Explanation: Antoninus Pius is one of the “Five Good Emperors”, a series of five Emperors in a row who were well-regarded by history. Antoninus Pius got his name (‘Pius’) because he was a good and loyal son to his (sometimes mercurial) adoptive father, the Emperor Hadrian. He proceeded to embark on no major military campaigns, and spent the next two decades of rule investing in public roads, bridges, aqueducts and other systems for publicly available water, and welfare measures for the poor, including for orphans (not an actual orphanage; the original pic is a little inaccurate but they’ve got the spirit). He reduced taxes on areas experiencing hardship, funded the arts, medicine, and philosophy, and still managed to have a massive budget surplus by the end of his reign.
He brought to the Empire extensive legal reform in all areas, increasing the rights of slaves against mistreatment or murder at their masters’ hands and ensuring that when a man’s status as a slave was in doubt, one was to err on the side of freedom, not slavery. He also significantly reduced the use of torture in the Empire (reduced, not eliminated, because ultimately, as with slavery, the past is still a really shitty place). He had a warm relationship with the Jews of the Empire after his predecessor, Hadrian, quite famously… did not… and put Christians under his personal protection as Emperor (a state of affairs which sadly would fade after a few Emperors).
Not only that, but his two adoptive sons who became Emperor after him both remembered him very fondly after his death as a man of good humor and great patience, who enjoyed fishing and watching comedic plays and boxing matches. Man was probably one of the most wholesome human beings to ever become the most powerful man in the world.
when a man’s status as a slave was in doubt, one was to err on the side of freedom, not slavery
i have a new hero, that’s awesome… what an Eternal Dude this guy was… a real example to follow, and there must be a long list of kings and so forth who genuinely measured themselves against him…
Unfortunately, while he is remembered as a wise and fair Emperor, he is generally overshadowed by his more militarily active predecessors, Hadrian and Trajan, or by his adoptive son, the Philosopher-Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
thanks for adding that BRUTAL Roman context lol… but i also want to make sure to shout the guy out for this one as well…
He reduced taxes on areas experiencing hardship, funded the arts, medicine, and philosophy, and still managed to have a massive budget surplus by the end of his reign.
this is what people need to understand… most other Roman administrations were nothing but sieves because of their more typical behavior…
enlightened societies are prosperous
sorry to double reply, but i really wanted to make this other point because it bugs the hell out of me personally…
he is generally overshadowed
it’s great that you chose those words… it’s true, he is eclipsed by them in history texts, written by historians… this is obviously due to the fact that historians are obsessed with conflict… there is nothing interesting to talk about when everyone is living a nice, peaceful life… especially if it lasts a long time…
Tolkien explains this concept incredibly well in the foreword to the Hobbit, i think… he says something like, “good days are nice to live, but nobody wants to hear you talk about them… whereas everyone wants to hear a scary story…” historians like to talk about dragons…
Ancient historians, certainly. Modern historians take a much stronger interest in such things.
as you are demonstrating here, thank you… perhaps i should have said that Tolkien suggests it’s hard to get a hobbit to listen, unless there’s a dragon…
There are some really fascinating fields that have emerged since the revival of history as an academic discipline in the 19th century, and especially since the second half of the 20th century. Some really great work on the social fabric of past societies, rather than war, politics, and tabloid gossip that usually gets recorded.
Not that any of that is necessarily bad, I love reading about that too, lmao, but it’s nice to have a wider view of things!
great work on the social fabric of past societies,
yeah, this is what i’m talking about, and how that social fabric has progressed, and is still progressing as a thing unto itself… specifically in spite of war, which hates civilization…
thank you for adding that further context
that’s why i loved this post right away… it’s about one of the guys whose life was totally committed to that fabric, and we still owe this guy today in a way we don’t understand well…
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