Roman Emperor: Life and Reign of Antoninus Pius Quiz

Answer: Lanuvium

Born in Lanuvium in 86 AD, Antoninus Pius was from a rich and well-connected family, with his mother's side being from Nemausus (modern day Nîmes) in the south of France. His mother was Arria Fadilla, the daughter of a consul. Lanuvium was just south-east of Rome, and is now modern day Lanuvio, a commune of Italy.

Answer: Titus Aurelius Fulvus

Titus Aurelius Fulvus was a Roman senator. The boy who would later become Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius was born "Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus," partially after his father. His father was a consul by 89 AD, who worked under the rule of Roman Emperor Domitian.

Antonius Pius' paternal grandfather was also called Titus Aurelius Fulvus, and he had also chosen wisely politically in his time. He had been rewarded for supporting Vespasian before he became Roman emperor, in the civil war of 68-69 AD.

Answer: Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus

Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus first became a Roman consul in 69 AD, working alongside Aulus Marius Celsus, known for commanding the Battle of Locus Castorum under Roman Emperor Otho. Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus became consul again in 97 AD, this time working alongside Gaius Calpurnius Piso, not to be confused with the Gaius Calpurnius Piso who tried to overthrow Roman Emperor Nero.

Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus was also Governor of Asia between 78-79 AD, and was a close friend of writer, magistrate, and lawyer, Pliny the Younger. Antoninus Pius' rise to the Roman throne was certainly assisted by the connections of his family, even long after his father had died.

Answer: Faustina the Elder

Faustina the Elder was born in Rome around 100 AD as the daughter of a consul, Marcus Annius Verus, who was the paternal grandfather of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Faustina was Marcus Aurelius' aunt, and later became his adoptive mother, also adopting Lucius Verus, who would become Roman emperor between 161-169 AD.

Faustina married Antoninus Pius sometime between 110-115 AD. She was related to Empress Vibia Sabina, the wife of Roman Emperor Hadrian, a connection that undoubtedly ingratiated Antoninus Pius closer to the Roman Imperials.

Answer: Lucius Aelius

After Antoninus Pius was Governor of Asia, Hadrian employed him as a consultant, and was greatly fond of him. He did, however, choose Lucius Aelius (101-138 AD) as successor to the Roman throne in 136 AD. Hadrian and his wife did not have children, as Hadrian preferred the company of men, and he was concerned about who would become Roman emperor after his death. Hadrian originally considered Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus to be appropriate for the Roman throne, but by the time Hadrian's reign was nearing its end, Servianus was in his 90s, clearly too old for the task. After Lucius Aelius was the father of Roman Emperor Lucius Verus.

In 138 AD, Lucius Aelius came home to Rome after fighting on the Danube. He became severely ill the next day and died of a hemorrhage, never getting to recite the speech he had planned upon returning. Hadrian was now without an heir. His next choice after Lucius Aelius was Antoninus Pius, but this adoption came with a condition.

Answer: He adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus

Part of Hadrian's deal for giving the Roman throne to Antoninus Pius was that he adopt Lucius Aelius's son, Lucius Ceionius Commodus, who would later become Roman Emperor Lucius Verus, and Marcus Annius Verus, the son of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger (not to be confused with Antoninus Pius' wife, Faustina the Elder), who was Hadrian's great-nephew via marriage.

Hadrian did not want the Roman throne to fall into the hands of a competing dynasty and wanted to secure those he cared for in power also. After considering this deal for days, Antoninus Pius accepted Hadrian's offer and he was adopted as successor to the Roman throne. Hadrian died in 138 AD, the same year as Antoninus Pius was adopted.

Answer: Have Hadrian deified

Coming towards the end of Hadrian's reign he had a turbulent relationship with the Roman Senate. Several members of the Senate had been executed upon Hadrian's orders during his rule. The Senate were understandably reluctant to have Hadrian deified with the usual honours a Roman emperor would have, but Antoninus Pius had it done. It is widely purported that honouring Hadrian in this way was what earned the pious emperor the name "Antoninus Pius." However, it would have also been beneficial for Antoninus Pius to do this, as it would cement the legitimacy of his reign by having a deified adoptive father.

Antoninus Pius ingratiated himself to the Roman Senate by cancelling orders that Hadrian had issued which condemned them to execution, and he also allowed them to keep their offices.

Answer: Roman Forum

Constructed in 141 AD, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is one of the most well-preserved buildings of the Roman Forum. Antoninus Pius had the temple built to honour his wife, who died a year early in 140 AD. Antoninus had her deified, making Faustina the Elder the first Roman empress to be permanently memorialised in the Roman Forum.

