Roman–Parthian War of 161–166
Roman–Parthian war of 161–166 | |||||||||
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Part of the Roman–Parthian Wars | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Roman Empire | Parthian Empire | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Lucius Verus Avidius Cassius Marcus Claudius Fronto Marcus Statius Priscus Publius Martius Verus |
Vologases IV of Parthia Chosrhoes |
The Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 (also called the Parthian War of Lucius Verus[1]) was fought between the Roman and Parthian Empires over Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia. It concluded in 166 after the Romans made successful campaigns into Lower Mesopotamia and Media and sacked Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital.
Origins to Lucius' dispatch, 161–162
On his deathbed in the spring of 161,
There was threat of war on other frontiers as well—in
More bad news arrived: Attidius Cornelianus' army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.
Marcus took a four-day public holiday at Alsium, a resort town on the Etrurian coast. He was too anxious to relax. Writing to his former tutor Marcus Cornelius Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday.[24] Fronto replied ironically: "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?"[25] He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Pius had enjoyed exercise in the palaestra, fishing, and comedy),[26] 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 leisure.[27] Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. "I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off," he wrote back.[28] Marcus 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!"[29]
Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material, including Cicero's pro lege Manilia, in which the orator had argued in favor of Pompey taking supreme command in the Mithridatic War. It was an apt reference (Pompey's war had taken him to Armenia), and may have had some impact on the decision to send Lucius to the eastern front.[30] "You will find in it many chapters aptly suited to your present counsels, concerning the choice of army commanders, the interests of allies, the protection of provinces, the discipline of the soldiers, the qualifications required for commanders in the field and elsewhere [...][notes 2]"[32] To settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war, Fronto wrote Marcus 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, at Allia, at Caudium, at Cannae, at Numantia, Cirta, and Carrhae;[33] under Trajan, Hadrian, and Pius;[34] 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".[35]
Lucius' dispatch and journey east, 162–163?
Over the winter of 161–62, as more bad news arrived—a rebellion was brewing in
Laelianus had been governor of both
Lucius left in the summer of 162 to take a ship from
Verus continued eastward via
Dissipation and logistics at Antioch, 162?–165
Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at
Critics declaimed Lucius' luxurious lifestyle.[69] He had taken to gambling, they said; he would "dice the whole night through".[70] He enjoyed the company of actors.[71] He made a special request for dispatches from Rome, to keep him updated on how his chariot teams were doing.[72] He brought a golden statue of the Greens' horse Volucer around with him, as a token of his team spirit.[73] Fronto defended his pupil against some of these claims: the Roman people needed Lucius' bread and circuses to keep them in check.[74][notes 6]
This, at least, is how the biographer has it. The whole section of the vita dealing with Lucius' debaucheries (HA Verus 4.4–6.6) is an insertion into a narrative otherwise entirely cribbed from an earlier source. Some few passages seem genuine;[notes 7] others take and elaborate something from the original.[notes 8] The rest is by the biographer himself, relying on nothing better than his own imagination.[79]
Lucius faced quite a task. Fronto described the scene in terms recalling Corbulo's arrival one hundred years before.[80] The Syrian army had turned soft during the east's long peace. They spent more time at the city's open-air bars than in their quarters. Under Lucius, training was stepped up. Pontius Laelianus ordered that their saddles be stripped of their padding. Gambling and drinking were sternly policed.[81] Fronto wrote that Lucius was on foot at the head of his army as often as on horseback. He personally inspected soldiers in the field and at camp, including the sick bay.[82]
Lucius sent Fronto few messages at the beginning of the war. He sent Fronto a letter apologizing for his silence. He would not detail plans that could change within a day, he wrote. Moreover, there was little thus far to show for his work: "not even yet has anything been accomplished such as to make me wish to invite you to share in the joy".[83] Lucius did not want Fronto to suffer the anxieties that had kept him up day and night.[84] One reason for Lucius' reticence may have been the collapse of Parthian negotiations after the Roman conquest of Armenia. Lucius' presentation of terms was seen as cowardice.[85] The Parthians were not in the mood for peace.[86]
Lucius needed to make extensive imports into Antioch, so he opened a sailing route up the
In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Lucius made a trip to Ephesus to be married to Marcus' daughter Lucilla.[88] Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen.[89] Marcus had moved up the date: perhaps stories of Panthea had disturbed him.[90] Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and Marcus Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, the half-brother of Lucius' father.[91] Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to Smyrna (the biographer says he told the senate he would); this did not happen.[92] Marcus only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a ship for the east.[93] Marcus returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception.[94] Lucilla would bear three of Lucius' children in the coming years. Lucilla became Lucilla Augusta.[95]
Counterattack and victory, 163–166
The Legions I Minervia, commanded by M. Claudius Fronto and V Macedonica, commanded by P. Martius Verus, served under Marcus Statius Priscus in Armenia, achieving success during the campaign season of 163,[96] culminating with the capture of the Armenian capital Artaxata.[97] 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.[98] When Lucius was hailed as imperator again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the title Imperator II with him.[99] The army of Syria was reinforced by II Adiutrix and Danubian legions under X Gemina's legate Geminius Marcianus.[100]
Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ("New City" in Greek), replaced Artaxata.
