-138 AD- Antoninus Pius was now emperor of Rome.
-Everyone seemed happy about this, including the Senate, as they had absolutely hated Hadrian.
-Antoninus was well-liked by just about everyone.
-Because of Antoninus' popularity, the histories reflect that this was arguably the reason for why iut was written that this was the zenith of the Roman Empire.
-However, is this actually true? The consensus nowadays seems to be that while Antoninus wasn't a bad emperor, he also wasn't exactly the best either, as he didn't really do anything truly amazing.
-Antoninus ended up living a long life, so Hadrian's plan of having Marcus Aurelius become a young emperor didn't pan out exactly as he had hoped.
-Most scholars believe that Antoninus received the "Pius" after his name because of his push to have Hadrian (his father-in-law) deified (which the Senate was loathe to do but ultimately acquiesced), but there are other possible reasons for why as well.
-During this time the empire was quickly losing its "Roman" character, as more and more elites from the provinces entered the Senate and the imperial circle of advisers.
-This was especially the case during the reign of Hadrian, but Antoninus (himself born in Gaul) seemed to rely more on Italian men for his official appointments.
-Thus, this marked the last gasp of Italian supremacy before the power shifted to the provincials.
-Hadrian had been quite "progressive" in terms of innovation, expansion, etc. However, Antoninus was clearly much more conservative and more concerned with maintenance and keeping shit running normally.
-Didn't spend much money either unless it was for the public good, and was very strict with spending imperial funds, often spending his own money to help with public service projects (especially during emergencies and disasters).
-Antoninus was also constantly asked by neighboring states to have Rome take them on as clients, but he refused on the basis that the empire was already maxed out and couldn't afford to take on any more at that time. Unfortunately, this would actually cause big problems in the future, but worked fine during his own reign.
-Meanwhile in Britannia, the Romans were able to crush the rebel Brigantes and push further north into their territory.
-The wall known as "the Antonine Wall" was then constructed 100 miles north of Hadrian's Wall.
-In North Africa, the Romans began to clash with natives in Mauretania, and Antoninus was unsuccessful in pacifying the situation.
-The empire also started experiencing problems in other places as well- clashes along the Danube River with Germanic hordes, another minor rebellion in Judea, etc.
-Despite this, Antoninus rarely got involved in war, and almost always opted for peaceful solutions.
-However, it would be a mistake to see Antoninus as lazy or boring; he worked actively to micro-manage everything and was always working closely with those around him in order to minimize corruption.
-Antoninus also passed legislation that gave slaves more rights (as up to this point they had had very few).
-Pronounced that although slaves have a duty to their master, masters also have duties to their slaves.
-For example, if a master was cruel to his slaves, he could be ordered to sell them; likewise, if a master killed his slave, he could be arrested on charges of murder.
-However, it's important to note that Antoninus wasn't some revolutionary human rights activist; this was kind of the trend of the times and he also wanted to prevent future slave uprisings and shit.
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