TITUS AELIUS HADRIANUS ANTONINUS AUGUSTUS PIUS  ,(86 – 161 BC) KNOWN AS ANTONINUS,WAS ONE OF THE FIVE GOOD ROMAN EMPERORS IN THE NERVA - ANTONINE DYNASTY AND THE AURELII. 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.Born in a chariot shelter in 86AD, Antoninus Pius came from a long line of Roman senators who gained a reputation for mind-numbing mediocrity. Unlike so many of their contemporaries, none of the Pius clan had come to a sticky end during the reigns of mad/bad emperors like Caligula, Nero or Domitian. They were 'Pius by name and Pious by nature' according to the inveterate wall-scribbler Juvenile. So perhaps it is not surprising that until he became emperor, Antoninus had stayed out of the public eye, working in a series of important if dull jobs. If one really wanted a party to start with a dull thud, Antoninus was the perfect guest to invite.It would be at least fair to say that as he worked in the Rome traffic department, issuing fines to citizens who left their chariots double-parked all over the city, Antoninus slowly realised that this wasn't making him a prospective catch for any free, wealthy woman in the Roman Empire. He had a healthy bank balance, no gambling debts or trail of ex-slaves literally holding his extra-marital babies. Dreary the family may be, but Antoninus still had to do the dynastic duty and make sure he could father another generation of pious dullards. He still needed a wife, so Antoninus finally summoned up his courage and chose a new hobby: Sorcery.Rome was full of schools that dealt with magic. As long as you didn't predict that the current Roman emperor was going to 'have one of those days' and wind up murdered, magicians and the like were usually classified with religious minorities like the Jews and Christians as risky people to hang about with too long. The Christians were widely believed to be cannibals too, with their talk of 'eating the body of Christ' which, even by Roman standards, really did put you up there with savage barbarians.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.Some time between 110 and 115, Antoninus married Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder. They are believed to have enjoyed a happy marriage. Faustina was the daughter of consul Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina (a half-sister to Roman Empress Vibia Sabina). Faustina was a beautiful woman, and despite (basically unproven) rumours about her character, it is clear that Antoninus cared for her deeply.Faustina bore Antoninus four children, two sons and two daughters. They were.Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (died before 138); his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. His name appears on a Greek Imperial coin.Aurelia Fadilla (died in 135); she married Lucius Lamia Silvanus, consul 145. She appeared to have no children with her husband and her sepulchral inscription has been found in Italy. Annia Galeria Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger (between 125–130–175), a future Roman Empress, married her maternal cousin, future Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 146.When Faustina died in 141, Antoninus was greatly distressed. 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. He had various coins with her portrait struck in her honor. These coins were scripted ‘DIVA FAUSTINA’ and were elaborately decorated. He further created a charity which he founded and called it Puellae Faustinianae or Girls of Faustina, which assisted destitute girls of good family. Finally, Antoninus created a new alimenta (see Grain supply to the city of Rome).He acquired much favor with the Emperor Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor on 25 February 138, after the death of his first adopted son Lucius Aelius, 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.By this scheme, Verus, who was already Hadrian's adoptive grandson through his natural father, remained Hadrian's adoptive grandson through his new father. The adoption of Marcus Aurelius was probably a suggestion of Antoninus himself, since the former was the nephew of the latter's wife and would be his favorite son.The emperor never remarried. Instead, he lived with Galena Lysistrata, one of Faustina's freed women. 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 fiancee Ceionia Fabia, Lucius Verus's sister, on the grounds of protecting his children from a stepmother, and took a concubine instead).

Antoninus and Faustina with their friends playing the game of 'who can polish the statue first '. Another exciting day inside the Palatine Palace.The happy couple also liked to play games of Latin Whist, Etruscan Dead Dog, and Happy Ancient World Families to occupy them at nights. By then, Antoninus had given up his party tricks and had boiled the last of his rabbits to 'finish off the old stock.

