Lucius Aelius

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

Lucius Aelius

Lucius Aelius, musée du Louvre

Born

13 January 101

Died

1 January 138 (aged 36)

Spouse

Avidia Plautia

Full name
Lucius Ceionius Commodus (from birth until adoption by Hadrian) Lucius Aelius Caesar (as Imperial heir)

Father

Lucius Ceionius Commodus

Hadrian (adoptive)

Mother

Aelia/Fundania Plautia

Roman imperial dynasties
Nervo-Trajanic Dynasty

Nerva
Children
Natural - (none)
Adoptive - Trajan
Trajan
Children
Natural - (none)
Adoptive - Hadrian
Hadrian
Children
Natural - (none)
Adoptive - Lucius Aelius
Adoptive - Antoninus Pius

Lucius Aelius Caesar (January 13, 101 – January 1, 138) became the adopted son and intended successor of Roman Emperor Hadrian (January 24, 76 AD – July 10, 138 AD), but never attained the throne. Aelius was born with the name Lucius Ceionius Commodus, and later called Lucius Aelius Caesar. He is often mistakenly referred to as Lucius Aelius Verus, though this name is not attested outside the Augustan History and probably arose as a manuscript error.

Life and family

The young Lucius Ceionius Commodus was of the gens Ceionia. His father, also named Lucius Ceionius Commodus (the author of the Augustan History adds the cognomen Verus), was consul in 106, and his paternal grandfather, also of the same name, was consul in 78. His paternal ancestors were from Etruria, and were of consular rank. His mother was a Roman woman called Fundania Plautia. The Augustan History states that his maternal grandfather and his maternal ancestors were of consular rank.

Before 130, Lucius Commodus married Avidia Plautia, a well-connected Roman noblewoman who was the daughter of the senator Gaius Avidius Nigrinus. Plautia bore Lucius two sons and two daughters, who were:

Lucius Ceionius Commodus the Younger – He would become Lucius Verus, and would co-rule as Roman Emperor with Marcus Aurelius from 161 until his own death in 169. Verus would marry Lucilla, the second daughter of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger.
Gaius Avidius Ceionius Commodus – he is known from an inscription found in Rome.
Ceionia Fabia – at the time of Marcus Aurelius's adoption, she was betrothed, as part of the adoption conditions, to him. Shortly after Antoninus Pius' ascension, Pius came to Aurelius and asked him to end his engagement to Fabia, instead marrying Antoninus Pius’ daughter Faustina the Younger; Faustina had originally been planned by Hadrian to wed Lucius Verus.
Ceionia Plautia

Denarius of Aelius

Heir to Hadrian

For a long time, the emperor Hadrian had considered Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus as 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, Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator II. Hadrian promoted the young Salinator, his great-nephew, gave him special status in his court, and groomed him as his heir. Servianus, who always cherished the idea that his youthful grandson would one day succeed his brother-in-law, was overjoyed.

However, in late 136, Hadrian almost died from a haemorrhage. Convalescent in his villa at Tivoli, he decided to change his mind, and selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus as his new successor, adopting him as his son.^[1] The selection was done invitis omnibus, "against the wishes of everyone";^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

Although Lucius had no military experience, he had served as a senator, and had powerful political connections; however, he was in poor health. As part of his adoption, Lucius Ceionius Commodus took the name Lucius Aelius Caesar.

Death

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.^[5]^{[notes 1]} On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus (September 19, 86 – March 7, 161) as his new successor.^[7]

After a few days' consideration, Antoninus accepted. He was adopted on 25 February. As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus adopted both Lucius Aelius's son (properly called Lucius Ceionius Commodus the Younger) and Hadrian's great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121 – March 17, 180). Marcus became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus; Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus.^{[notes 2]} At Hadrian's request, Antoninus' daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.^[8]

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.

Sources

The major sources for the life of Aelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. The most important group of sources, the biographies contained in the Historia 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).^[9]

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 Maximus or Ignotus), are much more accurate.^[9] For Aelius, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, but that of Avidius Cassius, and even Lucius Aelius' own, is full of fiction.^[10]

Some other literary sources provide specific detail: the writings of the physician Galen on the habits of the Antonine elite, the orations of Aelius Aristides on the temper of the times, and the constitutions preserved in the Digest and Codex Justinianus on Marcus' legal work.^[11] Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources.^[12]

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Q. Marcius Barea Soranus

Q. Marcius Barea Sura

Antonia Furnilla

M. Cocceius Nerva

Sergia Plautilla

P. Aelius Hadrianus

Titus
(r. 79–81)

Marcia Furnilla

Marcia

Trajanus Pater

Nerva
(r. 96–98)

Ulpia^{[lower-roman 1]}

Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus

Julia Flavia^{[lower-roman 2]}

Marciana^{[lower-roman 3]}

C. Salonius Matidius^{[lower-roman 4]}

Trajan
(r. 98–117)

Plotina

P. Acilius Attianus

P. Aelius Afer^{[lower-roman 5]}

Paulina Major^{[lower-roman 6]}

Lucius Mindius
(2)

Libo Rupilius Frugi
(3)

Matidia^{[lower-roman 7]}

L. Vibius Sabinus
(1)^{[lower-roman 8]}

Paulina Minor^{[lower-roman 6]}

L. Julius Ursus Servianus^{[lower-roman 9]}

Matidia Minor^{[lower-roman 7]}

Suetonius?^{[lower-roman 10]}

Sabina^{[lower-roman 3]}

Hadrian^{[lower-roman 5]}^{[lower-roman 11]}^{[lower-roman 6]} (r. 117–138)

