View source for Marcus Aurelius - Wikipedia
View source for Marcus Aurelius
← Marcus Aurelius
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:
Your IP address is in a range that has been blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation wikis.
The block was made by Jon Kolbert (meta.wikimedia.org).
The reason given is Open Proxy: Webhost: Contact stewards if you are affected .
Start of block: 20:12, 23 July 2019
Expiry of block: 20:12, 23 January 2022
Your current IP address is 40.76.139.33 and the blocked range is 40.76.0.0/16.
Please include all above details in any queries you make.
If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the No open proxies global policy.
Otherwise, to discuss the block please post a request for review on Meta-Wiki or send an email to the stewards OTRS queue at stewards@wikimedia.org including all above details.
You are currently unable to edit Wikipedia due to a block affecting this IP address.
This does not affect your ability to read Wikipedia pages.
Most people who see this message have done nothing wrong. Some kinds of blocks restrict editing from specific service providers or telecom companies in response to recent abuse or vandalism, and affect other users who are unrelated to that abuse. See below if you do not believe you have done anything wrong.
Editing from 40.76.0.0/16 has been blocked (disabled) by SQL for the following reason(s):
The IP address that you are currently using has been blocked because it is believed to be a web host provider or colocation provider. To prevent abuse, web hosts and colocation providers may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
You will not be able to edit Wikipedia using a web host or colocation provider because it hides your IP address, much like a proxy or VPN.
We recommend that you attempt to use another connection to edit. For example, if you use a proxy or VPN to connect to the internet, turn it off when editing Wikipedia. If you edit using a mobile connection, try using a Wi-Fi connection, and vice versa. If you have a Wikipedia account, please log in. If you do not have any other way to edit Wikipedia, you will need to request an IP block exemption.
If you are confident that you are not using a web host, you may appeal this block by adding the following text on your talk page: {{unblock|reason=Caught by a colocation web host block but this host or IP is not a web host. My IP address is _______. Place any further information here. ~~~~}}. You must fill in the blank with your IP address for this block to be investigated. Your IP address can be determined here. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your IP address private you can use the unblock ticket request system. There are several reasons you might be editing using the IP address of a web host or colocation provider (such as if you are using VPN software or a business network); please use this method of appeal only if you think your IP address is in fact not a web host or colocation provider.
Administrators: The IP block exemption user right should only be applied to allow users to edit using web host in exceptional circumstances, and requests should usually be directed to the functionaries team via email. If you intend to give the IPBE user right, a CheckUser needs to take a look at the account. This can be requested most easily at SPI Quick Checkuser Requests. Unblocking an IP or IP range with this template is highly discouraged without at least contacting the blocking administrator.
This block has been set to expire: 16:25, 2 June 2023.
Even when blocked, you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page and email other editors and administrators.
For information on how to proceed, first see the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful.
Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked
You can view and copy the source of this page:
===War with Parthia (161–166)===
{{main|Roman–Parthian War of 161–166}}
{{see also|Roman–Persian Wars}}
[[Image:VologasesIV.jpg|thumb|300px|Coin of [[Vologases IV of Parthia]]. Inscription: above ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΔΟΥ, right ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΒΟΛΑΓΑΣΟΥ, left ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ, below ΔΙΟΥ (Greek inscription for KING OF KINGS – ARSAKIS VOLAGASES – ILLUSTRIUS PHILELLENE). Year ΔΟΥ = ΥΟΔ΄ = 474 = 162–63.]]
On his deathbed, Antoninus spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him.[''HA Antoninus Pius'' xii.7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 114, 121.] One of those kings, [[Vologases IV of Parthia]], made his move in late summer or early autumn 161.[Event: ''HA Marcus'' viii. 6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 121. Date: Jaap-Jan Flinterman, 'The Date of Lucian's Visit to Abonuteichos,' ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 119 (1997): p. 281.] Vologases entered the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]] (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own – [[Bakur|Pacorus]], an [[Arsacid Empire|Arsacid]] like himself.[''HA Marcus'' viii. 6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 121.] The governor of Cappadocia, the frontline in all Armenian conflicts, was [[Marcus Sedatius Severianus]], a Gaul with much experience in military matters.[Lucian, ''Alexander'' 27; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 121.]