In 175 C.E., Faustina the Younger, the wife of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, died in the village of Halala near Mount Taurus in Cappadocia, now in eastern Turkey. The cause of her death is uncertain. Cassius Dio tells us that she either died from gout or killed herself to avoid the penalty for conspiring with a provincial governor (Avidius Cassius) to overthrow her husband! This charge was almost certainly false and, in any case, Marcus was so lenient in dealing with the rebellion that he regretted the death of Cassius and certainly would never have punished his own wife. The Historia Augusta says she died from a sudden illness.The village in which Faustina died was renamed Faustinopolis in her honor and a temple to her was erected there. A vast memorial coinage was issued in her memory. The Roman Senate set up silver images of Faustina and Marcus Aurelius in the Temple of Venus and Rome in the capital as well as an altar in their honor on which all Roman newlyweds would offer sacrifice. The Senate also ordered that a golden statue of the Empress would be carried into the theater whenever Marcus was in attendance and placed in the special section where Faustina had sat, surrounded by the influential women of Rome. Marcus Aurelius honored his wife by delivering her eulogy and by establishing a new order of underprivileged girls to be supported by the State, the puellae Faustinianae ("Faustina's girls"). Cassius Dio tells us that Marcus wrote the Senate immediately after his wife's death, begging them not to execute any senators implicated in the recent rebellion, "as if through this he might be consoled for losing her."Marcus never remarried after Faustina's death, preferring to take the daughter of her steward as his mistress. The Emperor said that to marry again would have unfairly burdened his children with a stepmother. Throughout the remaining five years of his reign, he continued to pay homage to his wife. In fact, his grief over her loss became legendary. Nearly two hundred years after her death, the Emperor Julian II, who idolized Marcus Aurelius, commented that he had mourned her beyond "what was becoming" though she was "not even a virtuous woman."As Julian's comment suggests, Faustina has gone down in history as a model of misconduct. Many ancient writers charged her with adultery, treason, and even murder! She was believed to have had innumerable lovers from all levels of society. The historian Sextus Aurelius Victor wrote that she shamelessly cruised for sexual partners among the sailors who worked naked on the beaches of Campania in Italy! Senators as well as gladiators and pantomime actors were said to have been seduced by the Empress. It was believed by many that Commodus, who fought publicly as a gladiator when emperor, was fathered by a gladiator rather than by the dignified Marcus Aurelius. Faustina was rumored to have had an affair with her son-in-law, Lucius Verus, and to have been guilty of his murder. Marcus was anything but ignorant of his wife's scandalous behavior. The Historia Augusta claims that, during an illness, Faustina confessed to her husband that she had had an affair with a particular gladiator, the supposed father of Commodus. Marcus consulted his soothsayers about what should be done to remove his wife's passion, and they advised him to execute the gladiator and have Faustina bathe in his blood just before lying with her husband! The same source states that the Emperor even caught Faustina breakfasting with one of her high-ranking lovers, and yet promoted him and others like him to high positions.Paradoxically, the Historia Augusta also says that Marcus was either ignorant or pretended to be ignorant of Faustina's affairs and defended his wife in his letters. The historian reports that, when he was told about her misdeeds and urged to divorce or even kill her, he replied that "If I send her away, I will also have to return her dowry," which, of course, was the Roman Empire (she was the daughter of Marcus' predecessor, Antoninius Pius). If we consider the case in support of Faustina, we find that it rests on very meager literary evidence. However, the primary witness on her behalf is the man who knew her best and to whom she was married for thirty years. In the first book of his "Meditations," in which he expresses his gratitude for the good things in his life, Marcus Aurelius gives thanks that "I have been blessed with a wife so obedient, so affectionate, so genuine." This testimony should not be dismissed lightly; it was not written for anyone but Marcus Aurelius himself to read.There are other arguments in favor of Faustina, including the abundant and often distinctive honors paid to her by her husband and by the Senate and Roman people. There is no hint that she was denied the public credit due to an Empress who fulfilled her role with energy and dignity. The stories of her adulteries could easily have arisen after her death in response to the outrageous behavior as Emperor of her unpopular son Commodus. Also, if the stories of Faustina's debauchery were true, we might wonder how she found the time and opportunity to carry on such a frantic sex life while bearing and raising fifteen children! She was rarely parted from her husband, even choosing to share his hardships on the frontier when she did not have to. Furthermore, Fronto's letters to Marcus belie the stories that the Emperor's children were not his own. He goes on and on about Marcus' remarkable resemblance to them: "They are exactly like you in appearance; nothing could be more similar."So how did the gossip against Faustina gain such force and credibility? It seems as if the Empress had some very powerful enemies.In fact, there is evidence of animosity between her and perhaps the richest, most influential private citizen of his time: the gifted Athenian orator Herodes Atticus. In an age when orators and philosophers were like pop stars, able to attract crowds of people eager to marvel at their verbal and intellectual gymnastics, Herodes Atticus was a superstar. As a typical sophist, he was part teacher, part lawyer, and part entertainer. His students, many of whom became celebrities in their own right after his death, included the young Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.Herodes Atticus was as famous for his prodigious wealth and magnificent gifts to the cities of Greece as for his academic prowess. Nevertheless, he was a controversial figure with at least as many enemies as friends. He had a reputation for treating his slaves and freedmen harshly. He berated and mocked his mentally retarded son and didn't hesitate to humiliate his rivals and students with his razor sharp wit.