In 163, while Statius Priscus was occupied in Armenia, the Parthians intervened in
In 165, Roman forces, perhaps led by Martius Verus and the V Macedonica, moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, Mannus re-installed.
By the end of 165, 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 (promulgated, according to the Historia Augusta, by Asinius Quadratus) had it that the Seleuceni broke faith first.[115] Whatever the case, the sacking marks a particularly destructive chapter in Seleucia's long decline.[116][notes 10] During the sacking, Roman troops stole the statue of Apollo Comaeus from its temple and brought it back to Rome, where it was installed at the temple of the Palatine Apollo.[118] This blasphemy may have been on Marcus' mind when he called a lectisternium, a great meal offered to the gods, at the beginning of the Marcomannic Wars (ca. 167) to ward off the evils then being visited on the state.[119]
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.[120][121] Iunius Maximus, a young tribunus laticlavius serving in III Gallica under Cassius, took the news of the victory to Rome. Maximus received a generous cash bounty (dona) for bringing the good news, and immediate promotion to the quaestorship.[122] Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as imperatores again, earning the title Imp. III.[123] Cassius' army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into Media. Lucius took the title Medicus,[124] and the emperors were again hailed as imperatores, becoming Imp. IV in imperial titulature. Marcus too took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.[125]
Conclusion of the war, mid-160s–167
Most of the credit for the war's success must be ascribed to subordinate generals. The forces that advanced on Osroene were led by M. Claudius Fronto, an Asian provincial of Greek descent who had led I Minervia in Armenia under Priscus. He was probably the first senator in his family.
On the return from the campaign, Lucius was awarded with a triumph; the parade was unusual because it included the two emperors, their sons and unmarried daughters as a big family celebration. Marcus Aurelius' two sons, Commodus five years old and Marcus Annius Verus of three, were elevated to the status of Caesar for the occasion.
A statue base survives in Sardis to commemorate Lucius' victory (the emperor had presumably visited the city on his return to Rome).[131] The wealthy sophist T. Flavius Damianus also hosted the emperor and his army during their return trip.[132]
Nisibis on the upper Euphrates remained in Roman hands for several decades after the end of the war. By the mid-3rd century, when it was frequently contested by and exchanged between Persia and Rome, it had taken on the appearances of a typical Roman garrison town.[133]
Notes
- Alan Cameron adduces the 5th-century writer Sidonius Apollinaris's comment that Marcus commanded "countless legions" vivente Pio (while Pius 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.[13])
- ^ The text breaks off here.[31]
- ^ Birley believes there is some truth in these considerations.[38]
- ^ Victorinus had also served in Britain, on the Danube, in Spain, as prefect of the Italian fleets, as prefect of Egypt, and in many posts in Rome itself.[40]
- ^ Or "Pantheia".[62]
- ^ Fronto called it "the corn-dole and public spectacles" (annona et spectaculis), preferring his own pompous rephrase to Juvenal's plain panem et circenses.[75] (The notion was a commonplace,[76] and Fronto was, in any case, unfamiliar with Juvenal; the author was out of style through the classicizing mania of the Second Sophistic, and would not become popular until the later 4th century.[77])
- T.D. Barnes: 4.8, "He was very fond also of charioteers, favouring the 'Greens'."; 4.10, "He never needed much sleep, however; and his digestion was excellent."; perhaps 5.7, "After the banquet, moreover, they diced until dawn.".[78]
- ^ In the judgment of T.D. Barnes: 4.8 ("He was very fond also of charioteers, favouring the 'Greens'.") and 10.9 ("Among other articles of extravagance he had a crystal goblet, named Volucer after that horse of which he had been very fond, that surpassed the capacity of any human draught.") are the seed for 6.2–6, "And finally, even at Rome, when he was present and seated with Marcus, he suffered many insults from the 'Blues,' because he had outrageously, as they maintained, taken sides against them. For he had a golden statue made of the 'Green' horse Volucer, and this he always carried around with him; indeed, he was wont to put raisins and nuts instead of barley in this horse's manger and to order him brought to him, in the House of Tiberius, covered with a blanket dyed with purple, and he built him a tomb, when he died, on the Vatican Hill. It was because of this horse that gold pieces and prizes first began to be demanded for horses, and in such honour was this horse held, that frequently a whole peck of gold pieces was demanded for him by the faction of the 'Greens'."; 10.8, "He was somewhat halting in speech, a reckless gambler, ever of an extravagant mode of life, and in many respects, save only that he was not cruel or given to acting, a second Nero.", for the comparison with other "bad emperors" at 4.6 ("...he so rivalled Caligula, Nero, and Vitellius in their vices..."), and, significantly, the excuse to use Suetonius.[78]
- ^ The letter noting the victories (Ad Verum Imperator 2.1) dates to 164 (Fronto makes a reference to Marcus' delay in taking the Armeniacus; since he took the title in 164, the letter can be no earlier than that date.[109]), but the battles themselves date to 163.[110]
- ^ Birley states that the siege marked the end of the city's history;[117] Matthews denies that the end of Seleucia can be tied to any one event, and points to other factors in the city's decline, like the rise of Ctesiphon, the shifting course of the Tigris, and a decline in royal patronage.[116]
Citations
All citations to the Historia Augusta are to individual biographies, and are marked with a "HA". Citations to the works of Fronto are cross-referenced to C.R. Haines' Loeb edition.
