Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius was born Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus in 86, near Lanuvium (modern-day Lanuvio) in Italy to Titus Aurelius Fulvus, consul in 89, and wife Arria Fadilla.Kienast 1990: 134. {{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=150}}{{cite book|last=Harvey|first=Paul B.|title=Religion in republican Italy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|page=134}} The Aurelii Fulvi were an 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 Flavians.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

Antoninus' 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' 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}}

File:Portrait of Faustina the Elder - Getty Museum (70.AA.113).jpg]]

Some time between 110 and 115, Antoninus married Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder.Weigel, Antoninus Pius 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 [http://www.strachan.dk/family/rupilius.htm Rupilius]. Strachan stemma. or more likely a granddaughter of the emperor Vitellius.{{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}}) Faustina was a beautiful woman, and despite rumours about her character, it is clear that Antoninus cared for her deeply.{{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}}

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 Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.Magie, David, Historia Augusta (1921), Life of Antoninus Pius, Note 6{{CIL|06|00988}}Kienast 1990: 135.
• Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.{{CIL|06|00989}}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.Magie, David, Historia Augusta (1921), Life of Antoninus Pius, Note 7Kienast 1990: 135, who refers to Aurelia Fadilla's husband as Aelius Lamia Silvanus.
• 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}}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 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 of good family.{{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}} 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,Anise K. Strong: [https://books.google.com/books?id=ClSJDAAAQBAJ&dq=Hispala+Faecenia&pg=PA47 Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World] 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.){{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}}{{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}}{{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}}

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

Having filled the offices of quaestor and praetor with more than usual success,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 he obtained the consulship in 120 having as his colleague Lucius Catilius Severus.E.E. Bryant, The Reign of Antoninus Pius. Cambridge University Press, 1895, p. 12 He was next appointed by the Emperor Hadrian as one of the four proconsuls to administer Italia,{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=149}} his district including Etruria, where he had estates.Bryant, p. 15 He then greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as proconsul of 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. 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' 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.Grant, Michael, The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition, (1996), Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-13814-0}}, pp. 10–11

File:Roman Empire in 150 AD.png

On his accession, Antoninus' name and style became Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pontifex Maximus. One of his first acts as emperor was to persuade the Senate to grant divine honours to Hadrian, which they had at first refused;{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=151}} his efforts to persuade the Senate to grant these honours is the most likely reason given for his title of Pius (dutiful in affection; compare pietas).{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=55}} Two other reasons for this title are that he would support his aged father-in-law with his hand at Senate meetings and that he had saved those men that Hadrian, during his period of ill health, had condemned to death.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=523}}

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, Marcus' future co-emperor, would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal.HA Marcus 6.2; Verus 2.3–4{{sfn|Birley|2000|pp=53–54}}

Antoninus built temples, theaters, and mausoleums, promoted the arts and sciences, and bestowed honours and financial rewards upon the teachers of rhetoric and philosophy. Antoninus made few initial changes when he became emperor, leaving the arrangements instituted by Hadrian as undisturbed as possible.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=151}} Epigraphical and prosopographical research has revealed that Antoninus' imperial ruling team centered around a group of closely knit senatorial families, most of them members of the priestly congregation for the cult of Hadrian, the sodales Hadrianales. According to the German historian H.G. Pflaum, prosopographical research of Antoninus' ruling team allows us to grasp the deeply conservative character of the ruling senatorial caste.H.G. Pflaum, "Les prêtres du culte impérial sous le règne d'Antonin le Pieux". In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 111^e année, N. 2, 1967. pp. 194–209. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1967_num_111_2_12096] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602230502/https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1967_num_111_2_12096|date=2 June 2018}}. Accessed 27 January 2016

He owned palatial villas near Lanuvium and Villa Magna (Latium) and his ancestral estate at Lorium (Etruria).Eutropius, Breviarium ab Urbe condita, VIII, 8

File:Temple of Divus Antoninus Pius and Diva Faustina, Upper Via Sacra, Rome (33093993915).jpg in the Roman Forum (now the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda). The emperor and his Augusta were deified after their death by Marcus Aurelius.]]

There are no records of his involvement in military acts during his tenure, with J. J. Wilkes noting that he likely never saw or commanded a Roman army and was never within five hundred miles of a legion throughout his twenty-three-year reign.J.J. Wilkes, The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. LXXV 19 book {{ISSN|0075-4358}}, p. 242.

His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the Principate,{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=525}} even though there were several military disturbances in the Empire in his time. Such disturbances happened in Mauretania, where a senator was named as governor of Mauretania Tingitana in place of the usual equestrian procuratorRené Rebuffat, '"Enceintes urbaines et insécurité en Maurétanie Tingitane" In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome, Antiquité, tome 86, n°1. 1974. pp. 501–522. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/mefr_0223-5102_1974_num_86_1_970] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504043706/https://www.persee.fr/doc/mefr_0223-5102_1974_num_86_1_970|date=4 May 2018}}. Accessed 26 December 2015 and cavalry reinforcements from Pannonia were brought in,Michel Christol, "L'armée des provinces pannoniennes et la pacification des révoltes maures sous Antonin le Pieux". In: Antiquités africaines, 17, 1981. pp. 133–141. towns such as Sala and Tipasa being fortified.Michael Grant, The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition. Abingdon: Routledge, 1996, {{ISBN|0-415-13814-0}}, p. 17; Rebuffat "Enceintes urbaines" Similar disturbances took place in Judea, and amongst the Brigantes in Britannia; however, these were considered less serious than prior (and later) revolts among both.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=525}} It was however in Britain that Antoninus decided to follow a new, more aggressive path, with the appointment of a new governor in 139, Quintus Lollius Urbicus,{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=151}} a native of Numidia and previously governor of Germania InferiorSalway, A History of Roman Britain. Oxford University Press: 2001, {{ISBN|0-19-280138-4}}, p. 149 as well as a new man.Birley, Anthony (2005), The Roman Government of Britain. Oxford U.P., {{ISBN|978-0-19-925237-4}}, p. 137

