The elder Consort Son becomes ill in…

Domitian as Emperor quickly dispenses with the republican facade his father and brother had maintained during their reign.

By moving the center of government (more or less formally) to the imperial court, Domitian openly renders the Senate's powers obsolete.

In his view, the Roman Empire is to be governed as a divine monarchy with himself as the benevolent despot at its head.

In addition to exercising absolute political power, Domitian believes the Emperor's role encompasses every aspect of daily life, guiding the Roman people as a cultural and moral authority.

To usher in the new era, he embarks on ambitious economic, military and cultural programs with the intention of restoring the Empire to the splendor it had seen under the Emperor Augustus.

Despite these grand designs, Domitian is determined to govern the Empire conscientiously and scrupulously.

He becomes personally involved in all branches of the administration: edicts are issued governing the smallest details of everyday life and law, while taxation and public morals are rigidly enforced.

According to Suetonius, the imperial bureaucracy never ran more efficiently than under Domitian, whose exacting standards and suspicious nature maintained historically low corruption among provincial governors and elected officials.

Although he makes no pretense regarding the significance of the Senate under his absolute rule, those senators he deems unworthy are expelled from the Senate, and in the distribution of public offices he rarely favors family members; a policy which stands in contrast to the nepotism practiced by Vespasian and Titus.

Above all, however, Domitian values loyalty and malleability in those he assigns to strategic posts, qualities he finds more often in men of the equestrian order than in members of the Senate or his own family, whom he regards with suspicion, and promptly removes from office if they disagree with imperial policy.

The conquest of Britain continues under the command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, who expands the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia, or modern day Scotland.

Domitian also founds a new legion in 82, the Legio I Minervia, to fight against the Chatti.

Domitian commissions the elaborate triumphal Arch of Titus, a graphic glorification of Rome’s victories in the Judean War.

In rebuilding the destroyed Capitoline Hill temple, he adds gilded tiles and gold-plated doors to a richly decorated marble structure.

Agricola raises a fleet the following year and encircles the tribes beyond the Forth, and the Caledonians rise in great numbers against him.

They attack the camp of the Legio IX Hispana at night, but Agricola sends in his cavalry and they are put to flight.

The Romans respond by pushing further north.

Another son is born to Agricola this year, but he dies before his first birthday.

Inchtuthil (known to the Romans as Pinnata Castra (meaning "Fortress on the wing") and Victoria) is the site of a Roman legionary fortress situated on a natural platform overlooking the north bank of the River Tay southwest of Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

Built in 82 or 83 CE as the advance headquarters for the forces of Agricola in his campaign against the Caledonian tribes, and positioned at the head of one of the main routes in and out of the Scottish Highlands, it is occupied by Legion XX Valeria Victrix and covers a total area of 21.5 hectares (fifty-three acres).

Construction of the large fortress will have taken two or three seasons and a temporary camp is built nearby to house and protect the soldiers over the winter.

Additional, smaller forts are built further north and south at the mouth of each nearby glen forming what are now referred to as the Glenblocker forts.

The Liangs, the clan of Prince Zhao's birth mother's clan, had not dared to openly celebrate after he was made crown prince, but are secretly happy.

The Dou clan members are displeased and fearful when they hear of this, and feel that they must destroy the Liangs.

Empress Dou begins to give false reports about Prince Zhao's birth mother, Consort Liang, and her sister, also an imperial consort, and they lose Emperor Zhang's favor.

In 83, the Dous further submit false anonymous accusations against the Consorts Liang's father Liang Song, causing him to be imprisoned, where he dies.

The Consorts Liang soon die.

The Dous will eventually attain their goal of greater power.

Also in 83, Emperor Zhang, having seen that his Ma cousins are not following the law, stops favoring his Ma uncles, and eventually sends them back to their marches.

Empress Dou's brothers Dou Xian and Dou Du effectively take over in the power structure—the first time in Han history that the empress' clan, rather than the empress dowager's clan, is the most powerful consort clan.

This trend will be in effect for the duration of the Eastern Han Dynasty and a will prove to be a source of corruption.

The military campaigns undertaken during Domitian's reign will be generally defensive in nature, as the Emperor rejects the idea of expansionist warfare.

Nevertheless, several important wars will be fought in Gaul, against the Chatti, and across the Danube frontier against the Suebi, the Sarmatians, and the Dacians.

His most significant military contribution is the development of the Limes Germanicus, which encompassed a vast network of roads, forts and watchtowers constructed along the Rhine river to defend the Empire.

Upon completing the conquest of the German Agri Decumates in 83, Domitian assumes the title Germanicus.

Domitia and Domitian's only attested son was born in 73.

It is not known what the boy's name was, but he died in childhood sometime between 77 and 81.

Shortly following his accession as Emperor, Domitian had bestowed the honorific title of Augusta upon Domitia, while their son was deified, appearing as such on the reverse of coin types from this period.

