The year 193 opens in Rome with the murder of Emperor Commodus on New Year's Eve, December 31, 192 and the proclamation on New Year's Day of the City Prefect Pertinax as Emperor.

Pertinax is assassinated on March 28, 193, by the Praetorian Guard.

Didius Julianus outmaneuvers Titus Flavius Sulpicianus (Pertinax's father-in-law and also the new City Prefect) later that day for the title of Emperor.

Flavius Sulpicianus offers to pay each soldier twenty thousand sestertii to buy their loyalty (eight times their annual salary; also the same amount offered by Marcus Aurelius to secure their favors in 161).

Didius Julianus, however, offers twenty-five thousand to each soldier to win the auction and is proclaimed Emperor by the Roman Senate on March 28.

Three other prominent Romans also challenge for the throne: Pescennius Niger in Syria, Clodius Albinus in Britain, and Septimius Severus in Pannonia.

Septimius Severus marches on Rome to oust Didius Julianus and has him decapitated on June 1, 193, then dismisses the Praetorian Guard and executes the soldiers who had killed Pertinax.

Consolidating his power, Septimius Severus battles Pescennius Niger at Cyzicus and Nicaea in 193 and in 194 decisively defeats him at Issus.

Clodius Albinus initially supports Septimius Severus, believing that he will succeed him.

When he realizes in 195 that Severus has other intentions, Albinus has himself declared Emperor.

Atlantic Southwest Europe (184–195 CE): Provincial Stability, Civic Integration, and Cultural Resilience during Commodus and the Year of the Five Emperors

Between 184 and 195 CE, Atlantic Southwest Europe—covering northern and central Portugal, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and northern Spain south of the Franco-Spanish border (43.05548° N, 1.22924° W)—continued to experience relative stability, economic prosperity, and cultural resilience despite the turbulent reign of Emperor Commodus (180–192 CE) and the political instability following his assassination in 192 CE (the Year of the Five Emperors, 193 CE). Throughout this politically uncertain period, provincial administration remained largely unaffected by the turmoil in Rome, with sustained economic integration, ongoing urban development, and steady civic integration through expanding Roman citizenship. Indigenous identities remained robust, creatively adapting within the stable Roman provincial structure.

Political and Military Developments

Stable Provincial Administration Amid Imperial Turmoil

• Despite political volatility under Commodus and subsequent instability in Rome, provincial governance in Atlantic Southwest Europe remained steady and effective. Administrative continuity, supported by strong provincial bureaucracies, military garrisons, fortified urban settlements, and robust infrastructure, ensured internal peace and regional stability.

• Local elites continued to actively integrate into Roman administrative structures, successfully insulating the region from broader imperial instability.

Ongoing Stability and Integration of Northern Tribes

• Northern tribal regions—including the Gallaeci, Astures, and Cantabri—maintained peaceful, prosperous, and stable integration under provincial governance, benefitting economically and civically despite distant imperial unrest.

• The Vascones continued successfully preserving their diplomatic neutrality, territorial autonomy, cultural distinctiveness, and internal stability under provincial rule.

Economic and Technological Developments

Continued Economic Prosperity and Mediterranean Integration

• The region’s economy maintained its vitality, remaining deeply integrated within Mediterranean trade networks. Exports—valuable metals (silver, copper, tin), agricultural products, salt, timber, textiles, livestock, and slaves—continued robustly, while imports of luxury goods, fine ceramics, wine, olive oil, and sophisticated iron products reinforced local prosperity.

• Provincial elites continued enjoying substantial economic benefits, reinforcing regional specialization, social stratification, and ongoing dependence on Roman trade.

Persistent Reliance on Slave Labor

• Slavery remained deeply embedded in regional economic activities, particularly essential to mining, agriculture, artisanal production, domestic labor, and urban construction. The active slave trade maintained slavery’s central economic and social role.

Infrastructure Enhancement and Technological Innovation

• Infrastructure investments continued during this period, expanding roads, aqueducts, public buildings, amphitheaters, temples, forums, bridges, and port facilities. These developments significantly improved provincial connectivity, economic efficiency, and urban amenities.

• Technological innovations, especially in metallurgy, agriculture, and construction, continued to enhance productivity, craftsmanship, urban infrastructure, and overall regional prosperity.

Cultural and Religious Developments

Mature Cultural Integration and Artistic Flourishing

• Material culture continued demonstrating dynamic integration of indigenous Iberian traditions, Celtic motifs, and Roman artistic influences. Intricate metalwork, jewelry, fine pottery, ceremonial objects, and household items continued to reflect resilient regional identities and cultural vitality.

• Indigenous tribal cultures—particularly among Lusitanians, Gallaeci, Astures, Cantabri, and Vascones—remained culturally robust, creatively adapting and enriching provincial Roman society with local traditions and distinct identities.

Continued Ritual Practices and Cultural Continuity

• Ritual traditions persisted actively, integrating indigenous Iberian, Celtic, and Roman religious elements. Sacred sites, temples, ritual landscapes, and communal ceremonies reinforced communal cohesion, cultural continuity, and local identities.

