180

Events in 180 5

• 96 – 180 The Five Good Emperors — Rome at its peak The reigns of Nerva (96–98), Trajan (98–117), Hadrian (117–138), Antoninus Pius (138–161) and Marcus Aurelius (161–180) are considered the zenith of Roman imperial governance. Each (except Nerva) was adopted by his predecessor on merit rather than blood — the adoptive succession that Gibbon believed made this "the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous." The empire reaches its greatest territorial extent under Trajan.
• 121 – 180 Marcus Aurelius The Philosopher King Roman Emperor and author of "Meditations"; a practitioner of Stoicism in the face of imperial hardship.
• 161 – 180 Marcus Aurelius — philosopher emperor Marcus Aurelius, the last of the Five Good Emperors, is the closest approximation to Plato's philosopher-king in history. He writes the Meditations — a private Stoic philosophical diary — while campaigning on the Danube. His reign is dominated by the Antonine Plague (165–180 AD), which kills perhaps five million people across the empire, and continuous warfare on the northern frontier. He breaks the adoptive succession by allowing his son Commodus to succeed him — a decision Gibbon calls the beginning of Rome's decline.
• 165 – 180 Antonine Plague The Antonine Plague — possibly smallpox or measles, brought back by soldiers returning from the Parthian campaign — spreads across the empire from 165 to 180 AD, killing an estimated two to five million people. At its peak it kills 2,000 people per day in Rome. It weakens the empire's military and economic capacity at a critical moment, reducing the tax base and forcing the recruitment of barbarians into the legions. The physician Galen, who witnesses the epidemic, provides the most detailed surviving ancient account.
• 180 – 192 Commodus — the gladiator emperor Commodus, Marcus Aurelius's son and biological successor, abandons his father's serious governance for games, vanity and cruelty. He renames Rome "Colonia Commodiana," renames the months after himself, and fights in the arena as a gladiator — a mortal insult to senatorial dignity. He kills hundreds of animals in the Colosseum and bills the treasury for each appearance. He is strangled in his bath on 31 December 192 AD by a palace conspiracy. His death triggers the Year of the Five Emperors (193 AD) and opens the age of military chaos.