Hello, and welcome to the History of Rome, episode 91, Marcus, and Lucius, and the Parthians.

From very early on, everyone knew that Marcus Aurelius was going to be emperor someday.

Born Marcus Anius Verus, the future emperor displayed from a young age, the serious and

scholarly temperament that first recommended him to Hadrian and then cemented his reputation

as Rome's great philosopher emperor. But of course, for the first eight years of his reign,

Marcus did not rule alone. For the first time in history, at Marcus' insistence no less,

there were actually two emperors ruling Rome at the same time. From very early on,

no one knew what was going to become of Lucius Verus. Born Lucius Cionius Commodus,

the future emperor displayed from a young age, the self-indulgent, and fun-loving temperament

that first led Antoninus in the senate to dismiss him, and then cemented his reputation as one

of Rome's great hedonist emperors. The unlikely partnership between Marcus and Lucius,

which Lucius managed to not screw up too badly, would prove to be a watershed moment

in the development of the always evolving imperial political apparatus, and in less than a century,

multiple emperors would become the rule, rather than the exception.

Marcus's family, like the families of Hadrian and Trajan before him, originated in Roman Spain,

and though they had only risen to prominence the century before. By the time Marcus was born in

121, his family was rich and powerful, connected closely to the imperial court, and living fat

off the brickworks they owned, which Hadrian had used to build his architectural empire.

The grandson of one of Hadrian's closest friends, Marcus was only six when Hadrian ordered the

boys enrollment in the equestrian order, and only seven when Hadrian appointed him to an ancient

and exclusive priesthood for young men, even though Marcus, due to his age and the fact that his

father was dead, did not qualify for the honor. Hadrian had clearly taken a shine to the boy,

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