Cleander, now at the zenith of his…

It has appeared for some months that Dong, now in complete control of the central government, is going to leave the former emperor alone.

This will not last, however.

In early 190, after a coalition of provincial officials and exiles, led by Yuan Shao, rebels against his authority, Dong becomes weary of keeping the Prince Bian alive.

Less than a month after the rebellion starts, Dong orders his subordinate Li Ru to force the prince to drink poisoned wine, although Li does permit the fourteen-year-old prince to say farewell to his wife Consort Tang and his concubines before doing so.

He is buried in the tomb originally intended for the late eunuch Zhao Zhong and given the posthumous name Prince Huai.

While the coalition still fears Dong Zhuo's military power and did not directly advance on Luoyang, Dong Zhuo is also fearful of their collective strength, and therefore determines to move the capital west to the old Western Han capital Chang'an, closer to his power base in Liang Province (covering present-day Gansu).

On April 9, 190, he forces Emperor Xian to relocate to Chang'an and sets fire to Luoyang, leaving it largely in ruins.

Clement of Alexandria, probably born in Athens, where he received his early training, becomes a Christian and emigrates to Alexandria to seek instruction from Pantaenus, head of the catechetical school and a renowned Christian teacher.

Pantaenus, who holds that religious knowledge, or “gnosis,” prepares for the stage of ecstasy in which perfect identity with God is achieved, maintains that the only true gnosis is to be found in the Christian faith.

Clement, receiving from Pantaenus the "deathless element of knowledge" that he seeks, in about CE 190 succeeds Pantaenus as head of the school.

Zhang Lu had inherited control of the Celestial Masters religious group upon the death of his father, Zhang Heng, and therefore became its third leader (the first was Zhang Daoling).

The religion enjoys its greatest popularity in Yi Province (present day Sichuan), but when Zhang Lu takes control of the group, it is being challenged in the area by a shamanistic religion led by Zhang Xiu (no family relation to Zhang Lu, or to the contemporary minor warlord of the same name).

Against this background, both Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu are abruptly ordered by Liu Yan, Governor of Yi Province, to go together to attack the forces of the official Han governor of Hanzhong, Su Gu, and take over his territory.

However, having his own designs, Zhang Lu kills Zhang Xiu and absorbs his armies and religious followers into his own group before he departs for the campaign against Hanzhong.

Zhang Lu manages to defeat Su Gu, and upon taking control of Hanzhong, renames the region Han'ning, ruling it by the principles of his religion.

Zhang abolishes private ownership, promotes Taoism, and builds “inns of quality” for travelers.

He distributes grain to the region’s inhabitants and encourages them to atone for their sins by working on improving the region’s roads.

Commodus restores his praenomen to Lucius in 191 and adds the family name Aelius, apparently linking himself to Hadrian and Hadrian's adopted son Lucius Aelius Caesar, whose original name was also Commodus.

Later this year, he drops Antoninus and adopts as his full style Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Herculeus Romanus Exsuperatorius Amazonius Invictus Felix Pius (the order of some of these titles varies in the sources).

Exsuperatorius (the supreme) was a title given to Jupiter, and Amazonius identifies him again with Hercules.

During 191, the city of Rome is extensively damaged by a fire that rages for several days, during which many public buildings including the Temple of Pax, the Temple of Vesta and parts of the imperial palace are destroyed.

Dio Cassius, a firsthand witness who has no known reason to defend Commodus, describes him as "not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived.

His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature." (Dio Cassius 73.1.2, Loeb edition translated E. Cary.)

His recorded actions do tend to show a rejection of his father’s policies, his father’s advisers, and especially his father’s austere lifestyle, and an alienation from the surviving members of his family.

It seems likely that he was brought up in an atmosphere of Stoic asceticism, which he rejected entirely upon his accession to sole rule.

After repeated attempts on Commodus' life, Roman citizens are often killed for raising his ire.

One such notable event is the attempted extermination of the house of the Quinctilii: the brothers Condianus and Maximus, who had both served as consuls, in 151 are executed on the pretext that, while they aren't implicated in any plots, their wealth and talent presumably makes them unhappy with the current state of affairs.

