Marcus Annius Verus

Marcus Annius Verus was a Roman man who lived in the 1st and 2nd century. He was the son of an elder Marcus Annius Verus, who gained the rank of senator and praetor. His family originated from Uccibi (modern Espejo) near Corduba (modern Córdoba) in Spain. The family came to prominence and became wealthy through olive oil production in Spain.

He was prefect of Rome and was enrolled as a patrician when Vespasian and Titus were censors. Verus was three times consul. One was under the Emperor Domitian, one in 121 and the other in 126. Verus married Rupilia Faustina, a daughter from a consular family and had three children:

• Annia Galeria Faustina or Faustina the Elder, a future Roman Empress who married future Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius;
• Marcus Annius Libo, a future consul; and,
• Marcus Annius Verus, a praetor who married Domitia Lucilla and became father to future Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his sister Annia Cornificia Faustina.

After his son Marcus Annius Verus died in 124, the elder Verus adopted and raised Marcus Aurelius and his sister Annia Cornificia Faustina. In his "Meditations", Marcus Aurelius describes his paternal grandfather as a man of 'decency' and 'a mild temper' (1.1n). Marcus Annius Verus died in 138, nearly aged ninety. In his elder years, he had a mistress.

Marcus Aurelius says in his "Meditations": "From my grandfather Verus, a kindly disposition and sweetness of temper."