Antinous^{[lower-roman 12]}

Julia Balbilla?^{[lower-roman 13]}

C. Fuscus Salinator I

Julia Serviana Paulina

M. Annius Verus^{[lower-roman 14]}

Rupilia Faustina^{[lower-roman 15]}

Boionia Procilla

Cn. Arrius Antoninus

L. Ceionius Commodus

Appia Severa

C. Fuscus Salinator II

L. Caesennius Paetus

Arria Antonina

Arria Fadilla^{[lower-roman 16]}

T. Aurelius Fulvus

L. Caesennius Antoninus

L. Commodus

Fundania Plautia

ignota^{[lower-roman 17]}

C. Avidius Nigrinus

M. Annius Verus^{[lower-roman 15]}

Domitia Lucilla^{[lower-roman 18]}

Fundania^{[lower-roman 19]}

M. Annius Libo^{[lower-roman 15]}

FAUSTINA^{[lower-roman 16]}

Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)^{[lower-roman 16]}

L. Aelius Caesar^{[lower-roman 17]}

Avidia Plautia^{[lower-roman 17]}

Cornificia^{[lower-roman 15]}

MARCUS AURELIUS
(r. 161–180)^{[lower-roman 20]}

FAUSTINA Minor^{[lower-roman 20]}

C. Avidius Cassius

Aurelia Fadilla^{[lower-roman 16]}

LUCIUS VERUS
(r. 161–169)^{[lower-roman 17]}
(1)

Ceionia Fabia^{[lower-roman 17]}

Plautius Quintillus^{[lower-roman 21]}

Q. Servilius Pudens

Ceionia Plautia^{[lower-roman 17]}

Cornificia Minor^{[lower-roman 22]}

M. Petronius Sura

COMMODUS
(r. 177–192)^{[lower-roman 20]}

Fadilla^{[lower-roman 22]}

M. Annius Verus Caesar^{[lower-roman 20]}

Ti. Claudius Pompeianus
(2)

Lucilla^{[lower-roman 20]}

M. Plautius Quintillus^{[lower-roman 17]}

Junius Licinius Balbus

Servilia Ceionia

Petronius Antoninus

L. Aurelius Agaclytus
(2)

Aurelia Sabina^{[lower-roman 22]}

L. Antistius Burrus
(1)

Plautius Quintillus

Plautia Servilla

C. Furius Sabinus Timesitheus

Antonia Gordiana

Junius Licinius Balbus

Furia Sabina Tranquillina

GORDIAN III
(r. 238–244)

(1) = 1st spouse
(2) = 2nd spouse
(3) = 3rd spouse
Reddish purple indicates emperor of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty;
lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned;
grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants;
bluish purple indicates emperors of other dynasties
dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
small caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)

Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

↑ Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
↑ Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
1 2 Levick (2014), p. 161.
↑ Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
1 2 Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
1 2 3 DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
1 2 Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
↑ Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
↑ Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
↑ Suetonius a possible lover of Sabina: One interpretation of HA Hadrianus 11:3
↑ Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
↑ Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2-5, etc.
↑ Julia Balbilla a possible lover of Sabina: A. R. Birley (1997), Hadrian, the Restless Emperor, p. 251, cited in Levick (2014), p. 30, who is sceptical of this suggestion.
↑ Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
1 2 3 4 Levick (2014), p. 163.
1 2 3 4 Levick (2014), p. 162.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Levick (2014), p. 164.
↑ Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
↑ Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
1 2 3 4 5 Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
↑ Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
1 2 3 Levick (2014), p. 117.

References:

DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 2015-04-14.
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2.
Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
William Smith, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Notes

↑ Commodus was a known consumptive at the time of his adoption, so Hadrian may have intended the eventual post-Antoninus succession, anyway.^[6]
↑ The younger Lucius Commodus did not take the cognomen Verus until his joint accession with Marcus after the death of Pius.

All citations to the Historia Augusta are to individual biographies, and are marked with a "HA". Citations to the works of Fronto are cross-referenced to C.R. Haines' Loeb edition.

References

↑ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41–42.
↑ HA Hadrian 23.10, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 42.
↑ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 42. On the succession to Hadrian, see also: T.D. Barnes, "Hadrian and Lucius Verus", Journal of Roman Studies 57:1–2 (1967): 65–79; J. VanderLeest, "Hadrian, Lucius Verus, and the Arco di Portogallo", Phoenix 49:4 (1995): 319–30.
↑ Anthony Birley, Hadrian the Restless Emperor, pp. 291-292.
↑ HA Hadrian 23.15–16; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 45; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 148.
↑ Dio 69.17.1; HA Aelius 3.7, 4.6, 6.1–7; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 147.
↑ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 46. Date: Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 148.
↑ Dio 69.21.1; HA Hadrian 24.1; HA Aelius 6.9; HA Antoninus Pius 4.6–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 48–49.
1 2 Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 229–30. The thesis of single authorship was first proposed in H. Dessau's "Über Zeit und Persönlichkeit der Scriptoes Historiae Augustae" (in German), Hermes 24 (1889), 337ff.
↑ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 230. On the HA Verus, see Barnes, 65–74.
↑ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 227–28.
↑ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 228.

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