Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus entered the world on the 19th of September 86 near Lanuvium in Italy. He grew up under the care of his maternal grandfather Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus who counted Pliny the Younger among his friends.
Emperor Hadrian selected Antoninus as his successor on the 25th of February 138 following the death of Lucius Aelius. The adoption came with strict conditions requiring Antoninus to take Marcus Annius Verus and Lucius into his own household before assuming power without opposition.
Governor Quintus Lollius Urbicus led an invasion of southern Scotland early in 139 AD resulting in victories and the construction of the Antonine Wall stretching from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. J.J. Wilkes noted that Antoninus likely never commanded a Roman army throughout his twenty-three-year reign while managing provincial crises through letters and governors.
Antoninus left behind a public treasury containing approximately 2.7 billion sesterces upon his death and suspended tax collection from cities affected by natural disasters including fires at Rome and earthquakes striking Rhodes. He introduced principles favoring libertatis giving freedmen the benefit of doubt when claims remained unclear and punished masters who killed slaves without trial.
He passed away on the 7th of March 161 after turning seventy in 156 finding it difficult to remain upright without physical supports. When asked for the password by the night-watch tribune he responded aequanimitas meaning equanimity before turning over as if going to sleep.