Under instructions from the emperor, Lollius undertook an invasion of southern Scotland, winning some significant victories and constructing the Antonine Wall{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=152}} from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. However, the wall was soon gradually decommissioned during the mid-150s and eventually abandoned late during the reign (early 160s) for reasons that are still unclear.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=155}}David Colin Arthur Shotter, Roman Britain, Abingdon: Routledge, 2004, {{ISBN|0-415-31943-9}}, p. 49 Antonine's Wall is mentioned in just one literary source, Antoninus' biography in the Historia Augusta. Pausanias makes a brief and confused mention of a war in Britain. In one inscription honouring Antoninus, erected by Legio II Augusta, which participated in the building of the Wall, a relief showing four naked prisoners, one of them beheaded, seems to stand for some actual warfare.Jean-Louis Voisin, "Les Romains, chasseurs de têtes". In: Du châtiment dans la cité. Supplices corporels et peine de mort dans le monde antique. Table ronde de Rome (9–11 novembre 1982) Rome: École Française de Rome, 1984. pp. 241–293. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1984_act_79_1_2537] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302075126/http://www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1984_act_79_1_2537|date=2 March 2017}}. Accessed 14 January 2016

File:0 Antoninus Pius - Museo Chiaramonti (Vatican).JPG, from the Museo Chiaramonti (Vatican Museums)]]

Although Antonine's Wall was, in principle, much shorter (37 miles in length as opposed to 73) and, at first sight, more defensible than Hadrian's Wall, the additional area that it enclosed within the Empire was barren, with land use for grazing already in decay.W. E. Boyd (1984),"Environmental change and Iron Age land management in the area of the Antonine Wall, central Scotland: a summary".Glasgow Archaeological Journal, Volume 11 Issue 1, pp. 75–81 This meant that supply lines to the wall were strained enough such that the costs of maintaining the additional territory outweighed the benefits of doing so.Peter Spring, Great Walls and Linear Barriers. Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2015, {{ISBN|978-1-84884-377-6}}, p. 75 Also, in the absence of urban development and the ensuing Romanization process, the rear of the wall could not be lastingly pacified.Edward Luttwak, The grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-8018-2158-4}}, p. 88

It has been speculated that the invasion of Lowland Scotland and the building of the wall had to do mostly with internal politics, that is, offering Antoninus an opportunity to gain some modicum of necessary military prestige at the start of his reign. An Imperial salutation followed the campaign in Britannia—that is, Antoninus formally took for the second (and last) time the title of Imperator in 142.David J. Breeze, Roman Frontiers in Britain. London: Bloomsbury, 2013, {{ISBN|978-1-8539-9698-6}}, p. 53 The fact that around the same time coins were struck announcing a victory in Britain points to Antoninus' need to publicise his achievements.Salway, 149 The orator Fronto was later to say that, although Antoninus bestowed the direction of the British campaign to others, he should be regarded as the helmsman who directed the voyage, whose glory, therefore, belonged to him.Birley, Anthony (2012). Marcus Aurelius, London: Routledge, 2012, {{ISBN|0-415-17125-3}}, p. 61

That this quest for some military achievement responded to an actual need is proved by the fact that, although generally peaceful, Antoninus' reign was not free from attempts at usurpation: Historia Augusta mentions two, made by the senators Cornelius Priscianus ("for disturbing the peace of Spain";Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow (2014): The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. {{ISBN|978-0-1910-1676-9}}, entry "Antoninus Pius" Priscianus had also been Lollius Urbicus' successor as governor of Britain) and Atilius Rufius Titianus (possibly a troublemaker already exiled under HadrianHerbert W. Benario (1980), A Commentary on the Vita Hadriani in the Historia Augusta. Scholars Press, {{ISBN|978-0-891-30391-6}}, p. 103). Both attempts are confirmed by the Fasti Ostienses and by the erasing of Priscianus' name from an inscription.Albino Garzetti, From Tiberius to the Antonines: A History of the Roman Empire AD 14–192. London: Routledge, 2014, {{ISBN|978-1-138-01920-1}}, p. 447; Paul Veyne, L'Empire Gréco-Romain, Paris: Seuil, 2005, {{ISBN|2-02-057798-4}}, p. 28, footnote 61; Salway, 149 In both cases, Antoninus was not in formal charge of the ensuing repression: Priscianus committed suicide and Titianus was found guilty by the Senate, with Antoninus abstaining from sequestering their families' properties.Marta García Morcillo, Las ventas por subasta en el mundo romano: la esfera privada. Edicions Universitat Barcelona, 2005, {{ISBN|84-475-3017-5}}, p. 301

File:ANTONINUS PIUS. 138-161 AD Parthia coinage.jpg (PAR-TH-IA on the reverse) handing the crown to him, an empty claim that Parthia was still subject to Rome after the events surrounding Parthamaspates{{cite book |last1=Schlude |first1=Jason M. |title=Rome, Parthia, and the Politics of Peace: The Origins of War in the Ancient Middle East |date=13 January 2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-13570-2 |page=176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l-LNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |language=en}}]]

There were also some troubles in Dacia Inferior, which required the granting of additional powers to the procurator governor and the dispatch of additional soldiers to the province.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=155}} On the northern Black Sea coast, the Greek city of Olbia was held against the Scythians.Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, ed., North Pontic Archaeology: Recent Discoveries and Studies. Leiden: Brill, 2001, {{ISBN|90-04-12041-6}}, p. 425 Also during his reign the governor of Upper Germany, probably Gaius Popillius Carus Pedo, built new fortifications in the Agri Decumates, advancing the Limes Germanicus fifteen miles forward in his province and neighboring Raetia.{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=113}} In the East, Roman suzerainty over Armenia was retained by the choice in AD 140 of Arsacid scion Sohaemus as client king.Rouben Paul Adalian, Historical Dictionary of Armenia, Lanham: Scarecrow, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-8108-6096-4}}, entry "Arshakuni/Arsacid", p. 174

