Avidius Cassius in ancient sources

Abstract

The rule of the Antonine dynasty is depicted by Romans and some modern historians as the golden age of the Roman Empire. The internal harmony during the reign of the first five emperors of that dynasty was disturbed only by the short-lived rebellion of Avidius Cassius, which occurred during the power of the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius. The sources that describe Cassius' rebellion and that give us the most essential information about his life interpreted the rebellion as a coincidence and a misunderstanding, without trying to fathom the deeper socio-political circumstances that could have led to its outbreak. By critically examining the available written and epigraphic sources, we have tried to provide a complete account of the history of Cassius' rise and fall. He was a man from the Eastern provinces whose family was integrated into the highest strata of Roman society only in the last two generations. Thanks to his social connections, but above all to his military abilities, which came to the fore during the war against the Parthians, he managed to reach the highest rungs of the Roman hierarchy. He was more than a governor and less than an emperor. He dreamed of being emperor, but that dream, according to Dion Cassius, lasted only three months and six days. The circumstances in which he tried to turn that dream of the Empire into reality were an enigma for both ancient and modern historians, who, reading between the lines, try to penetrate the essence of the events of the seventies of the second century