but Commodus was awful in every aspect, and that's why not just Gibbon sees the Decline and Fall of the (Western) Empire start with his reign.
And that is precisely why I know so little about the period between Augustus and the Five Good Emperors, because Mommsen goes up to Augustus and Gibbon starts with Commodus! And when I followed up those two works with modern scholarship, I did "more of same" and not "fill in gap."
Then the Praetorian Guard literally auctions off the office of Emperor.
Speaking of which, I forget what the evidence is, but this is one of the things I had to unlearn after following up Gibbon with modern scholarship. From what I remember, we have ancient sources saying this, Gibbon says this, and so a lot of modern works will repeat this claim, but apparently modern critical scholarship either says it didn't happen or the evidence is so weak we can't say it did happen, I forget. I also seem to recall that Gibbon's theory that the Praetorian Guard played such a decisive role in the history of the Roman Empire turned out to be a Gibbon thing and not an everybody thing.
I would love to go look into this matter more, but I can only have one research focus at a time, and the 18th century is still calling me. Peter wants not to be forgotten, and Fredersdorf wants his name cleared.
Hold this thought! We will do Classics salon one day, just not today!
Re: Imperial Succesions :II
And that is precisely why I know so little about the period between Augustus and the Five Good Emperors, because Mommsen goes up to Augustus and Gibbon starts with Commodus! And when I followed up those two works with modern scholarship, I did "more of same" and not "fill in gap."
Then the Praetorian Guard literally auctions off the office of Emperor.
Speaking of which, I forget what the evidence is, but this is one of the things I had to unlearn after following up Gibbon with modern scholarship. From what I remember, we have ancient sources saying this, Gibbon says this, and so a lot of modern works will repeat this claim, but apparently modern critical scholarship either says it didn't happen or the evidence is so weak we can't say it did happen, I forget. I also seem to recall that Gibbon's theory that the Praetorian Guard played such a decisive role in the history of the Roman Empire turned out to be a Gibbon thing and not an everybody thing.
I would love to go look into this matter more, but I can only have one research focus at a time, and the 18th century is still calling me. Peter wants not to be forgotten, and Fredersdorf wants his name cleared.
Hold this thought! We will do Classics salon one day, just not today!