The temple of Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius was begun in the time of Emperor Hadrian and consecrated under Emperor Antoninus Pius. It was donated by the city's dignitaries. Its importance, however, was probably limited to the city and its immediate surroundings. In the course of the 5th century this temple seems to have been transformed into a bishop's church.

Known today as "Antoninus Pius Temple", the temple was not only the largest, but also the most splendidly equipped sacred building in the city. As part of a complex imperial shrine with porticoes on all four sides, he found a correspondence in Pisidia only in the "Sebastaion" in Antiochia ad Pisidiam.

Antoninus Pius (* 19 September 86; † 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 10 July 138 until his death. The Roman Empire experienced its last longer period of peace under him, the fourth of the six adoptive emperors and founders of the Antonine Dynasty. After Augustus, the reign of Antoninus Pius was the second longest of a Roman emperor before Late Antiquity, although he was actually only intended as a transitional emperor.

Antoninus grew up in Lorium near Rome and married Annia Galeria Faustina at 110. Emperor Hadrian made Antoninus one of the four former consuls in charge of justice in Italy and a member of his throne council.
On 24 January 138 Hadrian made him his successor, made him Caesar and adopted him on 25 February, after the heir to the throne and Caesar Lucius Aelius had died. There are some indications, however, that the terminally ill Hadrian actually wanted to favour the even younger Lucius Verus, who was engaged to Antoninus' daughter Faustina in February 138.
After Hadrian's death on 10 July 138, Antoninus became his successor as Augustus and Emperor. He immediately intervened decisively in Hadrian's regulation and emphasized Mark Aurel more strongly against Lucius Verus: The engagement of his daughter to Lucius Verus ordered by Hadrian was dissolved, instead Antoninus married her to Mark Aurel and thus made him the only imperial son-in-law.