Aelius was born with the name Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus. He was of the gens Ceionia. His father Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus (according to Augustan History was known as Lucius Aurelius or Annius) was consul in 106 and his paternal grandfather 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 Aelia or Fundania Plautia. Augustan History states that his maternal grandfather and his maternal ancestors were of consular rank.
Aelius married a Roman woman called Avidia Plautia.[1] Her family came from Faventia (modern Faenza, Italy). Her mother is unknown, but her father was Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, a distinguished, wealthy, well connected politician who lived between the first and second century. There is an inscription found in Greek and Latin, dedicated to him at Delphi, Greece. Nigrinus served as a consul and became Roman governor of Greece. In 118, he was executed on orders from the Roman Senate, for being involved in a plot for overthrow Hadrian.
Aelius and Avidia had three children:
A son, Lucius Verus (130-169), who would be co-emperor from 161 until his death in 169 with Marcus Aurelius.
A daughter, Ceionia Fabia, who in 136 was engaged to Marcus Aurelius. In 138, Aurelius was adopted by emperor Antoninus Pius. Aurelius broke off the engagement with Fabia. Aurelius became engaged to Pius? daughter Faustina the Younger, whom he later married. However, little is known on Fabia.
Another daughter, Ceionia Plautia, of whom little is known.
Aelius was adopted by an aging and ailing Hadrian in 136 and named successor to the throne, although he had no military experience; he had served as a senator. He had powerful political connections, but was in poor health. His tastes were luxurious and his life extravagant. He is said to have had Ovid's erotic poetry and "a book about Apicius" (presumably Apion's On the Luxury of Apicius) as bedside reading, and to have personally invented the luxury dish tetrapharmacum.[2]
Aelius himself was never to become emperor, dying shortly before Hadrian. After Aelius' death, Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius (September 19, 86 - March 7, 161) on the condition that Antoninus Pius adopt the younger Lucius Verus and Hadrian's great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121 - March 17, 180). Marcus later co-ruled with Lucius as Marcus Aurelius until Lucius' death in 169, at which time he was sole ruler until his own death in 180. Aelius is a major character in Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian.
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