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Lucius Aelius Caesar

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This article is about the adoptive son of Hadrian. For the Praetorian prefect called Lucius Aelius Sejanus, seeSejanus.

Lucius Aelius Caesar(13 January 101 – 1 January 138) was the father of EmperorLucius Verus.In 136, he was adopted by the reigning emperorHadrianand namedheir to the throne.He died before Hadrian and thus never became emperor. After Lucius' death, he was replaced byAntoninus Pius,who succeeded Hadrian the same year.

Lucius Aelius
Caesarof theRoman Empire
Lucius Aelius,Louvre,Paris
Born13 January 101
Died1 January 138 (aged 36)
SpouseAvidia
IssueLucius Verus
Ceionia Fabia
Ceionia Plautia
Names
Lucius Ceionius Commodus
(from birth until adoption byHadrian)
Regnal name
Lucius Aelius Caesar
(as Imperial heir)
FatherLucius Ceionius Commodus
Hadrian(adoptive)
MotherPlautia

Life and family

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Denariusof Aelius
Denariusof Aelius' son, future Roman emperorLucius Verus

Aelius was bornLucius Ceionius Commodus,and becameLucius Aelius Caesarupon his adoption as Hadrian's heir. He is sometimes referred to asLucius Aelius Verus,though this name is not attested outside theHistoria Augusta,where it probably was originally the result of a manuscript error. The young Lucius Ceionius Commodus was of thegensCeionia.His father, also namedLucius Ceionius Commodus(theHistoria Augustaadds the cognomen Verus), was consul in 106 and his paternal grandfather, also of the same name, was consul in 78. His paternal ancestors were fromEtruria,and were of consular rank. His mother is surmised to have been an undocumented Roman woman namedPlautia.[1]TheHistoria Augustastates that his maternal grandfather and his maternal ancestors were of consular rank.

Before 130, the younger Lucius Commodus marriedAvidia,a well-connected Roman noblewoman who was the daughter of the senatorGaius Avidius Nigrinus.Avidia bore Lucius at least one son and two daughters, who were:

  • Lucius Ceionius Commodus – The futureLucius Verus,co-emperor withMarcus Aureliusfrom 161 until his own death in 169. Verus would marryLucilla,the second daughter of Marcus Aurelius andFaustina the Younger.
  • Ceionia Fabia– at the time of Marcus Aurelius's adoption, she was betrothed, as part of the adoption conditions, to him. Shortly afterAntoninus Pius' ascension, Pius came to Aurelius and asked him to end his engagement to Fabia, instead marrying Antoninus Pius’ daughterFaustina the Younger;Faustina had originally been planned by Hadrian to wed Lucius Verus.
  • Ceionia Plautia

Heir to Hadrian

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Bust ofHadrian,Capitoline Museums

For a long time, the emperorHadrianhad considered his brother-in-lawLucius Julius Ursus Servianusas his unofficial successor. As Hadrian's reign drew to a close, however, he changed his mind. Although the emperor certainly thought Servianus capable of ruling as an emperor after Hadrian's own death, Servianus, by now in his nineties, was clearly too old for the position. Hadrian's attentions turned to Servianus' grandson, Lucius Pedanius Fuscus Salinator. Hadrian promoted the young Salinator, his great-nephew, gave him special status in his court, and groomed him as his heir.

However, in the summer of 136, Hadrian almost died from a haemorrhage. Convalescent inhis villaatTivoli,he decided to change his mind, and selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus as his new successor,adoptinghim as his son.[2]The selection was doneinvitis omnibus,"against the wishes of everyone";[3]in particular, Servianus and the young Salinator became very angry at Hadrian and wished to challenge him over the adoption. Even today, the rationale for Hadrian's sudden switch is still unclear.[4][5]It is possible Salinator went so far as to attempt a coup against Hadrian in which Servianus was implicated. In order to avoid any potential conflict in the succession, Hadrian ordered the deaths of Salinator and Servianus.[6]

Death

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After a year's stationing on the Danube frontier, Aelius returned to Rome to make an address to the senate on the first day of 138. The night before the speech, however, he grew ill, and died of a haemorrhage late the next day.[7][8][notes 1]On 24 January 138, Hadrian selectedTitus Aurelius Antoninusas his new successor.[11][8]

After a few days' consideration, Antoninus accepted. He was adopted on 25 February 138. As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus adopted both Lucius Aelius's son, Lucius Ceionius Commodus, and Hadrian's great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Annius Verus. Marcus became "Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus" (laterMarcus Aurelius Antoninus); and Lucius became "Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus" (laterLucius Aurelius Verus).[notes 2]At Hadrian's request, Antoninus' daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.[12]

Marcus Aurelius later co-ruled with Lucius Verus as joint Roman Emperors, until Lucius Verus died in 169, after which Aurelius was sole ruler until his own death in 180.

