33 136–161 ad Lucius Verus

Lucius Verus

 
Roman emperor
Lucius Verus, in full Lucius Aurelius Verus, also called (136–161 ce) Lucius Ceionius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, original name Lucius Ceionius Commodus (born Dec. 15, 130—died 169) Roman emperor jointly (161–169) withMarcus Aurelius. Though he enjoyed equal constitutional status and powers, he did not have equal authority, nor did he seem capable of bearing his share of the responsibilities.

Lucius was the son of a senator, Lucius CeioniusCommodus, whom the emperor Hadrian adopted as his successor under the name Lucius Aelius Caesar. When Ceionius died on Jan. 1, 138, Hadrian designatedAntoninus Pius as his successor. He ordered Antoninus to adopt as his heirs Ceionius’s son Lucius and his own nephew Marcus Annius Verus (the future 

emperor Marcus Aurelius), who was also given the title caesar. Marcus insisted that his adoptive brother be given the same status and powers as himself, except for the titlepontifex maximus (high priest). Lucius then dropped the name Commodus and assumed Marcus’s original cognomen of Verus. In 164 he married Marcus’s daughter, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla, with whom he had several children. When sent to deal with Parthian conquests in Armenia and Mesopotamia (162–166), Lucius dallied in Antioch while subordinate generals concluded the war. He celebrated a triumph jointly with Marcus in October 166 and assumed the names Armeniacus, Parthicus, and Medicus (as conqueror of the Armenians, Parthians, and Medes)




n 167 or 168 Verus campaigned with Marcus Aurelius in the vicinity of Pannonia against a German people, the Marcomanni, but he died of a stroke on the march home.

roman wae against marcomannii

Pannonia, province of the Roman Empire, corresponding to present-day western Hungaryand parts of eastern Austria, as well as portions of several Balkan states, primarily Slovenia,Croatia, and Serbia (Vojvodina). The Pannonians were mainly Illyrians, but there were some Celts in the western part of the province.

The Roman conquest of the area began in 35 bce under Octavian (who later became the emperor Augustus) and was completed in 14 bce with the capture of Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, Vojvodina), the key town of the Sava River valley. The Pannonian tribes, joined by the Dalmatians, revolted in 6 ce, posing the gravest threat to Italy since Hannibal’s invasion. After the revolt was put down, Pannonia was organized as a separate province in 9 ce and garrisoned with three legions.

The emperor Trajan divided the province about 106 ce. The western and northern districts constituted Pannonia Superior, which was the focal point of the Roman wars with theMarcomanni in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (reigned 161–180), who died at Vindobona (Vienna). The southern and eastern districts were organized as Pannonia Inferior underDiocletian (284–305). Pannonia Superior was divided into Pannonia Prima and Pannonia Ripariensis (or Savia), and Pannonia Inferior was divided into Valeria and Pannonia Secunda.

The inhabitants of Pannonia retained their own culture into the 2nd century ce, but Romanization did proceed rapidly, especially in the west. In the 1st century ce Emona (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Savaria (Szombathely, Hungary) were made Roman colonies, and Scarbantia (Sopron, Hungary) and other cities were made municipia (self-governing communities). Pannonia was the birthplace of several Roman emperors of the 3rd century, and the province provided large numbers of troops for the Roman army. The grave barbarian threat in the 4th century ce forced the Romans to withdraw after 395. From that time Pannonia ceased to exist as a separate unit.

The Marcomanni were a branch of the Suebi, a Germanic people that inhabited the territories east from the Rhine. The Marcomanni originally lived in what is today Thuringia and Saxony (Germany), migrating in the 1st century to Bohemia. In this region, under Maroboduus, they organized a confederation of tribes. However, around 18 AD, they moved to the Danube region, from where they carried out attacks on Roman outposts on the borders. These raids would increase in time and turn into what is known as the Marcomannic Wars, which took place between 166 and 180 AD, ending with a Roman victory, during the time of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. By the end of the 5th century, at the fall of the Roman Empire, the Marcomanni had finally migrated to Bavaria where they settled permanently.