Roman scholars (not to mention my fellow novelists) have extensively analysed

69ad, the infamous Year of the Four Emperors which began with Nero on the throne
and ended with Vespasian as supreme ruler. It is less well known outside the
scholarly ranks that the end of the second century saw no less than five men claim
the purple a single year.
With the assassination of the Emperor Commodus on the last day of AD192 (think
Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator) Publius Helvius Pertinax, widely believed to have been
privy to the murder plot, took the throne. A respected soldier and senator, he
hoped to restore the greater tolerance of the five adoptive emperors and restore the
stability of their 84 year period of rule, but made one fatal mistake in failing to pay
the Praetorian Guard the substantial donative they expected as the price for their
complicity. Eventually, panicked by their agitation into selling off all of the previous
rulers assets including his concubines he devalued the currency to find the
money. The damage, however, was already done. Attempts to restore military
discipline rebounded on him, and after one failed plot he was put to the sword by a
gang of Praetorians in March.
At this point the question of who was to rule the empire descended into farce, as
the Praetorians quite literally auctioned the throne off to the highest bidder. Didius
Julianus was the winner, paying the sum of 25,000 sesterces for every man in the
Praetorian Camp. Lauded by the senate who had little choice in the matter he
assumed the throne, but was roundly abused whenever he appeared in public as a
robber and parricide.
Given the power vacuum in Rome three armies the legions of Britannia, Syria and
Pannonia (modern day Hungary) all promptly declared their generals, Albinus, Niger

and the North African Septimius Severus, to be Emperor. Removing Albinus as a

competitor by declaring him Caesar Severus advanced on Rome, defeated the
inexperienced Praetorians sent to stop him and persuaded the remainder to
surrender on the promise that they would face no punishment. With Serverus
proclaimed as emperor and Julianus murdered by yet another Praetorian, the new
emperor promptly dismissed the Guard in ignominy and re-populated their ranks
using his own loyal troops.
So, why is this year so important in Roman history? Well, after the relatively
enlightened reign of the five wise emperors, chosen by ability rather than by
family succession, and the disastrous rule of Commodus, the empire fell under the
control of a despotic strongman. With Severuss death in AD211 a long period of
chaos was ushered in which was to last until the establishment of the Dominate in
AD284. To illustrate, there were 21 emperors between AD14 and AD211, and an
amazing 40 between AD235 and AD284 only one of whom actually died in his bed!
The despotic model established by Serverus needed the strongest of rulers to
maintain it, and the empire as established by Augustus two hundred years before
was no longer governable without a special blend of ruthlessness and cunning.
Rome descended into seventy years of instability from which it was fortunate to
emerge more or less intact with its rejuvenation under Diocletian in the late third
century. And, for the student of ancient military history theres another hook that
stems from this year of Roman destiny, a sequence of events that left the empires
military might divided between three contenders and setting the scene for a four
year civil war that ended with Severuss victory at the titanic two day battle of
Lugdunum but that, as any historical novelist will tell you, is another story.