In 161, when she was between 11 and 13 years old, Lucilla's father arranged a marriage for her with his co-ruler
Lucius Verus. Verus, 18 years her senior, became her husband three years later in
Ephesus in 164. At this marriage, she received her title of
Augusta and became a Roman empress. At the same time, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus were fighting a
Parthian war in
Syria. Lucilla and Lucius Verus had three children: • Aurelia Lucilla was born in 165 in
Antioch • Lucilla Plautia • Lucius Verus Aurelia and Lucius died young. Lucilla was an influential and respectable woman and she enjoyed her status. She spent much time in Rome, while Verus was away from Rome much of the time, fulfilling his duties as a co-ruler. Lucius Verus died around 168/169 while returning from the war theater in the Danube region, and as a result, Lucilla lost her status as empress. As an unattached link to Emperor Aurelius and to the late co-emperor Verus and because of her royal-born offspring, Lucilla was not destined for a long widowhood. A short time later, in 169, her father arranged a second marriage for her with
Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus Quintianus from Antioch. He was a Syrian Roman who was twice consul and a political ally to her father, but Lucilla and her mother were against the marriage as a less than ideal match, partly because Quintianus was at least twice Lucilla's age, but also because he was not of her own Roman
nobilis social rank though he was descended from rulers in the East. They married nonetheless and, about a year later, in 170, had a son named
Pompeianus. ==Rise of Commodus==