Avidius Cassius

Then the day came when he had to prove it.

In the year 175, Avidius Cassius, the general he trusted most in the East, proclaimed himself emperor when a false rumor spread that Marcus was dead.

It was the worst betrayal imaginable, and Marcus was far away on the Danube.

Anyone else would have spent his nights imagining who else was in on the plot.

And in the east, the richest and most delicate region of the empire, he had placed a man he trusted more than almost anyone.

Avidius Cassius.

To understand what came next, you first need to know who this man was.

Avidius Cassius had been born in Syrus, a city in Syria.

His father, Heliodorus, had been an orator who rose to become prefect of Egypt, one of the most important posts in the empire.

So Cassius grew up surrounded by power and ambition, in a family that knew what it meant to climb up from the bottom.

Marcus Aurelius hadn't just given him a job, he had trusted him to watch his back.

And one spring day, news reached the camp on the Danube that no one dared to say out loud.

I was actually reading about one specific incident in his life that illustrates this perfectly.

Oh, the Cassius story.

Yes, the Cassius story.

So his most trusted general, a guy named Avidius Cassius, who governed the entire eastern part of the empire.

Very powerful guy.

very powerful.

A total coup.

A total coup.

Lucius Verus is gone.

Avidius Cassius betrays him, tries to usurp the throne, and then there's his son, Commodus, right? I mean, he must have just cherished the, the guy, right?

Yeah.

He just doesn't...

In 175 CE, a message arrived from the East that would test it in a much more personal way.

Ovidius Cassius was one of Rome's most successful commanders.

He'd helped secure victory during the Parthian War and later restored order in Egypt.

He possessed troops, reputation and influence across the eastern provinces.

And then he received word that Marcus Aurelius was dead.

Marcus had apparently been seriously ill.

Somewhere between rumour and political calculation, news of the Emperor's death reached the East before the death itself had actually happened, and Cassius was proclaimed Emperor.

Some later sources suggest that Faustina encouraged him because she feared Marcus would die before Commodus was old enough to secure the throne.