Brownworth praises them as the best solution Rome found to the succession problem: each adopted and trained a capable successor during his own lifetime. The system worked brilliantly until Marcus Aurelius broke with it by leaving the throne to his own son Commodus.
Also known as: Adoptive Emperors
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Episode 2 (7 mentions)
Brownworth praises them as the best solution Rome found to the succession problem: each adopted and trained a capable successor during his own lifetime. The system worked brilliantly until Marcus Aurelius broke with it by leaving the throne to his own son Commodus.
“In 238, for example, there were five legitimate emperors, and the Historia Augusta mentions”
“He then set up a census every five years to find out who qualified for each rate.”
“To adopt a grown man, especially one who's barely five years younger than you, and one”
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