- ^ E.g. Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 160.
- ^ HA Pius 12.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114, 121.
- ^ Event: HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121. Date: Jaap-Jan Flinterman, "The Date of Lucian's Visit to Abonuteichos," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 119 (1997): 281.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121.
- ^ Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121. On Alexander, see: Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 241–50.
- ^ Lucian, Alexander 30; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121.
- ^ Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121–22.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 278 n.19.
- ^ Dio 71.2.1; Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 21, 24, 25; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121–22.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 122.
- ^ HA Pius 7.11; Marcus 7.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 103–4, 122.
- ^ Pan. Ath. 203–4, qtd. and tr. Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's Marcus Aurelius, The Classical Review 17:3 (1967): 349.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, citing A.R. Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain (1981), 123ff.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, citing W. Eck, Die Satthalter der germ. Provinzen (1985), 65ff.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 8.7050 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine–51 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1097 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine–98 Archived 2 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1091 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 2311 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ HA Marcus 12.13; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ L'Année Épigraphique 1972.657 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ HA Verus 9.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 1 (= Haines 2.3); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.1 (= Haines 2.5), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.4 (= Haines 2.9); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126–27.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.6–12 (= Haines 2.11–19); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126–27.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 4, tr. Haines 2.19; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 4 (= Haines 2.19), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ De bello Parthico 10 (= Haines 2.31).
- ^ De bello Parthico 10 (= Haines 2.31), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ De bello Parthico 1 (= Haines 2.21).
- ^ De bello Parthico 2 (= Haines 2.21–23); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ De bello Parthico 1 (= Haines 2.21), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ Dio 71.1.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ HA Verus 5.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, 125.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.9, tr. Magie; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris, 1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), no. 139.
- ^ a b HA Pius 8.9; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 160–61.
- ^ Giuseppe Camodeca, "La carriera del prefetto del pretorio Sex.Cornelius Repentinus in una nuova iscrizione puteolana" (in Italian), Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 43 (1981): 47.
- ^ Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 1094 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 1100 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ Ad Verum Imperator 2.6 (= Haines 2.84ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 1.4.
- ^ HA Verus 8.6, 9.3–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris, 1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), no. 163.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125, citing C.G. Starr, The Roman Imperial Navy, (1941), 188ff.
- ^ HA Verus 6.7–9; HA Marcus 8.10–11; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125–6. Stroke: Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126; Haines 2.85 n. 1.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.11; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125–26.
- ^ Ad Verum Imperator 2.6 (= Haines 2.85–87); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125–26.
- ^ HA Verus 6.9; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 161.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126, citing SIG3 1.869, 872; HA Hadrian 13.1.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126, citing Cassiodorus senator s.a. 162.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 161, citing I Eph 728, 3072; H. Halfmann, Itinera Principum. Geschichte und Typologie der Kaiserreisen im Römischen Reich (Stuttgart, 1986), 210–11.
- ^ Christian Habicht, "Pausanias and the Evidence of Inscriptions", Classical Antiquity 3:1 (1984), 42–43, citing IErythrai 225.
- ^ HA Verus 6.9; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 161.
- ^ Dio 71.3.1; HA Verus 7.1; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126.
- ^ Historia Augusta Life of Lucius Verus 7
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Barry Baldwin, review of C.P. Jones' Culture and Society in Lucian, American Historical Review 92:5 (1987), 1185.
