7 March AD 161
Antoninus dead, 'Harmony of the Emperors'

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On his death in AD 161, Antoninus is succeeded by his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius. For reasons that are not entirely clear, he decides to share the imperial purple with the younger Lucius Verus, who was also adopted by Antoninus. In AD 162, Verus travels to the east, where war has again broken out with the Parthians. Three years later, the Romans seize the Parthian capital Ctesiphon, and when the legions return home in AD 166, Verus and Aurelius celebrate Rome's first 'triumph' in 50 years. Their joint rule is a precursor of what is to come in the later empire and is celebrated with coins proclaiming the Concordia augustorum, or 'Harmony of the Emperors'. Lucius Verus dies of a stroke in AD 169, leaving Marcus Aurelius to rule alone. A devotee of the study of law and philosophy, his Meditations – a unique document in which he records his innermost thoughts – reflect his loneliness but also that he does not allow himself to become embittered by what life throws at him.

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