Emperor Antonius, also referred to as Antonius Pius, led a very peaceful era. He also adopted Marcus Aurelius as his "son" to rule the Empire after his death.The Last of the Five Good Emperors was Marcus Aurelius, and he is one of the most recognizable of the last 12 Emperors. He is best known for his philosophical beliefs, and as a student of Stoicism, he believed that destructive emotions come from an error in a person's judgement.His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the Principate; notwithstanding the fact that there were several military disturbances throughout 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 procurator and cavalry reinforcements from Panonnia were brought in, towns such as Sala and Tipasa being fortified.

In about 160, Atticus was charged with murdering his own wife, Annia Regilla. It was claimed that he had a servant beat Regilla for some minor offense when she was eight months pregnant! Atticus proclaimed his innocence and tried to prove it by an ostentatious display of mourning. To some, these gestures were proof of his innocence; to others they were proof of his guilt. He was acquitted for lack of evidence but the suspicions lived on.As the richest man in the eastern half of the Empire, Atticus behaved in a high-handed way and was often accused of playing the tyrant. Opposition to him in Athens grew until, in 174, he formally accused three city officials of conspiring against him. Rather than stand trial in Athens, where Atticus' influence was strong, the three men went to Marcus Aurelius' headquarters at Sirmium to plead their case before the Emperor.Faustina and her youngest child Sabina, aged 3, were with Marcus in Sirmium and urged him to provide for the needs of these defendants. They also let him know that they were firmly opposed to Herodes Atticus in this matter. Little Sabina supposedly even fell at her father's knees, begging him in her baby talk to save her Athenians. Faustina had ample reason to dislike Atticus. When she was about 10 years old, her father Antoninus had been involved in a quarrel with him on Mount Ida in Asia Minor. The two men and their parties had met each other on a narrow road and, when neither side would give way, a shoving match had ensued. Some even said that Atticus struck the future emperor during the incident! Furthermore, the unfortunate Regilla was related to Faustina and about her age. It is very possible that the two were girlhood friends in Rome, where Regilla's family had a villa on the Appian Way. Faustina would not have forgotten the accounts of Atticus' cruelty towards her.When Atticus himself arrived in Sirmium, he was accompanied by the servant who had allegedly beaten Regilla, who brought his beautiful twin daughters, whom Atticus cherished as if they were his own. The night before the case was to be heard by the Emperor, lightning struck the building in which the girls were staying and killed them both!The next day, the grief-stricken Atticus forgot his usual eloquence and complained bitterly to Marcus that he had been "sacrificed to the whim of a woman and a three year-old child." He abused Marcus for ingratitude and, when warned by the praetorian prefect that he was courting death by speaking so bluntly to an emperor, the aged orator replied that "an old man fears few things" and stormed out of the proceedings.Marcus wept when he heard the charges brought against his former tutor, and was forced to punish Atticus' servants for their roles in the crimes. Atticus himself lived away from Athens for about a year in what may or may not have been a voluntary exile.Certainly, Faustina would not have appreciated Atticus' crack about the "whim of a woman" and she may have had a role in his removal from Athens. It is interesting that the orator waited until after Faustina's death to write to Marcus Aurelius in a successful attempt to renew their friendship. The Emperor, who always treated his former teachers with profound respect, wrote a letter to the people of Athens about this time asking them to forgive Atticus' for his excesses and welcome him home.Atticus outlived Faustina by a few years, dying in his 70's in the late 170's. To the end of his life, the so-called "King of Orators" and "Tongue of Greece" was surrounded by adoring pupils, many of whom became famous writers and sophists in their own right. We may wonder if the image of the Empress Faustina as a latter day Messalina was the creation of Herodes Atticus and his followers. If so, then