Nevertheless, Antoninus was virtually unique among emperors in that he dealt with these crises without leaving Italy once during his reign,Speidel, Michael P., Riding for Caesar: The Roman Emperors' Horse Guards, Harvard University Press, 1997, p. 50 but instead dealt with provincial matters of war and peace through their governors or through imperial letters to the cities such as Ephesus (of which some were publicly displayed). His contemporaries and later generations highly praised this style of government.See Victor, 15:3

Antoninus was the last Roman Emperor recognised by the Indian Kingdoms, especially the Kushan Empire. Raoul McLaughlin quotes Aurelius Victor as saying, "The Indians, the Bactrians, and the Hyrcanians all sent ambassadors to Antoninus. They had all heard about the spirit of justice held by this great emperor, justice that was heightened by his handsome and grave countenance, and his slim and vigorous figure." Due to the outbreak of the Antonine epidemic and wars against northern Germanic tribes, the reign of Marcus Aurelius was forced to alter the focus of foreign policies, and matters relating to the Far East were increasingly abandoned in favour of those directly concerning the Empire's survival.{{cite book |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Raoul |title=Rome and the Distant East: Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India and China |date=2010 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781847252357 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzJf1KgqrWQC&pg=PA131}}

File:Aureus d'Antonin le Pieux.jpg of Antoninus Pius, 145 AD. Inscription: ANTONINVS {{abbr|AVG|AUGUSTUS}} PIVS {{abbr|PP|PATER PARIAE}} / {{abbr|TR|TRIBUNICIA}} {{abbr|POT|POTESTAS}} {{abbr|COS|CONSUL}} IIII]]

Antoninus was regarded as a skilled administrator and builder. Despite an extensive building directive—the free access of the people of Rome to drinking water was expanded with the construction of aqueducts, not only in Rome but throughout the Empire, as well as bridges and roads—the emperor still managed to leave behind a sizable public treasury of around 2.7 billion sesterces. Rome would not witness another Emperor leaving his successor with a surplus for a long time, but the treasury was depleted almost immediately after Antoninus's reign due to the Antonine Plague brought back by soldiers after the Parthian victory.{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Timothy F. H.|last2=Hoekstra|first2=Thomas W.|last3=Tainter|first3=Joseph A.|title=Supply-Side Sustainability|date=2012|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231504072|pages=105–106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQjb04tfBHsC&pg=PA106}}

The Emperor also famously suspended the collection of taxes from multiple cities affected by natural disasters, such as when fires struck Rome and Narbona, and earthquakes affected Rhodes and the Province of Asia. He offered hefty financial grants for rebuilding and recovery of various Greek cities after two serious earthquakes: the first, {{circa|140}}, which mainly affected Rhodes and other islands; the second, in 152, which hit Cyzicus (where the huge and newly built Temple to Hadrian was destroyedBarbara Burrell. Neokoroi: Greek Cities and Roman Emperors. Leiden: Brill, 2004, {{ISBN|90-04-12578-7}}, p. 87), Ephesus, and Smyrna. Antoninus' financial help earned him praise from Greek writers such as Aelius Aristides and Pausanias.E.E. Bryant, The Reign of Antoninus Pius. Cambridge University Press: 1895, pp. 45–46, 68. These cities received the usual honorific accolades from Antoninus, such as when he commanded that all governors of Asia should enter the province when taking office through Ephesus.Conrad Gempf, ed., The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1994, {{ISBN|0-85364-564-7}}, p. 305 Ephesus was especially favoured by Antoninus, who confirmed and upheld its distinction of having two temples for the imperial cult (neocorate), therefore having first place in the list of imperial honor titles, surpassing both Smyrna and Pergamon.Emmanuelle Collas-Heddeland, "Le culte impérial dans la compétition des titres sous le Haut-Empire. Une lettre d'Antonin aux Éphésiens". In: Revue des Études Grecques, tome 108, Juillet-décembre 1995. pp. 410–429. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/reg_0035-2039_1995_num_108_2_2661] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603005958/https://www.persee.fr/doc/reg_0035-2039_1995_num_108_2_2661|date=3 June 2018}}. Retrieved 22 January 2016; Edmund Thomas,(2007): Monumentality and the Roman Empire: Architecture in the Antonine Age. Oxford U. Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-928863-2}}, p. 133

In his dealings with Greek-speaking cities, Antoninus followed the policy adopted by Hadrian of ingratiating himself with local elites, especially with local intellectuals: philosophers, teachers of literature, rhetoricians, and physicians were explicitly exempted from any duties involving private spending for civic purposes, a privilege granted by Hadrian that Antoninus confirmed by means of an edict preserved in the Digest (27.1.6.8).Philip A. Harland, ed., Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, translations and commentaries. II: North Coast of the Black Sea, Asia Minor . Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014, {{ISBN|978-3-11-034014-3}}, p. 381 Antoninus also created a chair for the teaching of rhetoric in Athens.Paul Graindor, "Antonin le Pieux et Athènes". Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 6, fasc. 3–4, 1927. pp. 753–756. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1927_num_6_3_6468] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603171541/https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1927_num_6_3_6468|date=3 June 2018}}. Retrieved 22 January 2016

Antoninus was known as an avid observer of rites of religion and formal celebrations, both Roman and foreign. He is known for having increasingly formalized the official cult offered to the Great Mother, which from his reign onwards included a bull sacrifice, a taurobolium, formerly only a private ritual, now being also performed for the sake of the Emperor's welfare.Gary Forsythe, Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History. London: Routledge, 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-415-52217-5}}, p. 92 Antoninus also offered patronage to the worship of Mithras, to whom he erected a temple in Ostia.Samuel Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius. Library of Alexandria, s.d.g. In 148, he presided over the celebrations of the 900th anniversary of the founding of Rome.

