During the time of the Caesars there were occasional periods of calm. One of these, known as the Golden Age – 98 A.D. to 180 A.D. – is the subject of this article. There are no obvious clues to explain why the empire functioned so well during this period. The four men in charge had very different personalities and they were not equal in ability. Many wars were fought and each man was challenged by instability, yet the empire ran smoothly. Maybe it was luck.
Let’s look at each of these four men in detail so we can understand the threads that drove the empire during this time. For each I have included an image of their silver denarius from my collection. The coins lend a physical reality to the story of the man.