Lucius Verus

Names:
15 December 130: Lucius Ceionius Commodus 
25 February 318: Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus 
7 March 161: Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus 
January (?) 169: natural death

Successor of: Antoninus Pius

Relatives:

• father: Lucius Ceionius Commodus (= Lucius Aelius)
• mother: Avidia
• married to: Annia Galeria Lucilla (daughter of Marcus Aurelius)
• children: Aurelia Lucilla (married to Claudius Pompeianus Quintianus)

Early career:

• 130 Born in Rome
• 138 Adopted by Antoninus Pius
• 153 Quaestor
• 154 Consul

Main deeds:

• 161 Consul II (with Marcus Aurelius III); death of Antoninus Pius; Marcus and Lucius become emperors
• 161, Spring: outbreak of war with the Parthian Empire; destruction of VIII Hispana; debasement of the denarius
• 162 Lucius proceeds to the east; stays in Athens to be initiated in the Mysteries of Eleusis; arrives in Syria
• 163 Armenia recovered; marriage with Lucilla
• 164 Accepts the title Armeniacus; captures the Parthian capital Ctesiphon
• 165 Outbreak of the Plague
• 166 Parthians defeated; Romans advance east of the Tigris; return to Rome; triumph; accepts the titles Medicus and Parthicus; birth of a daughter
• 167 Consul III (with Marcus Ummidius Quadratus); plague reaches Rome
• 168 Leaves Rome for tour along the Upper Danube; stays in Aquileia
• 169 Falls ill, returns to Rome, dies

Contemporary events:

• 165 Execution of Justin Martyr
• 166 A Roman embassy reaches China

Buildings:

• Arch of Marcus Aurelius, Oea (Tripoli)

Links:

• biography included in the Historia Augusta