Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Fulvus Pius
Bust of Antoninus Pius, at Glyptothek, Munich.
15th Emperor of the Roman Empire
Reign	11 July 138 – 7 March 161
Predecessor	Hadrian, adopted father
Successor	Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, adopted sons
Born	(86-09-19)19 September 86 near Lanuvium, Italy
Died	7 March 161(161-03-07) (aged 74) Lorium
Burial	Hadrian's Mausoleum
Spouse	Annia Galeria Faustina
Issue	Natural: Faustina the Younger, one other daughter and two sons, all died before 138; Adoptive: Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus
Full name Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus (from birth to adoptions by Hadrian); Titus Aelius Caesar Antoninus (from adoption to accession); Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius (as emperor)
Imperial Dynasty	Nerva-Antonine
Father	Titus Aurelius Fulvus (natural); Hadrian (adoptive, from 25 Feb. 138)
Mother	Arria Fadilla; Vibia Sabina (adoptive, from 25 Feb. 138)

Antoninus Pius (Latin: Titus Fulvus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius; 19 September 86 CE – 7 March 161 CE), also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was one of the Five Good Emperors in the Nerva–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. He died of illness in 161 and was succeeded by his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as co-emperors.

He was born as the only child of Titus Aurelius Fulvus, consul in 89 whose family came from Nemausus (modern Nîmes). Titus Aurelius Fulvius 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 Fulvii were therefore a relatively new senatorial family from Gallia Narbonensis whose rise to prominence was supported by the Flavians. The link between Antoninus' family and their home province explains the increasing importance of the post of Proconsul of Gallia Narbonensis during the late Second Century.

Antoninus was born near Lanuvium and his mother was Arria Fadilla. Antoninus’ father died shortly after his 89 ordinary consulship, his son being raised by his maternal grandfather Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus, reputed by contemporaries to be a man of integrity and culture and a friend of Pliny the Younger. The Arrii Antoninii were an older senatorial family from Italy, very influential during Nerva's reign. Arria Fadilla, Antoninus' mother, married afterwards 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.