File:Copy inscribed in marble of a letter from Antoninus Pius to the Ephesians, from the Bouleuterion at Ephesus, 140-144 AD, British Museum (16965588461).jpg at Ephesus, 140–144 AD, explaining how the emperor resolved a dispute between the Roman cities of Ephesus and Smyrna.
British Museum, London.]]

Antoninus tried to portray himself as a magistrate of the res publica, no matter how extended and ill-defined his competencies were. He is credited with splitting the imperial treasury, the fiscus. This splitting had to do with the division of imperial properties into two parts. Firstly, the fiscus itself, or patrimonium, meaning the properties of the "Crown", the hereditary properties of each succeeding person that sat on the throne, transmitted to his successors in office,Oxford Classical Dictionary, London: 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-19-954556-8}}, entry "Patrimonium". regardless of their previous membership in the imperial family.After the death of Nero, the personal properties of the Julio-Claudian dynasty had been appropriated by the Flavians, and therefore turned into public properties: Carrié & Roussele, 586 Secondly, the res privata, the "private" properties tied to the personal maintenance of the emperor and his family,Carrié & Rousselle, 586 something like a Privy Purse. An anecdote in the Historia Augusta biography, where Antoninus replies to Faustina (who complained about his stinginess) that "we have gained an empire [and] lost even what we had before," possibly relates to Antoninus' actual concerns at the creation of the res privata.The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 11: The High Empire, AD 70–192. Cambridge U.P., 2009, {{ISBN|9780521263351}}, p. 150 While still a private citizen, Antoninus had increased his personal fortune significantly using various legacies, the consequence of his caring scrupulously for his relatives.Edward Champlin, Final Judgments: Duty and Emotion in Roman Wills, 200 B.C. – A.D. 250. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-520-07103-4}}, p. 98 Also, Antoninus left behind him a reputation for stinginess and was probably determined not to leave his personal property to be "swallowed up by the demands of the imperial throne".{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=71}}

The res privata lands could be sold and/or given away, while the patrimonium properties were regarded as public.David S. Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay. London: Routledge, 2014, {{ISBN|978-0-415-84054-5}}, p. 49 It was a way of pretending that the Imperial function—and most properties attached to it—was a public one, formally subject to the authority of the Senate and the Roman people.Heinz Bellen, "Die 'Verstaatlichung' des Privatvermögens der römische Kaiser". Hildegard Temporini, ed., Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Berlin: De Gruyter, 1974, {{ISBN|3-11-004571-0}}, p. 112 That the distinction played no part in subsequent political history—that the personal power of the princeps absorbed his role as office-holder—proves that the autocratic logic of the imperial order had already subsumed the old republican institutions.Aloys Winterling, Politics and Society in Imperial Rome. Malden, MA: John Wiley & sons, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-4051-7969-0}}, pp. 73–75

Of the public transactions of this period, there is only the scantiest of information. However, to judge by what is extant, those twenty-two years were not remarkably eventful compared to those before and after the reign.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} However, Antoninus did take a great interest in the revision and practice of the law throughout the empire.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=526}} One of his chief concerns was to having local communities conform their legal procedures to existing Roman norms: in a case concerning the repression of banditry by local police officers ("irenarchs", Greek for "peacekeepers") in Asia Minor, Antoninus ordered that these officers should not treat suspects as already condemned, and also keep a detailed copy of their interrogations, to be used in the possibility of an appeal to the Roman governor.Clifford Ando, Imperial Rome AD 193 to 284: The Critical Century. Edinburgh University Press, 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-7486-2050-0}}, p. 91 Also, although Antoninus was not an innovator, he would not always follow the absolute letter of the law. Rather, he was driven by concerns over humanity and equality and introduced into Roman law many important new principles based upon this notion.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=526}}

In this, the emperor was assisted by five chief lawyers: Lucius Fulvius Aburnius Valens, an author of legal treatises;John Anthony Crook, Consilium Principis: Imperial Councils and Counsellors from Augustus to Diocletian. Cambridge U.P.: 1955, p. 67 Lucius Ulpius Marcellus, a prolific writer; and three others.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=526}} Of these three, the most prominent was Lucius Volusius Maecianus, a former military officer turned by Antoninus into a civil procurator, and who, given his subsequent career (discovered on the basis of epigraphical and prosopographic research), was the emperor's most important legal adviser.A. Arthur Schiller, Roman Law: Mechanisms of Development. The Hague: Mouton, 1978, {{ISBN|90-279-7744-5}}, p. 477 Maecianus would eventually be chosen to occupy various prefectures (see below) as well as to conduct the legal studies of Marcus Aurelius. He also authored an extensive work on Fidei commissa (Testamentary Trusts). As a hallmark of the increased connection between jurists and the imperial government,George Mousourakis, Roman Law and the Origins of the Civil Law Tradition, Heidelberg: Springer, {{ISBN|978-3-319-12267-0}}, p. 79 Antoninus' reign also saw the appearance of the Institutes of Gaius, an elementary legal textbook for beginners.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=526}}

File:INC-1833-a Ауреус Антонин Пий ок. 153-154 гг. (аверс).png of Antoninus, 153 AD. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P XVII]]

