Marcus Annius Verus (grandfather of Marcus Aurelius)
Marcus Annius Verus | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 50 |
| Died | 138 |
| Nationality | Roman |
| Office | Consul (97, 121, 126) Praefectus urbi |
| Spouse | Rupilia Faustina |
| Children | |
Marcus Annius Verus (c. 50 – 138 AD) was the paternal grandfather and adoptive father of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and father-in-law of emperor Antoninus Pius.
Biography
Verus was the son of an elder Marcus Annius Verus, who gained the rank of
.He was
One explanation is that the whole thing is a joke, based on the connection between Verus' known passion for playing ball and the notion of the ball game as political juggling: an elegant, self-deprecating and rather bitter joke, one not wholly complimentary to Verus. The aged L. Iulius Servianus wrote the piece himself, had it engraved on a marble slab - perhaps accompanying it with the statue of a toga-clad bear playing ball? - and had it delivered to M. Annius Verus on the Kalends of January, 126. When next they met, the two old men affected to laugh heartily at the joke. Fantasy perhaps, but this is a very strange inscription.
He died in 138, nearly aged ninety. Marcus Aurelius says in his "Meditations": "From my grandfather Verus, [I learned] a kindly disposition and sweetness of temper".[4] In his elder years, he had a mistress, of whom he expresses gratitude that "I wasn’t raised by my grandfather's mistress for longer than I was".[5]
Family
Verus married Rupilia Faustina (fl. 90 AD), a daughter of the consul Libo Rupilius Frugi and probably Vitellia Galeria Fundania, daughter of emperor Vitellius.[6][7] Frugi also had another daughter named Rupilia who was the grandniece of emperor Trajan. Verus had at least three children by Faustina:[8]
- Annia Galeria Faustina or Faustina the Elder, a future empress, who married the future emperor Antoninus Pius
- Marcus Annius Libo, consul in 128
- Marcus Annius Verus, father to future emperor Marcus Aurelius
Ronald Syme suggests, based on onomastic evidence, that they had a fourth child, a daughter Annia, who married Gaius Ummidius Quadratus Sertorius Severus.[9]
After Verus the son died in 124, the elder Verus adopted, and, together with his daughter-in-law
Nerva–Antonine family tree
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| Notes:
Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.
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References:
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References
- ^ Anthony Birley, Marcus Aurelius, a Biography (London: Routledge, 1987), p. 28
- ^ Fausto Zevi "I consoli del 97 d. Cr. in due framenti gia' editi dei Fasti Ostienses", Listy filologické / Folia philologica, 96 (1973), pp. 125-137
- ^ Champlin, "The Glass Ball Game", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 60 (1985), pp. 159-163
- ^ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, i.1
- ^ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, i.17
- ^ Rupilius. Strachan stemma.
- ISBN 9781900934022.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 28f
- ^ Syme, "Ummidius Quadratus, Capax Imperii", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 83 (1979), p. 308
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 31
External links
- Aurelius, Marcus (167). Meditations.
- Birley, Anthony Richard (2000). Marcus Aurelius: A Biography (2nd revised ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0-415-17125-3.
- "Matidia the Elder". Livius.org. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- "Faustina, Annia Galeria (1)". Fofweb.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2007.
- Rodgers, N. (2005). The History and Conquests of Ancient Rome. Hermes House. ISBN 1844773337.
- "The Life of Marcus Aurelius: Part 1". Historia Augusta. Loeb Classical Library. 1921. Retrieved 27 June 2015.