Editing Lucius Verus (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Lucius Verus child Louvre Ma1149.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Lucius Verus as a child]]
[[File:Glyptothek München 259 (cropped and edited).jpg|thumb|Bust of Antoninus Pius]]
Born Lucius Ceionius Commodus on 15 December 130,<ref>The date given by the ''[[Historia Augusta]]'' ([https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Lucius_Verus*.html § 1]) is confirmed by a contemporary inscription ([[iarchive:inscriptionesgra01cagnuoft/page/496/mode/1up|''IGRR'' I, 1509]]) and an entry in the [[Chronograph of 354]] ([https://archive.org/details/CalendarOfPhilocalusAndPolemiusSilviusFromIla/page/n25/mode/1up?view=theater ''ILA'' p. 278]).</ref> Verus was the first-born son of [[Avidia (mother of Lucius Verus)|Avidia]] and [[Lucius Aelius Caesar]], the first adopted son and heir of [[Roman emperor|Emperor]] [[Hadrian]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bishop|first=M. C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDdjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT41|title=Lucius Verus and the Roman Defence of the East|date=2018|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1-4738-4945-7|language=en}}</ref> He was born and raised in Rome. Verus had two sisters, [[Ceionia Fabia]] and [[Ceionia Plautia]].<ref name=":0" /> His maternal grandparents were the senator [[Gaius Avidius Nigrinus]] and the unattested noblewoman [[Plautia (mother of Aelius Caesar)|Plautia]]. 

When his father died on 1 January 138, Hadrian chose [[Antoninus Pius|Titus Aurelius Antoninus]] as his new heir, giving him the title of ''[[Caesar (title)|caesar]]''. Antoninus was instructed to adopt Lucius alongside [[Marcus Aurelius|Marcus]], Hadrian's nephew by marriage. By this scheme, Lucius, who was already Hadrian's adoptive grandson through his natural father, remained as such through his new father. Antoninus also betrothed his daughter [[Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina|Faustina]] to Lucius, although the arrangement was canceled soon after.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last=Peacock |first=Phoebe B. |date=2001 |title=Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.) |url=https://roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/lverus.htm}}</ref>

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.<ref>''HA Marcus'' 6.2; ''Verus'' 2.3–4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 53–54.</ref>

As a prince and future emperor, Verus received careful education from the famous ''grammaticus'' [[Marcus Cornelius Fronto]]. He was reported to have been an excellent student, fond of writing poetry and delivering speeches. Verus started his political career as a [[quaestor]] in 153 (one year before the legal age), became [[consul]] in 154, and in 161 was consul again with Marcus Aurelius.<ref name=":1" />