his revenge for the humiliation at Sirmium would have been complete.Marcus Aurelius, aged 58, passed away at his northern base of Vindobona (modern Vienna, Austria) on March 17, 180. His son Commodus, who had been co-emperor since 177, ruled the Empire badly (his sister Lucilla was executed in 182 for plotting his overthrow) until his murder on the last day of 192. His assassination precipitated a series of civil wars that were reminiscent of the struggle for power that had followed the death of Nero.The eventual winner of the throne was an African by the name of Septimius Severus. He modeled his reign on that of Marcus Aurelius, even renaming his older son for the deified emperor. However, when that son, better known as Caracalla, assumed the throne, he showed a peculiar dislike for Faustina, though he was born 13 years after her death. He revoked her deification and deconsecrated the temple in Cappadocia that Marcus Aurelius had erected for her.Interestingly, Caracalla had been taught by a student of Herodes Atticus' leading disciple. Furthermore, two of Faustina's accusers, the historians Cassius Dio and Marius Maximus, as well as Atticus' admiring biographer, the sophist Philostratus, were all closely associated with Caracalla's court. Certainly, the young Emperor's attitude toward Faustina was influenced by these men. 



Ancient Roman Coins  Rome at Its Finest Under Emperor Antoninus Pius.Antoninus Pius is remembered by history as a kind, just, and intelligent emperor. Having held the title for 23 years, the longest reign since that of Augustus, he had a great deal of time in office to make a lasting mark on Roman society. Unlike most of his predecessors, his legacy was not focused on military conquests; rather, his reign is often considered the most peaceful in the entire history of Rome.



Antoninus eventually enrolled in the then-prestigious 'Sorcery School of Simon Magus' in Rome to learn the tricks of the trade. Antoninus managed to pick up a few iffy routines, like producing a live rabbit from out under his toga and sawing a slave in half, though he needed a few slave-market mark-downs to get this part of the act right.Going out into the entertainment world as 'Magical Tony: Man of Mystery and Rabbits,' the future emperor established himself as a 'safe act' at banquets in between the dancing girls and the orgy to follow. At one particular party, Antoninus met a rather severe looking Faustina who was interested enough in him to ask for a private show in her chambers. Claiming to be a mind reader, Antoninus said Faustina would marry someone who had the initials . It was a hoary old trick, but Faustina said 'yes' and the two got married within a week.For a time, Antoninus kept up his sorcery show with Faustina as his marble-faced assistant.  It was time to settle into the long twilight of married life.If Antoninus and Faustina had expected to disappear into obscurity, their destinies - and let's be honest here, no one would have bothered to have recorded any details about them - were changed by the decisions of Emperor Hadrian. His own chosen successor (and adopted son) to the imperial throne, Aelius Verus inconveniently popped his Roman sandals before he could succeed as the next emperor. Hadrian's own health was visibly failing so the emperor had to find someone else. It was then that he saw a final demand letter concerning one of his imperial chariots that had broken down on a busy highway and hadn't been removed. The letter was signed 'A.Pius (Senator). Chariots, Wagons, Asses and Assorted Wheels Department'. Hadrian had his perfect candidate.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.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 intact as far as possible the arrangements instituted by Hadrian. 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. Addressing the Roman senate a few days later, Hadrian announced his decision. To the astonished senators gathered, Hadrian explained why he had chosen that funny couple who had bored the togas off everyone in the previous 20 years. The emperor defended his decision and said that he had been looking for someone who wasn't a dangerous homicidal maniac. If Antoninus was dull, then Hadrian said it was better to be ruled by a bore than a bastard. The senate promptly gave Antoninus a sitting ovation.Astonished at his promotion, Antoninus returned home to Faustina to break the news. To celebrate his salary increase, Antoninus went to bed at 10.00pm that night and requested an an extra strong cup of hot cocoa.A few days later whilst repainting his bicycle clips, Antoninus got the message that Hadrian had died in a strange hairdressing accident. 