Convinced by the prophet [[Alexander of Abonutichus]] that he could defeat the Parthians easily and win glory for himself,[Lucian, ''Alexander'' 27; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 121–22. On Alexander, see: Robin Lane Fox, ''Pagans and Christians'' (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), pp. 241–50.] Severianus led a legion (perhaps the [[Legio IX Hispana|IX Hispana]][Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 278 n.19.]) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at [[Elegeia]], a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates. After Severianus made some unsuccessful efforts to engage Chosrhoes, he committed suicide, and his legion was massacred. The campaign had lasted only three days.[Dio 71.2.1; Lucian, ''Historia Quomodo Conscribenda'' 21, 24, 25; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 121–22.]
There was threat of war on other frontiers as well – in Britain, and in [[Raetia]] and Upper Germany, where the [[Chatti]] of the [[Taunus]] mountains had recently crossed over the ''[[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]]''.[''HA Marcus'' viii. 7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 122.] Marcus was unprepared. Antoninus seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Antoninus's twenty-three-year reign at his emperor's side and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.[''HA Antoninus Pius'' vii.11; ''Marcus'' vii.2; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 103–04, 122.]{{refn|[[Alan Cameron (classical scholar)|Alan Cameron]] adduces the 5th-century writer [[Sidonius Apollinaris]]'s comment that Marcus commanded 'countless legions' ''vivente Pio'' (while Antoninus was alive) while contesting Birley's contention that Marcus had no military experience. (Neither Apollinaris nor the ''Historia Augusta'' (Birley's source) are particularly reliable on 2nd-century history.[''Pan. Ath.'' 203–04, qtd. and tr. Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's ''Marcus Aurelius'', ''The Classical Review'' 17:3 (1967): p. 349.])|group=note}}
More bad news arrived: the Syrian governor's army had been defeated by the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.[''HA Marcus'' viii. 6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.] Reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier. P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding [[Legio X Gemina|X Gemina]] at [[Vindobona]] ([[Vienna]]), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the Danubian legions.[''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223837/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+08,+07050&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 8.7050]–[https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223843/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+08,+07051&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 51]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.] Three full legions were also sent east: [[Legio I Minervia|I Minervia]] from Bonn in Upper Germany,[''Incriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223850/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01097&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 1097]–[https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223856/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01098&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 98]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.] [[Legio II Adiutrix|II Adiutrix]] from Aquincum,[''Incriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223904/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01091&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 1091]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.] and [[Legio V Macedonica|V Macedonica]] from Troesmis.[''Incriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223912/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+02311&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 2311]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.]
The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible.[''HA Marcus'' xii. 13; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.] [[Marcus Annius Libo (consul 161)|M. Annius Libo]], Marcus's first cousin, was sent to replace the Syrian governor. His first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties,[''L'Année Épigraphique'' 1972.657 {{Cite web |url=http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=AE+1972,+00657&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |title=Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223919/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=AE+1972,+00657&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |archive-date=29 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 125.] and as a patrician, he lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.[''HA Verus'' 9.2; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 125.]
[[File:Marcus Aurelius, aureus, AD 166, RIC III 160.jpg|thumb|300px|Aureus of Marcus Aurelius (AD 166). On the reverse, [[Victoria (mythology)|Victoria]] is holding a shield inscribed 'VIC(toria) PAR(thica)', referring to his victory against the Parthians. Inscription: M. ANTONINVS AVG. / TR. P. XX, IMP. IIII, CO[N]S. III.[Mattingly & Sydenham, ''Roman imperial coinage'', vol. III, p. 226.]|alt=Coin of Marcus Aurelius. Victoria appears on the reverse, commemorating Marcus's Parthian victory.]]
Marcus took a four-day public holiday at [[Alsium]], a resort town on the coast of Etruria. He was too anxious to relax. Writing to Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday.[''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 1 (= Haines 2.3); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 126.] Fronto replied: 'What? Do I not know that you went to Alsium with the intention of devoting yourself to games, joking, and complete leisure for four whole days?'[''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 3.1 (= Haines 2.5), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 126.] He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Antoninus had enjoyed exercise in the ''[[palaestra]]'', fishing, and comedy),[''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 3.4 (= Haines 2.9); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 126–27.] going so far as to write up a fable about the gods' division of the day between morning and evening – Marcus had apparently been spending most of his evenings on judicial matters instead of at leisure.[''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 3.6–12 (= Haines 2.11–19); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 126–27.] Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. 'I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off', he wrote back.[''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 4, tr. Haines 2.19; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 127.] Marcus Aurelius put on Fronto's voice to chastise himself: ''Much good has my advice done you', you will say!' He had rested, and would rest often, but 'this devotion to duty! Who knows better than you how demanding it is!'[''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 4 (= Haines 2.19), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 127.]