It was the site of the Cult of Faustina who worshiped her as a deity. When Antoninus Pius died in 161 AD, his image and name was attached to the temple making it the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. The main reason that the temple is in such good condition today is because between 600-800 AD, it was adopted and changed into a Catholic church.

The Roman Forum is a rectangular plaza starting at the bottom of Capitoline Hill to the foot of the Velian Hill, two of Rome's Seven Hills. In ancient times the forum had a lake where waters of the nearby hills drained into. This was later drained by the Cloaca Maxima, one of the world's oldest sewage systems, at the behest of the Tarquins during the Etruscan dynasty.

Answer: Quintus Lollius Urbicus

Quintus Lollius Urbicus was Governor of Britian from around 138/139 AD - 144 AD. Urbicus was from a Berber from Numidia (modern-day Algeria) and had previously been Governor of Lower Germania. He waged campaigns against the tribes of Brittania who were rebelling against Roman rule. Urbicus kept Britannia under control for Antoninus Pius, who never lost control of the area during his reign.

Urbicus also supervised the construction of the Antonine Wall in Britannia, under the orders of Antoninus Pius.

Answer: Scotland

The Romans first invaded Britain in 55 BC, however, it took years to escalate this into a full-scale invasion, beginning in 43 AD under the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius. Around 30 years later the Romans, led by Roman general, Julius Agricola, invaded what is now Scotland. It only took him seven years to have the area mostly under control. In the 70s AD, forts were built by the Romans which would later become the Antonine Wall.

Unlike Hadrian's Wall, which lay south and was made of stone, the Antonine Wall mainly consisted of layers of turf. It was still formidable, however, stretching 10 feet (3 m) high with ditches dug around it around 15 foot (5 m) deep. At times there were up to 7,000 men stationed along the wall. The wives and children of these men sometimes accompanied them on their campaign of Britannia and lived in forts along the wall. By 165 AD, the Antonine Wall was abandoned, with the Roman legion moving to Hadrian's Wall.

Answer: Annia Galeria Faustina

Annia Galeria Faustina, also known as Faustina the Younger, was the youngest child of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder, born in Rome in 130 AD. She married her maternal cousin and stepbrother, Marcus Aurelius, in 145 AD. She was originally betrothed to Lucius Verus, but her father vetoed their engagement after he was chosen to be Hadrian's successor.

When Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus jointly ascended the throne after Antoninus Pius' death in 161 AD, Faustina the Younger became Roman empress. She and Marcus Aurelius had at least fourteen children, six of whom survived into adulthood.

Answer: True

Rather than take a direct approach to rulings of military and political matters abroad, Antoninus Pius never left Italy once during his 23 year reign. He rarely left Rome at all, at least never further than neighbouring Campania or Etruria. He preferred to send consuls and generals to solve problems out of Italy, or to send imperial letters, some of which can be still seen today displayed in museums.

Answer: Campus Martius

The Campus Martius, or the "Field of Mars" was located north of the Capitoline Hill. Historian, Livy, referred to the Campus Martius as "Campus Ignifer" because of the smoke that was often seen in the area from nearby volcanoes. The Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain are notable historical tourist attractions of the area.

Carved from Aswan granite, the Column of Antoninus Pius was erected on the orders of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, after their predecessor's death in 161 AD. Antoninus Pius and Faustina are depicted riding on the back of a winged, humanoid creature thought to be the deity, Aion. They have eagles on either side of them, and the goddess, Roma, is also featured, saluting them.

Answer: Lorium

Antoninus Pius grew up a boy in Lorium in southern Etruria, which is around 10 miles (15 km) west of Rome. It was here that he died peacefully in his sleep, and he was deified by the Roman Senate and revered by Roman citizens alike, without question.

Marcus Aurelius had this to say in tribute for his predecessor: "Remember his qualities, so that when your last hour comes your conscience may be as clear as his."

Answer: Hadrian's Mausoleum

It is fitting that Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder are both buried in Hadrian's Mausoleum, the man who adopted Antoninus, subsequently sealing his fate as Roman emperor. Not only this, but although Hadrian began the construction of the mausoleum he died before it was finished, and Antoninus Pius had it completed by 139 AD.

A lot of the tomb's contents have been lost due to it being turned into a fortress around 400 AD, however, it is for certain that Antoninus Pius and his wife were buried there, as were his successors, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and other Roman emperors to come.