- ^ Smyrna: Lucian, Imagines 2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 7.10, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Lucian, Imagines 3, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Lucian, Imagines 11, 14–15; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Lucian, Pro Imaginibus 7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 7.10, cf. 7.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 4.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 4.6, tr. Magie; cf. 5.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 8.7, 8.10–11; Fronto, Principae Historia 17 (= Haines 2.217); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 6.1; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 6.3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Principae Historiae 17 (= Haines 2.216–17); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Principae Historiae 17 (= Haines 2.216–17); Juvenal, 10.78; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Aulus Gellius: An Antonine Scholar and His Achievement (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 2 n. 8.
- ^ Alan Cameron, "Literary Allusions in the Historia Augusta", Hermes 92:3 (1964), 367–68.
- ^ a b Barnes, 69. Translations from the HA Verus: Magie, ad loc.
- ^ Barnes, 69.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Ad Verum Imperator 2.1.19 (= Haines 2.148–49); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Principae Historia 13 (= Haines 2.209–11); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129–30.
- ^ Ad Verum Imperator 2.2 (= Haines 2.117), tr. Haines; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Ad Verum Imperator 2.2 (= Haines 2.117–19); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130; citing Panegyrici Latini 14(10).6.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Pausanias 8.29.3–4; Philostratus, Heroicus 138.6–9 K., 9.5–7 L.; Christopher Jones, "The Emperor and the Giant", Classical Philology 95:4 (2000): 476–81.
- ^ HA Verus 7.7; Marcus 9.4; Barnes, 72; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163; cf. also Barnes, "Legislation Against the Christians", Journal of Roman Studies 58:1–2 (1968), 39; "Some Persons in the Historia Augusta", Phoenix 26:2 (1972), 142, citing the Vita Abercii 44ff.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163.
- ^ a b c Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ HA Verus 7.7; Marcus 9.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ HA Verus 7.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ HA Marcus 9.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ HA Marcus 9.5–6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 161–62, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 C 874 (Claudius Fronto); Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 M 348.
- ^ HA Marcus 9.1; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ HA Marcus 9.1; HA Verus 7.1–2; Ad Verrum Imperator 2.3 (= Haines 2.133); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 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.
- ^ Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 8977 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine (II Adiutrix); Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 8.7050 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine–51 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine (Marcianus); Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Dio 71.3.1; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162; Millar, Near East, 113.
- ^ Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 394 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine; 9117 Archived 29 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine; Millar, Near East, 113.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 280 n. 42; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 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.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130, 279 n. 38; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 M 169.
- ^ a b Millar, Near East, 112.
- ^ Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 29; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Fronto, Ad Verum Imperator 2.1.3 (= Haines 2.133); Astarita, 41; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Champlin, "Chronology", 147.
- ^ Astarita, 41; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 1098 Archived 2 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 M 169.
- ^ Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 15, 19; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163.
- ^ Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 20, 28; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163, citing Syme, Roman Papers, 5.689ff.
- ^ 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), 124ff., on the date.
- ^ a b John F. Matthews, The Roman Empire of Ammianus (London: Duckworth, 1989), 142–43.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163–64.
- ^ Ammianus 23.6.23–24; McLynn, 334–35.
- ^ HA Marcus 13.1–6; McLynn, 334–35.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164.
- ^ Kernan, Sean. "The Virus That Crushed the Roman Army". Publishous. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020. 31 July 2010
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164, citing Alföldy and Halfmann, "Iunius Mauricus und die Victoria Parthica", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 35 (1979): 195–212 = Alföldy, Römische Heeresgeschichte. Beiträge 1962–1985 (Amsterdam, 1987), 203 ff (with addenda, 220–1); Fronto, Ad amicos 1.6.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 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.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164, citing P. Kneissl, Die Siegestitulatur der römischen Kaiser. Untersuchungen zu den Siegerbeinamen des 1. und 2. Jahrhunderts (Göttingen, 1969), 99 ff.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 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.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 C 874.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164, citing Alföldy, Konsulat, 179 ff.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 M 348.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 A 1402f.; 1405; Astarita, passim; Syme, Bonner Historia-Augustia Colloquia 1984 (= Roman Papers IV (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), ?).
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164, citing Alföldy, Konsulat, 24, 221.
- ^ Sherman E. Johnson, "Preliminary Epigraphic Report on the Inscriptions Found at Sardis in 1958", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 158 (1960): 6–11.
- ^ Elizabeth Grier, "Certain Rich Men of the Second Century after Christ", Classical Weekly 23:15 (1930): 114, citing Forschungen in Ephesos, Veröffentlicht vom Oesterreichischen Archäeologischen Institut (Vienna, Hölder, 1906–23) 3.161 n. 80.
- ^ C.S. Lightfoot, "Facts and Fiction: The Third Siege of Nisibis (A.D. 350)", Historia 37:1 (1988): 106–7.
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