178. War with the Marcomanni renewed. [Illustration] THE THIRD CENTURY OF EMPIRE: COMMODUS TO CLAUDIUS II (180-270 A.D.) 180. =Commodus.= Peace concluded with the barbarians. 183. Lucilla, Commodus’ sister, conspires against him. In punishing this conspiracy he begins his career of cruelty. 193. =Pertinax= made emperor on the murder of Commodus. He attempts to restore discipline and is murdered in his turn. =Didius Julianus= buys the empire of the prætorians. The legions in Syria, Illyricum, and Britain each proclaim a rival emperor. =L. Septimius Severus= marches on Rome. Murder of Julianus. Severus recognised in Rome. 194. Battle of Issus. Severus defeats his rival Pescennius Niger. 196. Byzantium taken by Severus. Clodius Albinus made emperor by the army in Gaul. 197. Battle of Lugdunum. Clodius defeated. 198. Parthian War. 202. Christian persecution. 208. Caledonia overrun by Severus, who loses many of his men. 210. Wall of Severus in Britain completed. 211. =Caracalla=, emperor. Alexandrians massacred. 212. =Geta=, co-ruler and brother of Caracalla, murdered by him. Wars in Dacia and on the Rhine. 217. =Macrinus=, emperor. 218. =Elagabalus= (=Heliogabalus=) made emperor by the soldiers. Defeat and execution of Macrinus. Julia Mæsa and Julia Soæmias, grandmother and mother of Elagabalus, rule. 222. =Severus Alexander=, emperor. 231. Persian War. 235. =Maximinus Thrax=, emperor. 236. Invasion of Germany. 237. =Gordianus I= and =II= proclaimed emperors in Africa. Defeat and death of the Gordiani. 238. =Pupienus Maximus=, =Cælius Balbinus=, and =Gordianus III=. Maximinus Thrax, Pupienus, and Balbinus killed. 242. Sapor, king of Persia, defeated by Gordianus III. 244. =Philip=, the Arabian, murders and succeeds Gordianus. 249. =Decius= made emperor by the Mœsian and Pannonian legions. Battle of Verona. Philip defeated and slain. 250. Christian persecution. Bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Jerusalem martyred. Battle of Abricium. Decius defeated and slain by the Goths. 251. =Gallus= and =Hostilianus=, emperors. 252. Pestilence throughout the greater part of the empire. This lasted fifteen years. 253. =Æmilianus=, emperor. 254. =Valerianus=, emperor. The Goths and Burgundians invade Mœsia and Pannonia. The Franks appear in Gaul. 259. Sapor invades Syria and takes Antioch. Valerian drives him back but is captured and enslaved. 260. =Gallienus=, Valerian’s son and co-ruler, sole emperor. Ingenuus and Regalianus proclaimed emperors. Odenathus of Palmyra drives the Persians back. 261. Macrianus, Valens, and Calpurnius Piso proclaimed emperors. 262. Aureolus proclaimed emperor. The Persians capture Antioch. 264. Odenathus declared Augustus. 265. Postumus repels the Gauls. 267. Death of Odenathus, succeeded by his wife Zenobia. Death of Postumus. Tetricus assumes the empire in Gaul. Age of the Thirty Tyrants. 268. Gallienus slain by the machinations of Aureolus. =Claudius II=, emperor. 269. Battle of Naissus in Dardania.