Lucius Verus
130 – 169 · Generation X · Co-emperor (r. AD 161–169)
Lucius (AD 130 – AD 169). Co-emperor (r. AD 161–169). Adopted alongside Marcus and later married to Marcus’s daughter Lucilla; the first experiment in two emperors ruling as equals. He was the eldest son of Lucius Aelius Caesar, the heir Hadrian adopted first, and on his father’s death he passed into the household of Antoninus Pius. Brought up and taught in Rome, he worked through the public offices while the succession took more than two decades to reach him; when it finally did, Marcus Aurelius refused to accept the throne unless his adoptive brother shared it. The Parthian war filled most of his time as emperor — he directed it until Rome prevailed and territory was added in the East. He had entered the first phase of the Marcomannic Wars when sickness took him, and the Senate afterwards declared him a god: Divus Verus, the Divine Verus.
Line of descent: Nerva Cocceius → Trajan Optimus → Hadrian Aelius → Antoninus Pius → Lucius Verus.
Parents
- Antoninus Pius (86 – 161)
Siblings
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 – 180) (adopted)
- Faustina the Younger (130 – 175) (adopted)
Partners
- Married Lucilla Augusta (148 – 182) in 164