{{multiple image|total_width=500
|image1=Antioch in Syria engraving by William Miller after H Warren.jpg
|caption1=The dissolute Syrian army spent more time in [[Antioch]]'s open-air taverns than with their units.[''Ad Verum Imperator'' 2.1.19 (= Haines 2.149); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129.] (Engraving by [[William Miller (engraver)|William Miller]] after a drawing by H. Warren from a sketch by Captain [[Thomas Byam Martin|Byam Martin]], R.N., 1866)
|alt1=Depiction of Antioch, Syria
|image2=ArRaqqahEuphrates.jpg
|caption2=The Euphrates River near [[Raqqa]], Syria
|alt2=Euphrates River
}}
Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material,[''De bello Parthico'' x. (= Haines 2.31), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 127.] and, to settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war, a long and considered letter, full of historical references. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled ''De bello Parthico'' (''On the Parthian War''). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes,[''De bello Parthico'' i–ii. (= Haines 2.21–23).] but in the end, Romans had always prevailed over their enemies: 'Always and everywhere [Mars] has changed our troubles into successes and our terrors into triumphs'.[''De bello Parthico'' i. (= Haines 2.21), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 127.]
Over the winter of 161–162, news that a rebellion was brewing in Syria arrived and it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person. He was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, and thus more suited to military activity.[Dio, lxxi. 1.3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.] Lucius's biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain Lucius's debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of war, and to realize that he was an emperor.[''HA Verus'' v. 8; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 123, 125.]{{refn|Birley believes there is some truth in these considerations.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 125.]|group=note}} Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and, in the summer of 162, Lucius left. Marcus would remain in Rome, as the city 'demanded the presence of an emperor'.[''HA Marcus'' viii. 9, tr. Magie; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 123–26. On Lucius's voyage, see: ''HA Verus'' vi. 7–9; ''HA Marcus'' viii. 10–11; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 125–26.]
Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at [[Laodicea in Syria|Laodicea]] and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129.] Critics declaimed Lucius's luxurious lifestyle,[''HA Verus'' iv.4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129.] saying that he had taken to gambling, would 'dice the whole night through',[''HA Verus'' iv. 6, tr. Magie; cf. v. 7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129.] and enjoyed the company of actors.[''HA Verus'' viii. 7, viii. 10–11; Fronto, ''Principae Historia'' 17 (= Haines 2.217); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129.]{{refn|The whole section of the ''vita'' dealing with Lucius's debaucheries (''HA Verus'' iv. 4–6.6), however, is an insertion into a narrative otherwise entirely cribbed from an earlier source. Most of the details are fabricated by the biographer himself, relying on nothing better than his own imagination.[Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus.', p. 69.]|group=note}} Libo died early in the war; perhaps Lucius had murdered him.[''HA Verus'' ix. 2; ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' 3.199 {{Cite web |url=http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+03,+00199&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |title=Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224122/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+03,+00199&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |archive-date=29 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 130–31.]
[[File:Statue of Lucilla detail.jpg|thumb|Marble statue of [[Lucilla]], 150–200 AD, [[Bardo National Museum (Tunis)|Bardo National Museum]], [[Tunisia]]|alt=Statue of Marcus's daughter Lucilla]]
In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Lucius made a trip to [[Ephesus]] to be married to Marcus's daughter Lucilla.[''HA Verus'' vii. 7; ''Marcus'' ix. 4; Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', p. 72; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163; cf. also Barnes, 'Legislation against the Christians', p. 39; 'Some Persons in the Historia Augusta', p. 142, citing the ''Vita Abercii'' 44ff.] Marcus moved up the date; perhaps he had already heard of Lucius's mistress Panthea.[''HA Verus'' 7.10; Lucian, ''Imagines'' 3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131. Cf. Lucian, ''Imagines'', ''Pro Imaginibus'', ''passim''.] Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163.] Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and Lucius's uncle (his father's half-brother) M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus,[''HA Verus'' vii. 7; ''Marcus'' ix. 4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131.] who was made ''[[comes]] Augusti'', 'companion of the emperors'. Marcus may have wanted Civica to watch over Lucius, the job Libo had failed at.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 131, citing ''Année Épigraphique'' 1958.15.] Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to Smyrna (the biographer says he told the senate he would), but this did not happen.[''HA Verus'' 7.7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131.] He only accompanied the group as far as [[Brundisium]], where they boarded a ship for the east.[''HA Marcus'' ix. 4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131.] He returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception.[''HA Marcus'' ix. 5–6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131.]
