Name Gnaeus Antoninus | ||
Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus (born AD 31) was the maternal grandfather of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. A member of the Arrius family, a family of consular rank, Antoninus was also an office holder, having been twice consul; for the first time in 69 and the second in 97; he was also proconsul of Asia in 78/79.
Antoninus was a friend and correspondent to Roman Senator and historian Pliny the Younger. The Augustan History describes him as a ‘righteous person', and he pitied Nerva when he became Roman Emperor in 96.
Antoninus married a Roman woman called Boionia Procilla. They had two daughters, Arria Antonina (born c. 70) who married the Roman Senator Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus, by whom she had a son called Lucius Caesennius Antoninus. Their other daughter, Arria Fadilla, married Titus Aurelius Fulvus, who was a consul in 89. Their only child, was a son, who became future Roman Emperor Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus Pius (19 September 86-7 March 161). Antoninus Pius' father had died when he was young. Following Pius' father's death, Fadilla married Publius Julius Lupus (a man of consular rank), Suffect Consul in 98 and bore him two daughters Julia Fadilla and Arria Lupula.
Antoninus raised his grandson and when he died, Antoninus Pius inherited his money. Through the inheritances of both sides, Antoninus Pius became one of the wealthiest men in Rome.