Antoninus passed measures to facilitate the enfranchisement of slaves.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=527}} Mostly, he favoured the principle of favor libertatis, giving the putative freedman the benefit of the doubt when the claim to freedom was not clear-cut.Keith Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome. Cambridge University Press: 1994, {{ISBN|9780521263351}}, p. 162 Also, he punished the killing of a slave by their master without previous trialAubert, Jean-Jacques. "L'esclave en droit romain ou l'impossible réification de l'homme". Esclavage et travail forcé, Cahiers de la Recherche sur les droits fondamentaux (CRDF). Vol. 10. 2012. and determined that slaves could be forcibly sold to another master by a proconsul in cases of consistent mistreatment.Anastasia Serghidou, ed. Fear of slaves, fear of enslavement in the ancient Mediterranean. Presses Univ. Franche-Comté, 2007 {{ISBN|978-2-84867-169-7}}, p. 159 Antoninus upheld the enforcement of contracts for selling of female slaves forbidding their further employment in prostitution.Jean-Michel Carrié & Aline Rousselle, L'Empire Romain en Mutation, des Sévères à Constantin, 192–337. Paris: Seuil 1999, {{ISBN|2-02-025819-6}}, p. 290 In criminal law, Antoninus introduced the important principle of the presumption of innocence—namely, that accused persons are not to be treated as guilty before trial,{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=527}} as in the case of the irenarchs (see above). Antoninus also asserted the principle that the trial was to be held and the punishment inflicted in the place where the crime had been committed. He mitigated the use of torture in examining slaves by certain limitations. Thus, he prohibited the application of torture to children under fourteen years, though this rule had exceptions.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=527}} However, it must be stressed that Antoninus extended, using a rescript, the use of torture as a means of obtaining evidence to pecuniary cases, when it had been applied up until then only in criminal cases.Digest, 48.18.9, as quoted by Edward Peters, Torture, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996, {{ISBN|0-8122-1599-0}}, p. 29 Also, already at the time torture of free men of low status (humiliores) had become legal, as proved by the fact that Antoninus exempted town councillors expressly from it, and also free men of high rank (honestiores) in general.Grant, pp. 154–155.

One highlight during his reign occurred in 148, with the 900th anniversary of the foundation of Rome being celebrated by hosting magnificent games in the city.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=154}} It lasted many days, and a host of exotic animals were killed, including elephants, giraffes, tigers, rhinoceroses, crocodiles and hippopotamuses. While this increased Antoninus's popularity, the frugal emperor had to debase the Roman currency. He decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 89% to 83.5, the actual silver weight dropping from 2.88 grams to 2.68 grams.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=155}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20010210220413/http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm Tulane University "Roman Currency of the Principate"]

Antoninus is a likely candidate for the Antoninus named multiple times in the Talmud as a friend of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi.{{cite web | title=Esau the Ancestor of Rome|last=Simkovich|first=Malka | website=TheTorah.com | date=18 March 2025 | url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/esau-the-ancestor-of-rome | access-date=18 March 2025}}{{cite journal | last=Naiweld | first=Ron | title=There Is Only One Other: The Fabrication of Antoninus in a Multilayered Talmudic Dialogue | journal=Jewish Quarterly Review | volume=104 | issue=1 | date=2014 | issn=1553-0604 | doi=10.1353/jqr.2014.0000 | pages=81–104}} In the Talmudic tractate Avodah Zarah 10a–b, Rabbi Judah—exceptionally wealthy and highly revered in Rome—shared a close friendship with a man named Antoninus (possibly Antoninus Pius), who frequently sought his counsel on spiritual (in this context, Jewish), philosophical, and governance matters.A. Mischcon, Abodah Zara, p.10a Soncino, 1988. Mischcon cites various sources, "SJ Rappaport... is of opinion that our Antoninus is Antoninus Pius." Other opinions cited suggest "Antoninus" was Caracalla, Lucius Verus, or Alexander Severus.

{{See also|Sino-Roman relations}}

File:Green glass Roman cup unearthed at Eastern Han tomb, Guixian, China.jpg cup unearthed from an Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD) tomb, Guangxi, China]]

The first group of people claiming to be an ambassadorial mission of Romans to China was recorded in 166 AD by the Hou Hanshu. Harper (2017){{cite book |last1=Harper |first1=Kyle |title=The Fate of Rome |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, New Jersey, United States}} states that the embassy was likely to be a group of merchants, as many Roman merchants traveled to India and some might have gone beyond, while there are no records of official ambassadors of Rome travelling as far east. The group came to Emperor Huan of Han China and claimed to be an embassy from "Andun" ({{Lang-zh|安敦 āndūn}}; for Anton-inus), "king of Daqin" (Rome)."... 其王常欲通使于汉，而安息欲以汉缯彩与之交市，故遮阂不得自达。至桓帝延熹九年，大秦王安敦遣使自日南徼外献象牙、犀角、瑇瑁，始乃一通焉。其所表贡，并无珍异，疑传者过焉。" 《后汉书·西域传》
Translation:
"... The king of this state always wanted to enter into diplomatic relations with the Han. But Anxi wanted to trade with them in Han silk and so put obstacles in their way, so that they could never have direct relations [with Han]. This continued until the ninth year of the Yanxi (延熹) reign period of Emperor Huan (桓) (A.D. 166), when Andun 安敦, king of Da Qin, sent an envoy from beyond the frontier of Rinan (日南) who offered elephant tusk, rhinoceros horn, and tortoise shell. It was only then that for the first time communication was established [between the two states]." "Xiyu Zhuan" of the Hou Hanshu (ch. 88)
in {{cite journal |last1=YU |first1=Taishan (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) |title=China and the Ancient Mediterranean World: A Survey of Ancient Chinese Sources |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |date=2013 |volume=242 |pages=25–26 |citeseerx=10.1.1.698.1744 }}.
Chinese original: {{cite web |title=Chinese Text Project Dictionary |url=https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=77775&remap=gb |website=ctext.org |language=en}} As Antoninus Pius died in 161, leaving the empire to his adoptive son Marcus Aurelius (Antoninus), and the envoy arrived in 166, confusion remains about who sent the mission, given that both emperors were named "Antoninus".{{cite book|last=Yü|first=Ying-shih|year=1986|chapter=Han Foreign Relations|editor1-first=Denis|editor1-last=Twitchett|editor2-first=Michael|editor2-last=Loewe|title=The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-24327-8}}{{cite book|last=de Crespigny|first=Rafe|year=2007|title=A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD)|location=Leiden|publisher=Koninklijke Brill|page=600|isbn=978-90-04-15605-0}}{{cite journal|last1=Pulleyblank|first1=Edwin G.|last2=Leslie|first2=D. D.|last3=Gardiner|first3=K. H. J.|year=1999|title=The Roman Empire as Known to Han China|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=119|number=1|pages=71–79|doi=10.2307/605541|jstor=605541}} The Roman mission came from the south (therefore probably by sea), entering China by the frontier province of Jiaozhi at Rinan or Tonkin (present-day northern Vietnam). It brought presents of rhinoceros horns, ivory, and tortoise shell, probably acquired in South Asia.Hill (2009), p. 27 and nn. 12.18 and 12.20. The text states explicitly that it was the first time there had been direct contact between the two countries.For a full translation of that passage, see: {{cite web|orig-year=1998|date=2000|author=Paul Halsall|editor=Jerome S. Arkenberg|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/romchin1.html|title=East Asian History Sourcebook: Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium and the Middle East, c. 91 B.C.E. – 1643 C.E.|publisher=Fordham University|website=Fordham.edu|access-date=17 September 2016|archive-date=10 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910050947/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/romchin1.html|url-status=dead}}Hill (2009), p. 27.