'Ex-Magical Tony' was now the new Emperor! But first he had to finish off those last warning letters to bad drivers.The new Imperial couple arrived at the Palatine Palace to take over and were soon doing a lot of UnRoman things. They cancelled the usual Saturday Night Debauchery Dance and turned down invitations to go to wife swapping themed parties. Antoninus and Faustina instead preferred to have a few friends round for card games or 'imperial charades'. Though some of the pagan religious conservatives celebrated this return to old fashioned values, others at the the more depraved end of Roman society were really disappointed by the emperor. There was even a retrospective fondness for Caligula and Nero who, though they had become killer sex maniacs were still at least known for adding colour to the historical narrative.This at least kept the Roman army from relieving their own boredom by slipping away and heading to Rome to create trouble.Not all of Rome's enemies were fast asleep. In Britannia at least, there was a new enemy to contend with. A former enemy known as the Caledonians had got themselves rebranded - and re-tattooed - and now called themselves 'The Picts'. To show everyone how hard they were, the picts walked about with often just a coat of blue paint to keep the chill at bay.Hadrian's Wall should have kept them out but strikes, booze breaks and general slap dashery had meant it had some gaps so many Picts were able to slip through the Roman defences and headed for wild nights out in Nova Castillium. Their raucous behavior included throwing a live haggis into a Tyneside taverna and then dropping their kilts to reveal a spotty backside with ginger hair in the crack.There are no records of any military related acts in his time in which he participated. One modern scholar has written "It is almost certain not only that at no time in his life did he ever see, let alone command, a Roman army, but that, throughout the twenty-three years of his reign, he never went within five hundred miles of a legion:Under instructions from the emperor, Lollius undertook an invasion of southern Scotland, winning some significant victories, and constructing the Antonine Wall from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. The wall, however, was soon gradually decommissioned during the mid-150s and eventually abandoned late during the reign (early 160s), for reasons that are still not quite clear. 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 honoring 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.Although Antonine's Wall was, in principle, much shorter and at first sight more defensible than Hadrian's Wall, the additional area that it enclosed within the Empire was barren, with the effect that supply lines to it were strained enough that the costs from maintaining the additional territory outweighed the benefits of doing so. It has been therefore 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. Actually, the campaign in Britannia was followed by an Imperial salutation – that is, by Antoninus formally taking for the second (and last) time the title of Imperator – in 142. The fact that around the same time coins were struck announcing a victory in Britain points to Antoninus' need to publicize his achievements. 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.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 of usurpation: Historia Augusta mentions two, made by senators Cornelius Priscianus (by the way, Lollius Urbicus' successor as governor of Britain) and Atilius Rufius Titianus – both confirmed by the Fasti Ostienses as well as by the erasing of Priscianus' name from an inscription 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.There were also some troubles in Dacia Inferior which required the granting of additional powers to the procurator governor and the dispatchment of additional soldiers to the province. On the Northern Black Sea coast, the Greek city of Olbia was held against the Scythians. Also during his reign the governor of Upper Germany, probably Caius Popillius Carus Pedo, built new fortifications in the Agri Decumates, advancing the Limes Germanicus fifteen miles forward in his province and neighboring Raetia. In the East, Roman suzerainty over Armenia was retained by the 140 choosing of Arsacid scion Sohaemus as client king.


