AD 167
Plague at Rome

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The troops returning from the Parthian War have brought plague back with them. The first outbreak in Rome for several hundred years, it has a devastating impact and is still claiming victims more than a decade later. It will recur at various intervals over the coming centuries, playing its part in weakening the later Roman empire. War in the German provinces, meanwhile, adds to the empire's problems, as does a revolt led by Cassius, the governor of Syria, in AD 175. Overall, Marcus Aurelius's 20-year reign enjoys just four years of peace.

'Why do you weep for me, instead of thinking about the plague and about death, which is the common lot of us all?'
Marcus Aurelius on his deathbed

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