A number of officials, led by Wang Yun and Dong Zhuo's adopted son Lü Bu, assassinate Dong on May 22, 192, after the coalition collapses.

For a while, it appears that the Han regime might return to normal, as Wang Yun quickly establishes relatively friendly relations with the local officials resisting Dong but by this time acting more as local warlords.

However, due to Wang Yun's failure to pacify Dong Zhuo's former subordinates, they rise in revolt and kill Wang.

China sinks into civil war and chaos after the splitting of the coalition against Dong Zhuo in 192.

Liu Bei, overrun by rebels, moves north to join Gongsun Zan, who is at war with Yuan Shao for control of Ji Province (Hebei) and Qing Province (Shandong).

Gongsun Zan appoints Liu Bei as the Prefect of Pingyuan County under Tian Kai to fight Yuan Shao in Shandong, but is held off by Yuan Shao's oldest son, Yuan Tan, and later loses Gongsun Zan's interest in the area to Yuan Tan.

Commodus, perhaps seeing the fire’s destruction as an opportunity, declaring himself the new Romulus early in 192, ritually re-founds Rome, renaming the city Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana.

All the months of the year are renamed to correspond exactly with his (now twelve) names: Lucius, Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, Augustus, Herculeus, Romanus, Exsuperatorius, Amazonius, Invictus, Felix, Pius.

The legions are renamed Commodianae, the fleet which imports grain from Africa is termed Alexandria Commodiana Togata, the Senate is entitled the Commodian Fortunate Senate, his palace and the Roman people themselves are all given the name Commodianus, and the day on which these reforms are decreed is to be called Dies Commodianus.

Thus he presents himself as the fountainhead of the Empire and Roman life and religion.

He also has the head of the Colossus of Nero adjacent to the Colosseum replaced with his own portrait, gives it a club and places a bronze lion at its feet to make it look like Hercules, and adds an inscription boasting of being "the only left-handed fighter to conquer twelve times one thousand men".

In 191-92, a now-forgotten Roman sculptor executes a beautifully detailed polished marble bust of the bearded Emperor, represented as his patron god, Hercules, replete with lionskin and bearing a club in his right hand and the apples of the Hesperides in his left.

An inscribed altar from Dura-Europos on the Euphrates shows that Commodus's titles and the renaming of the months were disseminated to the furthest reaches of the Empire; moreover, that even auxiliary military units received the title Commodiana, and that Commodus claimed two additional titles: Pacator Orbis (pacifier of the world) and Dominus Noster (Our Lord).

The latter eventually will be used as a conventional title by Roman Emperors, starting about a century later, but Commodus seems to have been the first to assume it.

In November 192, Commodus holds Plebian Games, in which he shoots hundreds of animals with arrows and javelins every morning, and fights as a gladiator every afternoon, naturally winning all the bouts.

In December, he announces his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator on January 1.

At this point, the Praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus forms a conspiracy with Commodus’ chamberlain Eclectus to supplant Commodus with Pertinax, taking the emperor’s mistress into their confidence.

On December 31, Marcia poisons his food but he vomits up the poison; so the conspirators send his wrestling partner Narcissus to strangle him in his bath.

Commodus's death marks the end of the Nervan-Antonian dynasty.

Pertinax, who is serving as urban prefect at this time, is hurried to the Praetorian Camp and proclaimed emperor the morning after Commodus’ assassination had been carried out.

The Senate declares Commodus a public enemy (a de facto damnatio memoriae) and restores the original name to the city of Rome and its institutions.

Commodus' statues are thrown down and his body buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian.

Ancient writers detail how the Praetorian Guard expected a generous donativum on the ascension of Pertinax, and when they were disappointed, agitated until he produced the money, selling off Commodus' property, including the concubines and youths Commodus kept for his sexual pleasures.

Pertinax attempts to emulate the restrained practices of Marcus Aurelius, and makes an effort to reform the alimenta, but he faces antagonism from many quarters.

He revalues the Roman currency dramatically, increasing the silver purity of the denarius from 74% to 87%—the actual silver weight increasing from 2.22 grams to 2.75 grams.

His currency reform is far-sighted, but will not survive his death.

He attempts to impose stricter military discipline upon the pampered Praetorians.