Nevertheless, Antoninus was virtually unique among emperors in that he dealt with these crises without leaving Italy once during his reign, 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). This style of government was highly praised by his contemporaries and by later generations.Antoninus was the last Roman Emperor recognised by the Indian Kingdoms. 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 of the Far East was increasingly abandoned in favour of those directly concerning the Empire's survival.Reports of this behavior led to Antoninus to send his legions north again to push away the pissed Picts and erect a new wall in the middle of what is now Scotland to keep the hairy bums further away. So a new wall was built out of anything the Romans could fine lying around : empty beer bottles, Loch Ness Monster, discarded shopping trolleys and broken down furniture and called it 'The Antonine Wall'. It was surprisingly effective until the Picts slept off their last hangover and threw down 'Tony's Trash Barrier' a few years later.The Emperor also famously suspended the collection of taxes from 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 affected mostly Rhodes and other islands; the second, in 152, which hit Cyzicus – where the huge and newly built Temple to Hadrian was destroyed – Ephesus and Smyrna. Antoninus' financial help earned him praise by Greek writers such as Aelius Aristides and Pausanias. These cities received from Antoninus the usual honorific accolades, such as when he commended that all governors of Asia should enter the province, when taking office, by way of Ephesus. Ephesus was specially favoured by Antoninus, who confirmed and upheld its first place in the list of imperial honor titles, as opposed to Smyrna and Pergamon.In his dealings with Greek-speaking cities, Antoninus followed the policy adopted by Hadrian of ingratiating himself with local elites, specially 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). Antoninus also created a chair for the teaching of rhetoric in Athens.Antoninus was known as an avid observer of rites of religion and of 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. Antoninus also offered patronage to the worship of Mithras, to whom he erected a temple in Ostia. In 148, he presided over the celebrations of the 900th anniversary of the founding of Rome.Antoninus passed measures to facilitate the enfranchisement of slaves. Mostly, he favoured the principle of favor libertatis, giving the putative freedman the benefit of the doubt when the claim to freedom was not clearcut. Also, he punished the killing of a slave by his/her master without previous trial and determined that slaves could be forcibly sold to another master by a proconsul in cases of consistent mistreatment. Antoninus upheld the enforcement of contracts for selling of female slaves forbidding their further employment in prostitution. In criminal law, Antoninus introduced the important principle that accused persons are not to be treated as guilty before trial – as in the case of the irenarchs (see above). He 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. However, it must be stressed that Antoninus extended, by means of 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. 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.One highlight during his reign occurred in 148, with the nine-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Rome being celebrated by the hosting of magnificent games in Rome. It lasted a number of days, and a host of exotic animals were killed, including elephants, giraffes, tigers, rhinoceroses, crocodiles and hippopotami. 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.Scholars place Antoninus Pius as the leading candidate for fulfilling the role as a friend of Rabbi Judah the Prince. According to the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 10a-b), Rabbi Judah was very wealthy and greatly revered in Rome. He had a close friendship with "Antoninus", possibly Antoninus Pius, who would consult Rabbi Judah on various worldly and spiritual matters.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. As Antoninus aged, Marcus would take on more administrative duties, more still after the death – in 156 or 157 – of one of Antoninus' most trusted advisers, Gavius Maximus, who had been praetorian prefect (an office that was as much secretarial as military) for twenty years. Gavius Maximus, who had been one of the most important members of Antoninus' "team" of long standing advisers, had been awarded with the consular insignia and to the honors due to a senator. He had left behind himself the reputation of being a most strict disciplinarian (vir severissimus, according to Historia Augusta) as well as some lasting grudges among fellow equestrian procurators – one of them, by predeceasing Gavius and vilifying him in his will, created a serious embarrassment to one of the heirs, the orator Fronto. Gavius Maximus' death offered the opportunity to a welcome change in the ruling team, and it has been speculated that it was the legal adviser Volusius Maecianus – who, after a brief spell as Praefect of Egypt, took the office of Praefectus annonae in Rome – who assumed the role of grey eminence precisely in order to prepare the incoming – and altogether new – joint succession. 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.The scene takes place during Hadrian’s visit to Britannia in 122  follows the account of the Roman historian Cassius Dio.Hadrian travelled through one province after another, visiting the various regions and cities and inspecting all the garrisons and forts. He personally viewed and investigated absolutely everything, not merely the usual appurtenances of camps, such as weapons, engines, trenches, ramparts and palisades, but also the private affairs of every one, but of the men serving in the ranks and of the officers themselves,  their lives, their quarters and their habits.


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