15 ANTONINUS PIUS (74; r.138-161)
Antoninus’ succession was smooth and it was probably because of his insistence on Hadrian’s deification that the Senate gave him the surname ‘Pius’. Although his reign was largely peaceful he waged a number of wars through his legates.
Further conquest in Britain (139-160) [3/3]
In 139 the governor in Britain, 02Lollius Urbicus (cos.135), reconquered southern Scotland and fortified the line between the firths of Clyde and Forth rivers with the Antonine Wall. A rebellion broke out in Brigantia in 155. The new governor, 29Julius Verus (cos.151) arrived with reinforcements and put it down by 158. Although at forty miles (70 km) the new wall was only half the length of Hadrian’s, it was later determined that the forces available were insufficient to occupy both walls and patrol the extended coastline. By 160 the Antonine limes were abandoned and Rome’s northern boundary in Britain returned to the line at Hadrian’s Wall.
Armenia
In 144 Antoninus put Sohaemus (r.144-161, 163-186), a Syrian aristocrat who had been serving as a Roman Senator, on the Armenian throne. Vologases III of Parthia, annoyed at being removed as the country’s client king, attacked Armenia but when Antoninus ordered him to withdraw he complied as he was not yet ready for conflict with the Roman legions.
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