Furthermore, a piece of Republican-era Roman glassware has been found at a Western Han tomb in Guangzhou along the South China Sea, dated to the early 1st century BC.{{cite book|last=An|first=Jiayao|year=2002|contribution=When Glass Was Treasured in China|editor1-first=Annette L.|editor1-last=Juliano|editor2-first=Judith A.|editor2-last=Lerner|title=Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road|location=Turnhout|publisher=Brepols|isbn=2503521789|page=83}} Roman golden medallions made during the reign of Antoninus Pius and perhaps even Marcus Aurelius have been found at Óc Eo in southern Vietnam, then part of the Kingdom of Funan near the Chinese province of Jiaozhi. This may have been the port city of Kattigara, described by Ptolemy ({{Circa|150}}) as being visited by a Greek sailor named Alexander and lying beyond the Golden Chersonese (i.e., Malay Peninsula).{{cite book|first=Gary K.|last=Young| year=2001|title=Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy, 31 BC – AD 305|location=London & New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-24219-3|pages=29–30}}For further information on Oc Eo, see {{cite book|first=Milton|last=Osborne|year=2006|title=The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future|location=Crows Nest|publisher=Allen & Unwin|edition=revised|orig-year=first published 2000|isbn=1-74114-893-6|pages=24–25}} Roman coins from the reigns of Tiberius to Aurelian have been discovered in Xi'an, China (site of the Han capital Chang'an), although the significantly greater amount of Roman coins unearthed in India suggest the Roman maritime trade for purchasing Chinese silk was centered there, not in China or even the overland Silk Road running through ancient Iran.{{cite book|author-link=Warwick Ball|last=Ball|first=Warwick|year=2016|title=Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire|edition=2nd|location=London & New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-72078-6|page=154}}

File:The ruins of the East Triumphal Arch built by Antoninus Pius outside the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, Eleusis (15552358684).jpg of Antoninus Pius outside the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Eleusis, Greece, imitating Hadrian's Arch in Athens]]

In 156, Antoninus Pius turned 70. He found it difficult to keep himself upright without stays. He started nibbling on dry bread to give him the strength to stay awake through his morning receptions.

Marcus Aurelius had already been created consul with Antoninus in 140, receiving the title of Caesar, i.e., heir apparent.Geoffrey William Adams, Marcus Aurelius in the Historia Augusta and Beyond. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-7391-7638-2}}, pp. 74–75. As Antoninus aged, Marcus took on more administrative duties. Marcus's administrative duties increased again after the death, in 156 or 157, of one of Antoninus' most trusted advisers, Marcus Gavius Maximus.

For twenty years, Gavius Maximus had been praetorian prefect, an office that was as much secretarial as military.{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=112}}Grant, The Antonines, 14 Gavius Maximus had been awarded with the consular insignia and the honours due a senator.Michael Petrus Josephus Van Den Hout, A Commentary on the Letters of M. Cornelius Fronto. Leiden: Brill, 199, {{ISBN|9004109579}}, p. 389 He had a reputation as a most strict disciplinarian (vir severissimus, according to Historia Augusta) and some fellow equestrian procurators held lasting grudges against him. A procurator named Gaius Censorius Niger died while Gavius Maximus was alive. In his will, Censorius Niger vilified Maximus, creating serious embarrassment for one of the heirs, the orator Fronto.Champlin, Final Judgments, 16

Gavius Maximus' death initiated a change in the ruling team. It has been speculated that it was the legal adviser Lucius Volusius Maecianus who assumed the role of grey eminence. Maecianus was briefly Praefect of Egypt, and subsequently Praefectus annonae in Rome. If it was Maecianus who rose to prominence, he may have risen precisely in order to prepare the incoming—and unprecedented—joint succession.Michel Christol, "Préfecture du prétoire et haute administration équestre à la fin du règne d'Antonin le Pieux et au début du règne de Marc Aurèle". In: Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz, 18, 2007. pp. 115–140. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/ccgg_1016-9008_2007_num_18_1_1647] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602015631/https://www.persee.fr/doc/ccgg_1016-9008_2007_num_18_1_1647|date=2 June 2018}}. Accessed 27 January 2016 In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Perhaps Antoninus was already ill; in any case, he died before the year was out, probably on 7 March.{{refn|IGRR I, 1509. The date is found in an inscription by Titus Flavius Xenion.{{cite book|last=Graf|first=Fritz|title=Roman Festivals in the Greek East|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=89–90|isbn=9781107092112|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xE22CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA89}} The Feriale Duranum [http://papyri.info/ddbdp/rom.mil.rec;1;117 1.21.], written half a century later, states that his successors took power the day before: "Prid(ie) Non[is Ma]r[tis". However, most historians who cite the passage indicate that it occurred on 7 March (nones martis).Hammond, M. (1938). [http://www.jstor.org/stable/4238599 The Tribunician Day during the Early Empire]. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, 15, p. 46.{{cite book|last=Istituto Italiano d'Arti Grafiche|title=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 24–25|date=1956|pages=101|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-ZLAAAAYAAJ&q=%22March+7%22+%2B+%22duranum%22}}{{cite book|last=H. Temporini, W. Haase|title=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Principat. V|date=1972|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=9783110018851|pages=534|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r0hoAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Duranum+1.21%22+%2B+%227+March%22}} More recent modern scholars cite the date as 6 March.{{Cite book |last1=Levick |first1=Dr Barbara |title=The Government of the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook |last2=Levick |first2=Barbara |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-57264-9 |pages=143–146 |chapter=The Feriale Duranum |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KSCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA144}}{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=A. D. |url= |title=Pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook |date=2013-04-15 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-61739-3 |pages=16–19 |chapter=A religious calendar: P. Dura |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9j1YX3JC2gC&pg=PA18}} Either way, 7 March is the universally accepted date.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}}}

