Marcus Annius Verus (praetor)

Marcus Annius Verus (died 124) was a distinguished Roman politician who lived in the 2nd century, served as a praetor and was the biological father of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

He was the son of Roman Senator Marcus Annius Verus and noblewoman Rupilia Faustina. His brother was Marcus Annius Libo and his sister was Faustina the Elder who married the Emperor Antoninus Pius. He married Domitia Lucilla, the heiress of a wealthy family which owned a tile factory. They had two children, Marcus Aurelius (born in 121, and who was also originally named Marcus Annius Verus), and Annia Cornificia Faustina (born in 123). Annius Verus died young while he held the office of praetor.^[1] Both his children were still infants. The likeliest year of his death is 124.^[2]

In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, who was only about 3 years old when his father died, says of him: "From what I heard of my father and my memory of him, modesty and manliness."^[3]

Notes

^ Historia Augusta, Marcus Aurelius, 1
^ "His younger brother Annius Libo was consul in 128 and can hardly have been praetor later than 126. Verus must have been praetor earlier than this and 124 is the likeliest year of his death." Anthony Richard Birley, 2000, Marcus Aurelius: A Biography, page 31.
^ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, i. 2

Nerva–Antonine family tree

(1) = 1st spouse
(2) = 2nd spouse (not shown)
(3) = 3rd spouse
SMALL CAPS = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)
dotted lines indicate adoption or (in the case of Hadrian and Antinous) alleged lovers