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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3726041, member: 19463&quot;]Titus <u>Aelius</u>.&nbsp; Earlier coins often include &quot;T AEL&quot; making them easy to ID since he was the only Titus that used the name Antoninus.&nbsp; Antoninus Pius was selected to succeed Hadrian after the death of Aelius Caesar.&nbsp; Hadrian required Pius to adopt Aelius&#039; son Lucius Verus as well as his own nephew Marcus Aurelius as a package deal to get the position.&nbsp; The boys were too young to rule then but Aurelius showed promise and Verus was the son of the man Hadrian wanted to succeed him.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]998925[/ATTACH] </p><p>This one even adds HADRI to the name T AEL CAES HADRI ANTONINVS.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]998926[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Those unfamiliar with the story might want to research the dispute over the deification of Hadrian.&nbsp; Pius was the right man for the job but the last one that had the sense to select a proper successor rather than a natural child.&nbsp; I wonder who Marcus Aurelius might have selected had he no children and continued the adoptive string.&nbsp; Pertinax? How would Rome have changed?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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