Lucius VerusRoman emperor in full Lucius Aurelius Verus , also called (ad 136–161) Lucius Ceionius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus , original name Lucius Ceionius Commodus
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born Dec. 15, 130 died 169
Roman emperor jointly (161–169) with Marcus Aurelius. Though he enjoyed equal constitutional status and powers, he did not have equal authority, nor did he seem capable of bearing his share of the responsibilities.
Lucius was the son of a senator, Lucius Ceionius Commodus, whom the emperor Hadrian adopted as his successor under the name Lucius Aelius Caesar. When Ceionius died on Jan. 1, 138, Hadrian designated Antoninus Pius as his successor. He ordered Antoninus to adopt as his heirs Ceionius’s son Lucius and his own nephew Marcus Annius Verus (the future emperor Marcus Aurelius), who was also given the title caesar. Marcus insisted that his adoptive brother be given the same status and powers as himself, except for the title pontifex maximus (high priest). Lucius then dropped the name Commodus and assumed Marcus’s original cognomen of Verus. In 164 he married Marcus’s daughter, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla, with whom he had several children. When sent to deal with Parthian conquests in Armenia and Mesopotamia (162–166), Lucius dallied in Antioch while subordinate generals concluded the war. He celebrated a triumph jointly with Marcus in October 166 and assumed the names Armeniacus, Parthicus, and Medicus (as conqueror of the Armenians, Parthians, and Medes).
In 167 or 168 Verus campaigned with Marcus Aurelius in the vicinity of Pannonia against a German people, the Marcomanni, but he died of a stroke on the march home.
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conflict with Parthian Iran
( in Iran, ancient: The end of the Parthian empire (162–226) )
...had been Roman since the time of Pompey, the Syrian population, which included Jews driven from Palestine by the Romans, received the Parthians as liberators. The situation became so serious that Lucius Verus, co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius, was dispatched to the east with strong reinforcements taken from the fronts on the Danube and the Rhine. The Romans retook Armenia (163) and succeeded...
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rule with Marcus Aurelius
( in Marcus Aurelius: Roman emperor )
...Augustus). At his own insistence, however, his adoptive brother was made co-emperor with him (and bore henceforth the name Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus). There is no evidence that Lucius Verus had much of a following, so that a ruthless rival could have easily disposed of him, though to leave him in being as anything less than emperor might have created a focus for...
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Roman emperor jointly (161–169) with Marcus Aurelius. Though he enjoyed equal constitutional status and powers, he did not have equal authority, nor did he seem capable of bearing his share of the responsibilities.
Lucius was the son of a senator, Lucius Ceionius Commodus, whom the emperor Hadrian adopted as his successor under the name Lucius Aelius Caesar. When Ceionius died on Jan. 1, 138, Hadrian designated Antoninus Pius as his successor. He ordered Antoninus to adopt as his heirs Ceionius’s son Lucius and his own nephew Marcus Annius Verus (the future emperor Marcus Aurelius), who was also given the title caesar. Marcus insisted that his adoptive brother be given the same status and powers as himself, except for the title pontifex maximus (high priest). Lucius then dropped the name Commodus and assumed Marcus’s original cognomen of Verus. In 164 he married Marcus’s daughter, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla, with whom he had several children. When sent to deal with Parthian conquests in Armenia and Mesopotamia (162–166), Lucius dallied in Antioch while subordinate generals concluded the war. He celebrated a triumph jointly with Marcus in October 166 and assumed the names Armeniacus, Parthicus, and Medicus (as conqueror of the Armenians, Parthians, and Medes).
In 167 or 168 Verus campaigned with Marcus Aurelius in the vicinity of Pannonia against a German people, the Marcomanni, but he died of a stroke on the march home.
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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conflict with Parthian Iran Iran, ancient
...had been Roman since the time of Pompey, the Syrian population, which included Jews driven...
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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discussed in biography Polyaenus
Macedonian rhetorician and pleader who lived in Rome and was the author of a work entitled Strategica (or Strategemata), which he dedicated to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus on the outbreak of the Parthian War (162–165).
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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following of Fronto Fronto, Marcus Cornelius
In addition to his orations, Fronto’s grammatical and rhetorical studies won him a number of followers, called the Frontoniani. Modern evaluations of Fronto’s mastery of language are based on the information contained in the Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius, a member of Fronto’s circle; on a collection of Fronto’s letters (principally to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus); and on...
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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Figulus Figulus, Publius Nigidius
Roman savant and writer, next to Marcus Terentius Varro the most learned Roman of his age, according to the Latin writer Aulus Gellius (2nd century ad).
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Fronto Fronto, Marcus Cornelius
...rhetorical studies won him a number of followers, called the Frontoniani. Modern evaluations of Fronto’s mastery of language are based on the information contained in the Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius, a member of Fronto’s circle; on a collection of Fronto’s letters (principally to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus); and on miscellaneous pieces discovered with the letters in 1815 in...
prominent Roman orator, rhetorician, and grammarian whose high reputation—equal in ancient times to those of Cato, Cicero, and Quintilian—was based chiefly on his orations, all of which are lost. His most famous lost speech is Against the Christians, which was answered in Minucius Felix’s Octavius.
Fronto was educated at Carthage and in Rome, where, under the emperor Hadrian, he rapidly gained considerable fame as an advocate. Emperor Antoninus Pius appointed him tutor to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus; with the former he remained on terms of affectionate friendship. He became consul suffectus for July–August 143.
In addition to his orations, Fronto’s grammatical and rhetorical studies won him a number of followers, called the Frontoniani. Modern evaluations of Fronto’s mastery of language are based on the information contained in the Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius, a member of Fronto’s circle; on a collection of Fronto’s letters (principally to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus); and on miscellaneous pieces discovered with the letters in 1815 in the Ambrosian Library in Milan by the Classical scholar Angelo Cardinal Mai. The letters throw useful light on the Antonines and on Fronto’s judgments of earlier writers and his precepts about language and style.
Fronto tried to reinvigorate the decaying Latin of his day by reviving the vocabulary of earlier republican Roman writers. The resulting elocutio novella (“new elocution”) was often artificial and pedantic, but it had widespread influence and gave new vitality to Latin prose writing.
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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association with Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius
The long years of Marcus’ apprenticeship under Antoninus are illuminated by the correspondence between him and his teacher Fronto. Though the main society...