In hisHistory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,Edward Gibbontells of Aelius's brief time as Hadrian's successor-designate in these terms:

After revolving in his mind several men of distinguished merit, whom he esteemed and hated, [Hadrian] adopted Ælius Verus a gay and voluptuous nobleman, recommended by uncommon beauty to the lover ofAntinous.But whilst Hadrian was delighting himself with his own applause, and the acclamations of the soldiers, whose consent had been secured by an immense donative, the new Cæsar was ravished from his embraces by an untimely death.[13]

Sources

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The major sources for the life of Aelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. The most important group of sources, the biographies contained in theHistoria Augusta,claim to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th century, but are in fact written by a single author (referred to here as "the biographer" ) from the later 4th century (c. 395).[14]

The later biographies and the biographies of subordinate emperors and usurpers are a tissue of lies and fiction, but the earlier biographies, derived primarily from now-lost earlier sources (Marius Maximusor Ignotus), are much more accurate.[14]For Aelius, the biographies ofHadrian,Antoninus Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, but that of Avidius Cassius, and even Lucius Aelius' own, is full of fiction.[15]

Some other literary sources provide specific detail: the writings of the physicianGalenon the habits of the Antonine elite, the orations ofAelius Aristideson the temper of the times, and the constitutions preserved in theDigestandCodex Justinianuson Marcus' legal work.Inscriptionsandcoin findssupplement the literary sources.[16]

Nerva–Antonine family tree

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Notes

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  1. ^Commodus was a known consumptive at the time of his adoption, so Hadrian may have intended the eventual post-Antoninus succession, anyway.[9][10]
  2. ^The younger Lucius Commodus did not take the cognomen Verus until his joint accession with Marcus after the death of Pius.

All citations to theHistoria Augustaare to individual biographies, and are marked with a "HA".Citations to the works ofFrontoare cross-referenced to C.R. Haines' Loeb edition.

References

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  1. ^Syme, Ronald(1957). "Antonine Relatives: Ceionii and Vettulani".Athenaeum,35.pp. 306–315
  2. ^Birley 2000a,pp. 41–42.
  3. ^HA Hadrian23.10, quoted inBirley 2000a,pp. 41–42
  4. ^Birley 2000a,p. 42.
  5. ^On the succession to Hadrian, see also:T.D. Barnes(1967) "Hadrian and Lucius Verus",Journal of Roman Studies57(1–2): 65–79; J. VanderLeest (1995), "Hadrian, Lucius Verus, and the Arco di Portogallo",Phoenix49(4) 319–30.
  6. ^Birley 2013,pp. 291–292.
  7. ^HA Hadrian23.15–16;Birley 2000a,p. 45
  8. ^abBirley 2000b,p. 148.
  9. ^Cassius Dio69.17.1;HA Aelius3.7, 4.6, 6.1–7
  10. ^Birley 2000b,p. 147.
  11. ^Birley 2000a,p. 46.
  12. ^Cassius Dio69.21.1;HA Hadrian24.1;HA Aelius6.9;HA Antoninus Pius4.6–7;Birley 2000a,pp. 48–49.
  13. ^Gibbon, Edward(1845) [1782].The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,Vol.1, Ch. III, Part II.
  14. ^abBirley 2000a,pp. 229–230. The thesis of single authorship was first proposed in H. Dessau (1889) "Über Zeit und Persönlichkeit derScriptoes Historiae Augustae"(in German),Hermes24, 337ff.
  15. ^Birley 2000a,p. 230. On theHA Verus,see Barnes, 65–74.
  16. ^Birley 2000a,pp. 227–28.

Bibliography

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Political offices
Preceded by Roman caesar
136–137 		Succeeded by
Preceded byas suffect consuls Roman consul
136
withSex. Vettulenus Civica Pompeianus 		Succeeded byas ordinary consuls
Preceded by
Lucius Ceionius Commodus,
Sex. Vettulenus Civica Pompeianus
as ordinary consuls 		Roman consul
137
withP. Coelius Balbinus Vibullius Pius 		Succeeded byas ordinary consuls
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