File:Antoninus Pius (Museo del Prado) 01.jpg, Madrid]]

Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral estate at Lorium, in Etruria,{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=156}} about {{convert|12|mi|km|spell=in}} from Rome.Victor, 15:7 He ate Alpine cheese at dinner quite greedily. In the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day. The day after that, he summoned the imperial council, and passed the state and his daughter to Marcus. The emperor gave the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered: when the tribune of the night-watch came to ask the password, he responded, "aequanimitas" (equanimity).{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=532}} He then turned over, as if going to sleep, and died.HA Antoninus Pius 12.4–8{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=114}} His death closed out the longest reign since Augustus (surpassing Tiberius by a couple of months).{{sfn|Bowman|2000|p=156}} His record for the second-longest reign would be unbeaten for 168 years, until 329 when it was surpassed by Constantine the Great.

Antoninus Pius' funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, "elaborate".HA Marcus 7.10, tr. David Magie, cited in {{harvnb|Birley|2000|pp=118, 278 n.6.}} If his funeral followed the pattern of past funerals, his body would have been incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, while his spirit would rise to the gods' home in the heavens. However, it seems that this was not the case: according to his Historia Augusta biography (which seems to reproduce an earlier, detailed report) Antoninus' body (and not his ashes) was buried in Hadrian's mausoleum. After a seven-day interval (justitium), Marcus and Lucius nominated their father for deification.Robert Turcan, "Origines et sens de l'inhumation à l'époque impériale". In: Revue des Études Anciennes. Tome 60, 1958, n°3–4. pp. 323–347. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1958_num_60_3_3595] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603225047/https://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1958_num_60_3_3595|date=3 June 2018}}. Accessed 14 January 2016 In contrast to their behaviour during Antoninus' campaign to deify Hadrian, the senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes. A flamen, or cultic priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Antoninus, now Divus Antoninus.

A column was dedicated to Antoninus on the Campus Martius, and the temple he had built in the Forum in 141 to his deified wife Faustina was rededicated to the deified Faustina and the deified Antoninus.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=532}} It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda.{{sfn|Birley|2000|p=118}}

File:Sbeitla 04.jpg, Tunisia.]]

File:Antoninus Pius, Palazzo Altemps, Rome (11383990114).jpg, Rome]]

The only intact account of his life handed down to us is that of the Augustan History, an unreliable and mostly fabricated work. Nevertheless, it still contains information that is considered reasonably sound; for instance, it is the only source that mentions the erection of the Antonine Wall in Britain.Historia Augusta, Life of Antoninus Pius 5:4

Antoninus in many ways was the ideal of the landed gentleman praised not only by ancient Romans, but also by later scholars of classical history, such as Edward Gibbon{{cite book|last1=Gibbon|first1=Edward|title=Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)|date=2015|publisher=Delphi Classics|isbn=9781910630761|page=125|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-FB4BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT125}} or the author of the article on Antoninus Pius in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

{{Blockquote|A few months afterwards, on Hadrian's death, he was enthusiastically welcomed to the throne by the Roman people, who, for once, were not disappointed in their anticipation of a happy reign. For Antoninus came to his new office with simple tastes, kindly disposition, extensive experience, a well-trained intelligence and the sincerest desire for the welfare of his subjects. Instead of plundering to support his prodigality, he emptied his private treasury to assist distressed provinces and cities, and everywhere exercised rigid economy (hence the nickname κυμινοπριστης "cummin-splitter"). Instead of exaggerating into treason whatever was susceptible of unfavorable interpretation, he turned the very conspiracies that were formed against him into opportunities for demonstrating his clemency. Instead of stirring up persecution against the Christians, he extended to them the strong hand of his protection throughout the empire. Rather than give occasion to that oppression which he regarded as inseparable from an emperor's progress through his dominions, he was content to spend all the years of his reign in Rome, or its neighbourhood.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}}}

Some historians have a less positive view of his reign. According to the historian J. B. Bury,

{{Blockquote|however estimable the man, Antoninus was hardly a great statesman. The rest which the Empire enjoyed under his auspices had been rendered possible through Hadrian's activity, and was not due to his own exertions; on the other hand, he carried the policy of peace at any price too far, and so entailed calamities on the state after his death. He not only had no originality or power of initiative, but he had not even the insight or boldness to work further on the new lines marked out by Hadrian.{{sfn|Bury|1893|p=524}}}}

German historian Ernst Kornemann has had it in his Römische Geschichte [2 vols., ed. by H. Bengtson, Stuttgart 1954] that the reign of Antoninus comprised "a succession of grossly wasted opportunities", given the upheavals that were to come. There is more to this argument, given that the Parthians in the East were themselves soon to make no small amount of mischief after Antoninus' death. Kornemann's brief is that Antoninus might have waged preventive wars to head off these outsiders. Michael Grant agrees that it is possible that had Antoninus acted decisively sooner (it appears that, on his death bed, he was preparing a large-scale action against the Parthians), the Parthians might have been unable to choose their own time, but current evidence is not conclusive. Grant opines that Antoninus and his officers did act in a resolute manner dealing with frontier disturbances of his time, although conditions for long-lasting peace were not created. On the whole, according to Grant, Marcus Aurelius' eulogistic picture of Antoninus seems deserved, and Antoninus appears to have been a conservative and nationalistic (although he respected and followed Hadrian's example of Philhellenism moderately) emperor who was not tainted by the blood of either citizen or foe, combined and maintained Numa Pompilius' good fortune, pacific dutifulness and religious scrupulousness, and whose laws removed anomalies and softened harshnesses.{{cite book|last1=Grant|first1=Michael|title=The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317972112|pages=14–23|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-FwfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT28}}