The Armenian capital [[Artashat (ancient city)|Artaxata]] was captured in 163.[''HA Marcus'' ix. 1; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.] At the end of the year, Lucius took the title ''Armeniacus'', despite having never seen combat; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year.[''HA Marcus'' ix. 1; ''HA Verus'' vii. 1–2; ''Ad Verrum Imperator'' 2.3 (= Haines 2.133); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.] When Lucius was hailed as ''imperator'' again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the ''Imperator II'' with him.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 233ff.]
Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata.[Dio, lxxi.3.1; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162; Millar, ''Near East'', p. 113.] A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, [[Sohaemus of Armenia|Gaius Julius Sohaemus]]. He may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 280 n. 42; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.] Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend {{Smallcaps|Rex armeniis Datus}}: Lucius sat on a throne with his staff while Sohaemus stood before him, saluting the emperor.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 261ff.; 300 ff.]
In 163, the Parthians intervened in [[Osroene]], a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia centred on [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]], and installed their own king on its throne.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 130, 279 n. 38; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani''2 M 169; Millar, ''Near East'', p. 112.] In response, Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the [[Euphrates]] at a more southerly point.[Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 130; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.] Before the end of 163, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank.[Fronto, ''Ad Verum Imperator'' ii.1.3 (= Haines 2.133); Astarita, 41; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 130; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.] Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates, other Roman forces moved on Osroene from Armenia, taking Anthemusia, a town southwest of Edessa.[''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223856/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01098&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 1098]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 130.]
In 165, Roman forces moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, and Mannus, the king deposed by the Parthians, was re-installed.[Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani''2 M 169.] The Parthians retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the [[Tigris]].[Lucian, ''Historia Quomodo Conscribenda'' 15, 19; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163.] A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura.[Lucian, ''Historia Quomodo Conscribenda'' 20, 28; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing Syme, ''Roman Papers'', 5.689ff.]
By the end of the year, Cassius's army had reached the twin metropolises of Mesopotamia: [[Seleucia]] on the right bank of the Tigris and [[Ctesiphon]] on the left. Ctesiphon was taken and its royal palace set to flame. The citizens of Seleucia, still largely Greek (the city had been commissioned and settled as a capital of the [[Seleucid Empire]], one of [[Alexander the Great]]'s [[Diadochi|successor kingdoms]]), opened its gates to the invaders. The city was sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on Lucius's reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first.[''HA Verus'' 8.3–4; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', 163. Birley cites R.H. McDowell, ''Coins from Seleucia on the Tigris'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1935), pp. 124ff., on the date.]
Cassius's army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely.[Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164.] Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as ''imperatores'' again, earning the title 'imp. III'.[Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 384 ff., 1248 ff., 1271 ff.] Cassius's army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into [[Media (region)|Media]]. Lucius took the title 'Medicus',[Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing P. Kneissl, ''Die Siegestitulatur der römischen Kaiser. Untersuchungen zu den Siegerbeinamen des 1. und 2. Jahrhunderts'' (Göttingen, 1969), pp. 99 ff.] and the emperors were again hailed as ''imperatores'', becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.[Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 401ff.] On 12 October of that year, Marcus proclaimed two of his sons, [[Marcus Annius Verus Caesar|Annius]] and [[Commodus]], as [[Caesar (title)|his heirs]].[Adams, p. 94.]
Return to Marcus Aurelius.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius"
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
Contribute
Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Page information
Wikidata item
Languages
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Mobile view
Developers
Statistics
Cookie statement