Nevertheless, the marriage appears to have faced a significant crisis in 83.

For reasons unknown, Domitian briefly exiles Domitia, and then soon recalls her, either out of love or due to rumors that he is carrying on a relationship with his niece Julia Flavia.

Brian W. Jones, in The Emperor Titus (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1992) argues that most likely he did so for her failure to produce an heir.

Domitian seeks to attain his long delayed military glory immediately on succeeding his brother Titus as emperor in September 81.

He goes to Gaul as early as 82 or possibly 83 ostensibly to conduct a census and suddenly orders an attack on the Chatti.

Legio I Minervia, a new legion founded for this purpose, constructs some seventy-five kilometers (forty-six miles) of roads through Chattian territory to uncover the enemy's hiding places.

Little information survives of the battles fought, but enough early victories are apparently achieved for Domitian to be back in Rome by the end of 83, where he celebrates an elaborate triumph and confers upon himself the title of Germanicus.

Domitian's supposed victory is much scorned by ancient authors, who described the campaign as "uncalled for", and a "mock triumph".

The evidence lends some credence to these claims, as the Chatti will later play a significant role in 89 during the revolt of Saturninus.

Agricola, advancing through Scotland almost to present Aberdeen in 83 or, less probably, 84, with eleven thousand Roman cavalry and infantry comprising Romans and loyal Britons, meets and fights thirty thousand Caledones under Galgacus, or Calgacus, at Mons Graupius (an unidentified site in the Grampian Mountains in northeast Scotland).

Tacitus, our sole source for the event, avoids using terms such as king to describe Calgacus and it is uncertain as to whether the Caledonians had single leaders or whether they were more disparate and that Calgacus was an elected war leader only. (Tacitus only mentions him as giving a speech, probably fictitious).

Tacitus records the physical characteristics of the Caledonians as red hair and long limbs.

Although the Romans are outnumbered in their campaign against the tribes of Britain, they have often had difficulties in getting their foes to face them in open battle.

The Caledonians are the last to be subdued.

After many years of avoiding fight, the Caledonians are forced to join battle when the Romans march on the main granaries of the Caledonians, just as they had been filled from the harvest.

The Caledonians have no choice but to fight, or starve over the next winter.

It is said that the Roman Legions took no part in the battle, being held in reserve throughout.

According to Tacitus, ten thousand Caledonian lives were lost at a cost of only three hundred and sixty auxiliary troops.

We must allow for the usual exaggeration of fatalities here however, as Roman accounts of enemy dead can be viewed as routinely suspect, especially with such a huge difference in numbers.

Twenty thousand Caledonians retreat into the woods, where they fare considerably better against pursuing forces.

Roman scouts are unable to locate the remaining Caledonian forces the next morning.

Following this final battle, it is proclaimed that Agricola has finally subdued all the tribes of Britain, which is not strictly true, as the Caledonians and their allies remain a threat.

Indeed, even if the inflated account of Caledonian fatalities were to be accepted, the bulk of their forces are still intact to fight again.

Soon after Agricola is recalled to Rome, and his post passes to Sallustius Lucullus.

It is likely that Rome intended to continue the conflict but that military requirements elsewhere in the empire necessitated a troop withdrawal and the opportunity was lost.

Tacitus' statement Perdomita Britannia et statim missa (Britain was completely conquered and immediately let go), denotes his bitter disapproval of Domitian's failure to unify the whole island under Roman rule after Agricola's successful campaign.

There are no other accounts of the battle apart from Tacitus's account, though this is not unusual given the scanty nature of sources in general for this period of history.

We have no legends or traditions whatsoever from the native inhabitants of Caledonia.

While Agricola was Tacitus's father in law and therefore is undeniably biased towards the subject of his history, he is generally regarded as one of the most reliable historians of the period.

Satisfied with his victory, Agricola extracts hostages from the Caledonian tribes.

He may have marched his army to the northern coast of Britain, as evidenced by the probable discovery of a Roman fort at Cawdor (near Inverness).

He also instructs the prefect of the fleet to sail around the north coast, confirming for the first time that Britain is in fact an island.

Emperor Zhang himself remains fairly diligent and open-minded.

For example, in 84, when two Imperial Academy students, Kong Xi and Cui Yin are accused of improperly criticizing his ancestor Emperor Wu and, by criticizing Emperor Wu, making veiled criticism of Emperor Zhang, the emperor accepts the letter that Kong submits in his own defense and makes him an official in his administration.

The Romans ally with the Geto-Dacians to defend Moesia, an imperial province roughly corresponding to present-day northern Bulgaria, against the Sarmatians, a group of nomadic Central Asian tribes.

Roman engineers and architects help the Getae construct fortresses until the Romans discover that the Geto-Dacians are preparing to turn against them.