Editing Antoninus Pius (section)

===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>