Krzysztof Ulanowski argues that the claims of military inability are exaggerated, considering that although the sources praise Antoninus' love for peace and his efforts "rather to defend, than enlarge the provinces", he could hardly be considered a pacifist, as shown by the conquest of the Lowlands, the building of the Antonine Wall and the expansion of Germania Superior. Ulanowski also praises Antoninus for being successful in deterrence by diplomatic means.{{cite book|last1=Ulanowski|first1=Krzysztof|title=The Religious Aspects of War in the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome: Ancient Warfare Series, Volume 1|date=2016|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004324763|pages=360–361|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KX6kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA358}}

Although only one of his four children survived to adulthood, Antoninus came to be ancestor to four generations of prominent Romans, including the Emperor Commodus. Hans-Georg Pflaum has identified five direct descendants of Antoninus and Faustina who were consuls in the first half of the third century.Pflaum, [http://www.persee.fr/doc/jds_0021-8103_1961_num_1_1_1005 "Les gendres de Marc-Aurèle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180605001728/https://www.persee.fr/doc/jds_0021-8103_1961_num_1_1_1005 |date=5 June 2018 }}, Journal des savants (1961), pp. 28–41

1. Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (died before 138), died young without issue
2. Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (died before 138), died young without issue
3. Aurelia Fadilla (died in 135), who married Lucius Plautius Lamia Silvanus, suffect consul in 145;Ronald Syme, "Antonine Relatives: Ceionii and Vettuleni", Athenaeum, 35 (1957), p. 309 no children known for certain.
4. Annia Galeria Faustina the Younger (21 September between 125 and 130–175), had several children; those who had children were:Based on Table F, "The Children of Faustina II" in {{harvnb|Birley|2000}}
5. Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (7 March 150–182?), whose children included:
6. Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus
7. Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina (151–?), whose children included:
8. Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus
9. Empress Annia Faustina, Elagabalus' third wife
10. Annia Aurelia Fadilla (159–after 211)
11. Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (160–213)

{{Nerva-Antonine family tree|state=collapsed}}

{{Reflist}}

;Primary sources

• Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book 70, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/70*.html English translation]
• Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesaribus", [https://web.archive.org/web/20220311020340/http://www.roman-emperors.org/epitome.htm English translation]
• Historia Augusta, The Life of Antoninus Pius, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Antoninus_Pius*.html English translation]. Note that the Historia Augusta includes pseudohistorical elements.

;Secondary sources

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite web|url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/tonypis.htm|last=Weigel|first=Richard D.|title=Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138–161) De Imperatoribus Romanis|date=2 August 2023 }}
• {{cite book|last=Bowman|first=Alan K.|title=The Cambridge Ancient History: The High Empire, A.D. 70–192|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2000}}
• {{cite book|last=Birley|first=Anthony|title=Marcus Aurelius|publisher=Routledge|date=2000}}
• {{cite book|last=Bury|first=J. B.|title=A History of the Roman Empire from its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofromanem00buryuoft|publisher=Harper|date=1893}}
• {{cite book |last=Cooley |year=2012 |first=Alison E. |title=The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-84026-2 |url={{Google books|VlghAwAAQBAJ|plainurl=y}} |author-link=Alison E. Cooley |ref={{SfnRef|Cooley}} }}
• {{cite book|title=Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, First to Second Centuries CE|year=2009|first=John E.|last=Hill|publisher=BookSurge|isbn=978-1-4392-2134-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Hüttl|first=W.|title=Antoninus Pius|volume=I & II, Prag|orig-year=1933|date=1936}}
• Kienast, Dietmar, Römische Kaisertabelle: Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie, Darmstadt, 1990.
• {{EB1911|wstitle=Antoninus Pius|volume=2|pages=148-149}} This source lists:
• Bossart-Mueller, Zur Geschichte des Kaisers A. (1868)
• Bryant, The Reign of Antonine (Cambridge Historical Essays, 1895)
• Lacour-Gayet, A. le Pieux et son Temps (1888)
• {{cite book|last=Watson|first=P. B.|title=Marcus Aurelius Antoninus|url=https://archive.org/details/marcusaureliusan00watsrich|place=London|date=1884|chapter=ii|publisher=New York, Harper|isbn=9780836956672}}

{{Refend}}

• Hund, Ragnar (2017). Studien zur Außenpolitik der Kaiser Antoninus Pius und Marc Aurel im Schatten der Markomannenkriege [Studies on the foreign policy of the emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius in the shadow of the Marcomannic Wars]. Pharos, vol. 40. Rahden: Verlag Marie Leidorf, {{ISBN|978-3-86757-268-2}}.
• Michels, Christoph (2018). Antoninus Pius und die Rollenbilder des römischen Princeps. Herrscherliches Handeln und seine Repräsentation in der Hohen Kaiserzeit [Antoninus Pius and the role models of the Roman Princeps. Imperial activity and its representation in the High Imperial Age]. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, {{ISBN|978-3-11-057235-3}}.
• Rémy, Bernard (2005). Antonine le Pieux, 138–161. Le siècle d’or de Rome [Antoninus Pius, 138-161. The Golden Age of Rome]. Paris: Fayard, {{ISBN|2-213-62317-1}}.

{{Commons}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-hou|Nerva–Antonine dynasty|19 September|86|7 March|161}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Roman consul II|years =January–April 139 |regent1=G. Bruttius Praesens L. Fulvius Rusticus II}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Roman consul III|years =January 140 |regent1=Marcus Aurelius}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Roman consul IV|regent1=Marcus Aurelius II |years =January–February 145}}

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{{s-end}}

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