father of Antoninus Pius)|Titus Aurelius Fulvus]], [[Roman consul|consul]] in 89, and wife [[Arria Fadilla]].<ref>Kienast 1990: 134.</ref>{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=150}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Harvey|first=Paul B.|title=Religion in republican Italy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|page=134}}</ref> The Aurelii Fulvi were an [[Aurelia (gens)|Aurelian]] family settled in [[Nemausus]] (modern [[Nîmes]]).{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=523}} 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 [[Flavian dynasty|Flavians]].<ref>{{cite thesis|first=Hugo Thomas Dupuis|last=Whitfield|title=The rise of Nemausus from Augustus to Antoninus Pius: a prosopographical study of Nemausian senators and equestrians|type=MA|publisher=Queen's University|location=Ontario|year=2012|pages=49–57|url=http://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/1974/7181/1/Whitfield_Hugo_TD_201204_MA.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/1974/7181/1/Whitfield_Hugo_TD_201204_MA.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date=24 January 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Michel|last=Gayraud|title=Le proconsulat de Narbonnaise sous le Haut-Empire|journal=Revue des Études Anciennes|volume=72|year=1970|number=3–4|pages=344–363|doi=10.3406/rea.1970.3874|url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1970_num_72_3_3874|access-date=24 January 2016}}</ref>

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]],{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=150}} reputed by contemporaries to be a man of integrity and culture and a friend of [[Pliny the Younger]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} 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.{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=242; ''Historia Augusta'', Antoninus Pius 1:6}}

===Marriage and children===
[[File:Portrait of Faustina the Elder - Getty Museum (70.AA.113).jpg|thumb|Statue of Faustina the Elder in the [[Getty Villa]]]]
Some time between 110 and 115, Antoninus married Annia Galeria [[Faustina the Elder]].<ref name="Weigel, Antoninus Pius">Weigel, ''Antoninus Pius''</ref> They are believed to have enjoyed a happy marriage. Faustina was the daughter of consul [[Marcus Annius Verus (II)]]{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=150}} and [[Rupilia Faustina]] (often thought to be a step-sister to the Empress [[Vibia Sabina]]<ref>[http://www.strachan.dk/family/rupilius.htm Rupilius]. Strachan stemma.</ref> or more likely a granddaughter of the emperor [[Vitellius]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Continuité gentilice et continuité familiale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale: mythe et réalité |last=Settipani |first=Christian |publisher=Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, University of Oxford |year=2000 |isbn=9781900934022 |pages=278–279, 297–300 |language=it |edition=illustrated |series=Prosopographica et genealogica |volume=2}}</ref>) Faustina was a beautiful woman, and despite rumours about her character, it is clear that Antoninus cared for her deeply.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Vagi |first1=David L. |title=Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, C. 82 B.C. – A.D. 480: History |date=2000 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781579583163 |page=240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=raE7qzBM-OIC&pg=PA240}}</ref>

Faustina bore Antoninus four children, two sons and two daughters.{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=34; ''Historia Augusta'', Antoninus Pius 1:7}} They were:
* Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the [[Castel Sant'Angelo|Mausoleum of Hadrian]] in Rome.<ref name="Magie, David 1921">Magie, David, ''Historia Augusta'' (1921), Life of Antoninus Pius, Note 6</ref><ref>{{CIL|06|00988}}</ref><ref name="Kienast 1990: 135">Kienast 1990: 135.</ref>
* Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.<ref name="Magie, David 1921"/><ref>{{CIL|06|00989}}</ref><ref name="Kienast 1990: 135"/> 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]].<ref>Magie, David, ''Historia Augusta'' (1921), Life of Antoninus Pius, Note 7</ref><ref>Kienast 1990: 135, who refers to Aurelia Fadilla's husband as Aelius Lamia Silvanus.</ref>
* 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.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=523}}<ref name="Kienast 1990: 135"/>

When Faustina died in 141, Antoninus was greatly distressed.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=528}} In honour of her memory, he asked the [[Roman Senate|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.{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=77; ''Historia Augusta'', Antoninus Pius 6:7}} 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<ref name="Weigel, Antoninus Pius"/> of good family.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Fernand|last=Daucé|title=Découverte à Rennes d'une pièce de Faustine jeune|journal=Annales de Bretagne|volume=75|number=1|year=1968|pages=270–276|doi=10.3406/abpo.1968.2460|url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/abpo_0003-391x_1968_num_75_1_2460|access-date=23 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504050336/https://www.persee.fr/doc/abpo_0003-391x_1968_num_75_1_2460|archive-date=4 May 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 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]],<ref>Anise K. Strong: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ClSJDAAAQBAJ&dq=Hispala+Faecenia&pg=PA47 Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World]''</ref> 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.)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Strong|first1=Anise K.|title=Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107148758|page=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ClSJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lind|first1=Goran|title=Common Law Marriage: A Legal Institution for Cohabitation|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199710539|page=72|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-kJxOISFSMC&pg=PA72}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Birley|first1=Anthony R|title=Marcus Aurelius: A Biography|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134695690|page=33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gl5T47CvuDsC&pg=PA33}}</ref>

=== Favour with Hadrian ===
[[File:Marble bust of Emperor Antoninus Pius. 138-161 CE. From the house of Jason Magnus at Cyrene, modern-day Libya. The British Museum, London.jpg|thumb|left| Marble bust of Antoninus Pius (138–161); British Museum, London]]
Having filled the offices of [[quaestor]] and [[praetor]] with more than usual success,<ref>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</ref> he obtained the [[consul]]ship in 120<ref name="Weigel, Antoninus Pius"/> having as his colleague [[Lucius Catilius Severus]].<ref>E.E. Bryant, ''The Reign of Antoninus Pius''. Cambridge University Press, 1895, p. 12</ref> He was next appointed by the Emperor [[Hadrian]] as one of the four [[proconsul]]s to administer [[Italia (Roman province)|Italia]],{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=149}} his district including [[Etruria]], where he had estates.<ref name="Bryant, p. 15">Bryant, p. 15</ref> He then greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as proconsul of [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]], probably during 134–135.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=149}}

He acquired much favor with Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor on 25 February 138,{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=148}} after the death of his first adopted son [[Lucius Aelius]],{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=517}} 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]].<ref name="Weigel, Antoninus Pius"/> He also adopted (briefly) the name Imperator Titus Aelius Caesar Antoninus, in preparation for his rule.{{sfn|Cooley|p=492}} 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.<ref>Grant, Michael, ''The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition'', (1996), Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-13814-0}}, pp. 10–11</ref>