(Italy), late 2nd-century AD, now in the
Louvre, Paris In 161,
Vologases IV of Parthia invaded the
Kingdom of Armenia (then a Roman client state), expelled its king, and installed
Pacorus, an
Arsacid like himself. The governor of Cappadocia, Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters was convinced by the prophet
Alexander of Abonutichus that he could defeat the Parthians easily, and win glory for himself. Severianus led his forces (perhaps the
Ninth Legion of Hispania) 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 attempting to fight Chosrhoes, Severianus committed suicide, and his legion was massacred. The campaign had lasted only three days. There were also threats of war in Britain, and in
Raetia and
Upper Germany, where the
Chatti of the
Taunus mountains had recently crossed into Roman territory. Apparently having been given no military education by Pius, Marcus was unprepared. He had spent no part of his predecessor's twenty-three-year reign in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers. With news of Severianus' defeat, reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier. P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding
the Tenth Legion (Gemina) at Vindobona (Vienna), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the Danubian legions. Other forces were also sent east:
the First Legion (Minervia) from Bonn in Upper Germany,
the Second Legion (Adiutrix) from Aquincum, and
the Fifth Legion (Macedonica) from Troesmis. The northern frontier was strategically weakened and its governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible. M. Annius Libo, Marcus' young first cousin, was made the new governor of Syria. His first consulship had been in 161, and he lacked military experience. Surviving letters from Marcus to Fronto describe a holiday the emperor took in
Etruria, at the coastal resort town of
Alsium, during which he was too anxious to relax. Fronto encouraged Marcus Aurelius to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Pius had enjoyed exercise in the
palaestra, fishing, and comedy), He went so far as to write a fable about the gods' division of the day between morning and evening, to help Marcus break his habit of spending his evenings working on judicial matters instead of relaxing. Marcus, unable to take his former tutor's advise, wrote back: "I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off". Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material, and, to settle his unease over the course of the 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, 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".
Lucius at Antioch, 162–165 by
William Miller after H. Warren from a sketch by Captain
Byam Martin, R.N., 1866. The dissolute Syrian army was said to spend more time in the city's open-air cafés than with their units. Over the winter of 161–162, as more bad news arrived—a rebellion was brewing in Syria—it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person. It has been suggested that he was stronger and healthier than Marcus, and more suited to military activity. Verus' biographer suggests ulterior motives, such as restraining his debaucheries, making him more thrifty, reforming his morals through the terrors of war, and helping him realize his role as emperor. Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and, in the summer of 162, Lucius left. Marcus would remain in Rome; the city "demanded the presence of an emperor". Lucius spent most of the campaign in
Antioch, though he wintered at
Laodicea and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch. Critics declaimed Lucius' luxurious lifestyle. He had taken to gambling, they said; he would "dice the whole night through". He enjoyed the company of actors. Libo died early in the war; perhaps Verus had murdered him. In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Verus made a trip to
Ephesus to be married to Marcus' daughter Lucilla. Marcus moved up the date; perhaps he was disturbed by stories of Verus' mistress, the low-born and beautiful Panthea. Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen. Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, the half-brother of Lucius' father. Civica was made
comes Augusti, "companion of the emperors"; perhaps Marcus wanted him to watch over Lucius, the job Libo had failed at. Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to
Smyrna (the biographer of the
Historia Augusta says he told the senate he would); this did not happen. He only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a ship for the east. Marcus returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception.
Counterattack and victory, 163–166 The Armenian capital
Artaxata was captured in 163. At the end of the year, Verus took the title
Armeniacus, despite having never seen combat; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year. When Verus was hailed as
imperator again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the
Imperator II with him. , Syria Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata. A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, C. Iulius Sohaemus. He may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus. Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend : Lucius sat on a throne with his staff while Sohamenus stood before him, saluting the emperor. In 163, the Parthians intervened in
Osroene, a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia centered on
Edessa, and installed their own king on its throne. In response, Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point. Before the end of 163, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy
Dausara and
Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank. Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates, other Roman forces moved on
Osroene from Armenia, taking
Anthemusia, a town south-west of Edessa. In 165, Roman forces moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, and Mannus, the king deposed by the Parthians, was re-installed. The Parthians retreated to
Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris. A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura. By the end of the year, Cassius' 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
successor kingdoms), opened its gates to the invaders. The city got sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on Lucius' reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first. Cassius' army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely. Verus took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as
imperatores again, earning the title 'imp. III'. Cassius' army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into Media. Verus took the title 'Medicus', and the emperors were again hailed as
imperatores, becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus Aurelius took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.
Conclusion of the war and events at Rome, mid-160s–167 Most of the credit for the war's success must be ascribed to subordinate generals, the most prominent of which was
C. Avidius Cassius, commander of III Gallica, one of the Syrian legions. Cassius was young senator of low birth from the north Syrian town of
Cyrrhus. His father, Heliodorus, had not been a senator, but was nonetheless a man of some standing: he had been Hadrian's
ab epistulis, followed the emperor on his travels, and was prefect of Egypt at the end of Hadrian's reign. Cassius also, with no small sense of self-worth, claimed descent from the
Seleucid kings. Cassius and his fellow commander in the war, Martius Verus, still probably in their mid-thirties, took the consulships for 166. After their consulships, they were made governors: Cassius, of Syria; Martius Verus, of Cappadocia. At Rome, Marcus Aurelius was occupied with family matters. Matidia, his great-aunt, had died. Her will was invalid under the
lex Falcidia: Matidia had assigned more than three-quarters of her estate to non-relatives; her clients had convinced her to include them in
codicils to her will. Matidia had never confirmed the documents, but, as she lay unconscious, her clients had sealed them in with the original, making them valid. It was an embarrassing situation. Fronto urged Marcus to push the family's case; Marcus demurred. He was going to consult his brother, who would make the final call. The returning army carried with them a plague, afterwards known as the
Antonine Plague, or the Plague of
Galen, which spread through the Roman Empire between 165 and 180. The disease was a
pandemic believed to have been either
smallpox or
measles but the true cause remains undetermined. The epidemic may have claimed the life of Lucius Verus, who died in 169. The disease broke out again nine years later, according to the Roman historian
Dio Cassius, causing up to 2,000 deaths a day in Rome, one quarter of those who were affected, giving the disease a mortality rate of about 25%. The total deaths have been estimated at five million, and the disease killed as much as one-third of the population in some areas and devastated the Roman army. ==Legal and administrative work, 161–180==