ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the crucial period that saw the end of the pax Romana, the emergence of military emperors, the rise of legal experts, and the further deterioration of the senate as a political force. Beginning with the quiet rule of Antoninus Pius and the establishment of the Antonine Wall in Scotland, it provides a detailed examination through primary texts and archaeology of the Marcomannic Wars of Marcus Aurelius and the Parthian wars of Lucius Verus. These wars ended in Roman victories, but contemporary visual accounts of the conflict on the Danube, principally the Column of Marcus Aurelius, reveal the recognition of a new and violent world. During the 160s, the Antonine Plague struck the Roman and Parthian empires, killing many, and climate change affected the annual Nile flood. The short reign of Commodus, which formed the basis for the film Gladiator, is considered, as is the violence that followed his death. Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Clodius Albinus, and Pescennius Niger all failed in their efforts to hold the imperial throne, leaving Septimius Severus as victor. His heavy-handed rule delivered further blows to senatorial prestige, and raised the profile of the equestrians and the provincial armies. His sons, Caracalla and Geta, and their successors, Macrinus, Elagabalus, and Severus Alexander, could not find stability. The rise of the Sasanian dynasty under Ardashir I at the expense of the Arsacid Parthians presented the Romans with a new and dangerous enemy in the east, and an army mutiny claimed the life of Severus Alexander. The period is notable for the philhellenic cultural movement known as the Second Sophistic, and an efflorescence of literary culture including figures such as Fronto, Herodes Atticus, Aelius Aristides, Lucian, Cassius Dio, and Marcus Aurelius. It is further notable for the role of jurists in government, principally Papinian and Ulpian, and the role of powerful women: Faustina, Julia Domna, and Julia Maesa, and her daughters Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea.
