2nd-century
115 – S.P.Q.R.
Senatus Populus Que Romanus; the Senate and the Roman People, the seal of Roman power.
Roman Emperor Trajan conquers Parthia, achieving the peak of Roman territorial expansion.
116 – Assyria and Mesopotamia
Roman Emperor Trajan conquers Assyria and Mesopotamia.
117 to 138 – Roman Emperor Hadrian
Trajan’s adopted son and heir, Hadrian saw it as his duty to make the empire’s boundaries secure.
Roman Emperor Hadrian orders a wall to be built from the Solway Firth to the Tyne and inhibits the incursions of northern tribes of Picts and Scots.
The Roman Empire at its peak. It now extends from the Persian Gulf to Egypt to Turkey to North Africa to most of Europe and Britain. It has more than five million inhabitants.
132 to 135 – The Second Jewish War
The Jewish leader Simon Bar Kokhba (d. 135) leads an unsuccessful rebellion against Hadrian’s Roman army in Judea. Hadrian crushes Bar Kokhba and reestablishes Jerusalem as the Roman pagan polis Aelia Capitolina, and forbids Jewish presence except for one day a year; Tisha B’Av, which is the fast day that Jews mourn the destruction of both Temples.
138 to 161 – Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius
143 – The Antonine Wall
Built in southern Scotland, north of Hadrians Wall, the Antonine Wall marks the northernmost limit of the Roman Empire.
161 to 180 – Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Reign of Marcus Aurelius. Increasing attacks by Germanic tribes threaten the Roman Empire’s northern border.
180 – Century of War
Marcus Aurelius dies, and a century of war and disorder follows, with a succession of generals put on the throne by their armies.
193 – Year of the Five Emperors
The Year of the Five Emperors refers to the year 193 AD, in which there were five claimants for the title of Roman Emperor. The five were Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albinus and Septimius Severus.
200 – The Goths
The Goths begin migrating from Gotland.