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Lucius Aelius
 
 
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Lucius Aelius Verus Caesar (January 13, 101
101

Events...
 - January 1 138
138

Events...
) became the adopted son and intended successor, of Roman Emperor Hadrian
Hadrian

Publius Aelius Hadrianus , as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis, known as Hadrian in English language, was Roman Emperor of Roman Empire from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoicism and Epicureanism philosopher....
 (January 24, 76
76

Year 76 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.EventsBy placeRoman Empire* Wales is annexed by Rome....
 - July 10, 138
138

Events...
), but never attained the throne.

Aelius was born with the name Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus. He was of the gens
Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens was a clan, caste, or group of families, that shared a common name and a belief in a common ancestor. In the Roman naming convention, the second name was the name of the gens to which the person belonged....
 Ceionia. His father Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus (according to Augustan History was known as Lucius Aurelius or Annius) was consul in 106 and his paternal grandfather of the same name was consul in 78.






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Lucius Aelius Verus Caesar (January 13, 101
101

Events...
 - January 1 138
138

Events...
) became the adopted son and intended successor, of Roman Emperor Hadrian
Hadrian

Publius Aelius Hadrianus , as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis, known as Hadrian in English language, was Roman Emperor of Roman Empire from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoicism and Epicureanism philosopher....
 (January 24, 76
76

Year 76 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.EventsBy placeRoman Empire* Wales is annexed by Rome....
 - July 10, 138
138

Events...
), but never attained the throne.

Aelius was born with the name Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus. He was of the gens
Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens was a clan, caste, or group of families, that shared a common name and a belief in a common ancestor. In the Roman naming convention, the second name was the name of the gens to which the person belonged....
 Ceionia. His father Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus (according to Augustan History was known as Lucius Aurelius or Annius) was consul in 106 and his paternal grandfather of the same name was consul in 78. His paternal ancestors were from Etruria
Etruria

Etruria — usually referred to in Greek language and Latin language source texts as Tyrrhenia — was a region of Central Italy, an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna and Umbria....
 and were of consular rank. His mother was a Roman woman called Aelia or Fundania Plautia. Augustan History states that his maternal grandfather and his maternal ancestors were of consular rank.

Aelius married a daughter of the senator Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, a distinguished, wealthy, well connected politician who lived between the first and second century. His family came from Faventia (modern Faenza
Faenza

Faenza is an Italy city and comune, in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated 50 km southeast of Bologna.Faenza is noted for its manufacture of majolica ware glazed earthenware pottery, known from the name of the town as "faience"....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
). There is an inscription found in Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 and Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, dedicated to him at Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
, Greece
Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
. Nigrinus served as a consul and became Roman governor of Greece. In 118, he was executed on orders from the Roman Senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
, for being involved in a plot for overthrow Hadrian.

Aelius and Avidia had three children:
  • Lucius Verus
    Lucius Verus

    Lucius Aurelius Verus , born as Lucius Ceionius Commodus, known simply as Lucius Verus, was Roman Emperors with Marcus Aurelius , from 161 until his death....
     (130-169), who would be co-emperor from 161 until his death in 169 with Marcus Aurelius
    Marcus Aurelius

    Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important stoicism philosophy....
    .
  • Ceionia Fabia, who in 136 was engaged to Marcus Aurelius. In 138, Aurelius was adopted by emperor Antoninus Pius
    Antoninus Pius

    Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus , generally known in English as Antoninus Pius was Roman Emperors from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors and a member of the Aurelii....
    . Aurelius broke off the engagement with Fabia. Aurelius became engaged to Pius’ daughter Faustina the Younger
    Faustina the Younger

    Annia Galeria Faustina Minor , Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder....
    , whom he later married.
  • Ceionia Plautia


Aelius was adopted by an aging and ailing Hadrian in 136 and named successor to the throne, although he had no military experience; he had served as a senator. He had powerful political connections, but was in poor health. His tastes were luxurious and his life extravagant. He is said to have had Ovid
Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
's erotic poetry and "a book about Apicius
Marcus Gavius Apicius

Marcus Gavius Apicius is believed to have been a Roman gourmet and lover of luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius....
" (presumably Apion
Apion

Apion , Graeco-Egyptian grammarian, sophist and commentator on Homer, was born at the Siwa Oasis, and flourished in the first half of the 1st century AD....
's On the Luxury of Apicius) as bedside reading, and to have personally invented the luxury dish tetrapharmacum
Tetrapharmacum

Latin tetrapharmacum, Greek tetrapharmakon was a pharmaceutical compound known in ancient Greek pharmacology, a mixture of wax, pine resin, pitch and animal fat, most often pork fat....
.

Aelius himself was never to become emperor
Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
, dying shortly before Hadrian. After Aelius' death, Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius

Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus , generally known in English as Antoninus Pius was Roman Emperors from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors and a member of the Aurelii....
 (September 19, 86
86

Year 86 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar....
 - March 7, 161
161

Events...
) on the condition that Antoninus Pius adopt the younger Lucius Verus and Hadrian's great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important stoicism philosophy....
 (April 26, 121
121

Events...
 - March 17, 180
180

Events...
). Marcus later co-ruled with Lucius as Marcus Aurelius until Lucius' death in 169, at which time he was sole ruler until his own death in 180. Aelius is a major character in Marguerite Yourcenar
Marguerite Yourcenar

Marguerite Yourcenar was a French novelist. She was the first woman elected to the Acad?mie fran?aise in 1980, and the seventeenth to occupy Seat 3....
's Memoirs of Hadrian
Memoirs of Hadrian

Memoirs of Hadrian is a novel by the France writer Marguerite Yourcenar about the life and death of Roman Emperor Hadrian. The book was first published in France in French language in 1951 in literature as M?moires d'Hadrien, and was an immediate success, meeting with enormous critical acclaim....
.