ADOPTIVE EMPERORS (96–197 C.E.)
Th e Adoptive Emperors Era was one in which the Roman
emperors rejected the idea of emperors being succeeded by
natural-born sons. Instead, they each adopted a man they
considered to be an able leader, thereby making that man
next in line to the throne. Th us, Emperor Nerva (r. 96–98
c.e.) adopted a man from Spain, Trajan (r. 98–117 c.e.).
Trajan was an empire builder. Th e kingdom of Dacia, in
present-day Romania, posed a threat to Rome. Th e Dacians
had fought and defeated the Romans in the past. From 101
to 102 c.e. Trajan’s legions fought Dacia to an apparent stale-
mate. Trajan tried to negotiate a settlement with the Dacian
king, but the king ended negotiations in 105 c.e. Trajan in-
vaded Dacia, overcame its army, and made it a province of the
Roman Empire. From 114 to 115 c.e. Trajan conquered Ar-
menia and much of northern Mesopotamia, adding them to
the empire. His legions fought the Parthian Empire and ad-
vanced through southern Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf,
then withdrew back to northern Mesopotamia.
Trajan was succeeded by Hadrian (r. 117–38 c.e.).
Rather than follow up on Trajan’s gains against the Parthi-
ans, Hadrian chose to pursue peace. He had a 75-mile stone
wall built across the northern frontier of Rome’s territory in
Britain and a 350-mile wooden one built between the Rhine
and Danube rivers, each intended to keep enemies out. Th e
purpose of the Roman army shift ed from being aggressive to
defensive. Historians oft en mark Hadrian’s reign as the era
in which the Roman Empire’s decline began, because Roman
policy had shift ed from seeking out enemies and defeating
them to waiting for attacks and then repelling them. Th is
gave Rome’s enemies the choice of when and where to fi ght.
Th e next emperor began the Antonine Age (138–92 c.e.).
He was Antoninus Pius (r. 138–61 c.e.). Whereas Hadrian
had traveled all over the empire to meet with people and dis-
cuss their problems, Antoninus Pius stayed in Italy. Th rough
diplomacy and threats, he avoided major wars. On his death
he was succeeded by two men who seem to have gotten along
well with each other: Lucius Verus (r. 161–69 c.e.) and Mar-
cus Aurelius (r. 161–80 c.e.).
In 162 c.e. the Parthians invaded the Eastern Roman
Empire, and Lucius Verus led an army against them. In 165
c.e. the Roman army had penetrated to the heart of the Par-
thian Empire and sacked the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon.
In 169 c.e. Lucius Verus died of an illness, perhaps from a
plague that carried off thousands of Romans. Th is left Marcus
Aurelius as sole ruler. He was a Stoic, a follower of a philo-
sophical discipline in which he did not allow himself to show
outward emotion or allow emotion to overcome his thinking.
His personal journal, known as Meditations, is still studied
for its wisdom. In 170 c.e. the Germanic tribes Quadi and
Marcomanni crossed the Danube and attacked Italy. Rome
managed to repel the invasion, and Marcus Aurelius spent
much of the last decade of his reign unsuccessfully trying to
expand Roman domination beyond the Danube.
He was succeeded by Commodus (r. 180–92 c.e.), who
paid little attention to the day-to-day business of government.
Perhaps as a consequence, government corruption grew to a
level that angered the Roman public. Commodus loved gladi-
atorial combat and sometimes participated as a gladiator
himself. He was planning to participate in New Year’s gladi-
atorial contests when he was murdered on the fi nal day of 192
c.e., fi rst poisoned and then strangled.
Aft er Commodus’s death, Rome quickly went through
three emperors. Publius Helvius Pertinax (r. 193 c.e.) was an
elderly statesman and general who was murdered by the Prae-
torian Guard. Marcus Didius Julianus (r. 193 c.e.) was over-
thrown and killed by the general Lucius Septimius Severus
(r. 193–211 c.e.). Severus faced two rival emperors. One was
Pescennius Niger (r. 192–94 c.e.), whose army Severus de-
feated in three battles in the Near East; Niger was murdered
in Antioch. Th e other was Decimus Clodius Septimius Al-
binus (r. 193–97 c.e.), who took four years to dispose of. Al-
though he was originally from North Africa, Albinus was the
governor of Britain. He had the support of much of the Sen-
ate. Severus defeated his army near Lyon, in modern France,
in 197 c.e.SEVERAN DYNASTY (193–268 C.E.)
Th e founder of the Severan Dynasty, Severus was from North
Africa. He was married to a Syrian priestess, Julia Domna.
Severus was a dynamic and aggressive leader who tried to shift
the Roman Empire back to attacking its enemies rather than
defending against them. From 195 to 198 c.e. he seized ter-
ritory from the Parthians, founding a pair of new provinces
in the captured lands, and he established a new province in
North Africa while extending Roman authority southward.
He tried but failed to expand Roman rule northward in Brit-
ain, to encompass modern Scotland. He left his empire to his
sons, Caracalla (r. 211–17 c.e.) and Geta (r. 211–12), who was
murdered by Caracalla. Caracalla granted Roman citizen-
ship to all free men in the empire in 212 c.e.
Th e succeeding Roman emperors had to deal with multi-
ple threats from within and outside the empire. From within
came assassination conspiracies; from without came attacks
from the Alemanni Germans across the Rhine, the Goths
who had settled in Ukraine, and the Parthian Empire, now
under the rule of a new Persian Dynasty, the Sassanids. In
260 c.e. Emperor Valerian (r. 253–60 c.e.) was captured and
killed by the Sassanids. Valerian’s son Gallienus (r. 253–68
c.e.) tried to use diplomacy to hold the empire together and
stave off its enemies, but Gaul seceded to form its own nation,
and provinces in the east tried to become more independent
of Rome.
Th e breakaway nation of Gaul had three emperors: Postu-
mus (r. ca. 258–68 c.e.), Victorinus (r. 268–270 c.e.), and Tet-
ricus (r. 270–274 c.e.). In 260 c.e. Postumus created the Gallic
Empire, and in 261 c.e. he had control of Spain, Britain, and
t he Germanic territories in centra l Europe as wel l as t he Ga l lic
provinces. Th e Gallic Empire issued coinage and held off the416 empires and dynasties: Rome