Page "Antoninus Pius" Paragraph 15

On his accession, Antoninus ' name became " Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pontifex Maximus ".

One of his first acts as Emperor was to persuade the Senate to grant divine honours to Hadrian, which they had at first refused ; his efforts to persuade the Senate to grant these honours is the most likely reason given for his title of Pius ( dutiful in affection ; compare pietas ).

Two other reasons for this title are that he would support his aged father-in-law with his hand at Senate meetings, and that he had saved those men that Hadrian, during his period of ill-health, had condemned to death.