• Traditional ancestral rites, warrior ceremonies, and local festivals endured robustly, maintaining regional solidarity, identity, and cultural resilience within the stable Roman provincial context.

Expanded Roman Citizenship and Civic Integration

• Roman citizenship continued expanding gradually, reaching broader segments of society. Civic integration under Commodus and through subsequent political uncertainty further enhanced local identification with Roman political, civic, and cultural institutions, preparing the province for eventual universal citizenship under Caracalla’s Edict in 212 CE.

Notable Tribal Groups and Settlements

• Lusitanians: Economically prosperous, culturally vibrant, and increasingly integrated into Roman civic structures.

• Vettones and Vaccaei: Maintained regional prosperity, stability, and autonomy through diplomatic cooperation and civic integration.

• Gallaeci, Astures, Cantabri: Continued stable integration into provincial governance, economically thriving while preserving local identities.

• Vascones: Successfully maintained diplomatic neutrality, territorial autonomy, cultural distinctiveness, and internal stability.

Long-Term Significance and Legacy

Between 184 and 195 CE, Atlantic Southwest Europe:

• Maintained remarkable provincial stability and economic vitality despite broader imperial instability, reflecting strong local governance and administrative resilience.

• Continued economic integration into Mediterranean trade networks, deeply embedding slavery as a fundamental regional economic institution.

• Demonstrated enduring cultural resilience and adaptive civic integration, preserving indigenous identities while progressively assimilating into broader Roman civic and cultural frameworks.

This period firmly consolidated Atlantic Southwest Europe’s historical legacy as a stable, economically prosperous, culturally resilient province within the Roman Empire, laying critical foundations for deeper integration and social transformation in subsequent decades.

Atlantic West Europe: 184–195

Between 184 and 195 CE, Atlantic West Europe—including Aquitaine, the Atlantic coast, northern and central France, Alsace, and the Low Countries—experienced increasing imperial instability under the reign of Commodus (r. 180–192), his assassination, and the subsequent "Year of the Five Emperors" (193), leading into the beginning of the Severan Dynasty under Septimius Severus. While Lyon (in Mediterranean West Europe) played a significant political role as the western base of Clodius Albinus, its influence impacted the broader stability of Atlantic West Europe during this turbulent era.

Political and Military Developments

• Reign and Fall of Commodus (184–192):

  • Commodus’s rule became increasingly erratic and oppressive, marked by corruption, administrative instability, and loss of trust among provincial elites.

  • The assassination of Commodus (December 192) threw the empire into chaos, significantly affecting provincial administration.

• Year of the Five Emperors (193):

  • A succession crisis followed Commodus’s death, with multiple claimants vying for power.

  • Clodius Albinus, governor of Britannia, gained substantial support in Atlantic West Europe and established his claim in Gaul, briefly ruling as Caesar and then as Augustus, with a power base centered in Lyon.

• Rise of Septimius Severus (193–195):

  • Septimius Severus emerged victorious, consolidating power after defeating rival claimants (Pescennius Niger in the east, Clodius Albinus in the west).

  • Tensions mounted in Gaul as Severus prepared for confrontation with Albinus, a conflict that deeply impacted regional stability.

Economic Developments

• Instability and Economic Disruption:

  • Political instability and civil war temporarily disrupted trade networks, particularly affecting commercial centers along the Rhine and in Lyon.

  • Bordeaux's wine exports to Rome continued, but general economic uncertainty led to cautious investment and temporary decline in prosperity.

• Heightened Military Expenditure:

  • Military expenses rose sharply to fund civil conflicts, increasing taxation and strain on provincial resources.

Urban and Rural Developments

• Provincial Unrest and Urban Tension:

  • Lyon, as Albinus’s western capital, briefly benefited economically but also faced heightened political risk and unrest.

  • Smaller cities faced financial strain, leading to deferred civic improvements and increased local tensions.

• Agricultural Stability Under Pressure:

  • Agricultural productivity largely persisted but was hampered by increased demands from military requisitions and imperial taxation.

Cultural and Religious Life

• Shifts in Local Attitudes:

  • Uncertainty surrounding imperial leadership led to greater local skepticism of central authority, laying subtle foundations for increased regional identities.

  • Traditional Roman religious practices persisted, but the chaotic political environment began to foster openness to new religious movements.

Long-term Significance

The era (184–195 CE) was one of heightened instability and transition, marking the decline of Antonine stability and the emergence of Severan rule. These disruptions set the stage for broader provincial and imperial transformations, foreshadowing the political fragmentation and regionalism that would define later centuries in Atlantic West Europe.

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.

Pertinax narrowly averts one conspiracy by a group to replace him with the consul Quintus Sosius Falco while he is in Ostia inspecting the arrangements for grain shipments.

The plot is betrayed in early March; Falco himself is pardoned but several of the officers behind the coup are executed.

Pertinax is at his palace on March 28, 193, when, according to the Historia Augusta, a contingent of some three hundred soldiers of the Praetorian Guard rushes the gates (two hundred according to Cassius Dio).

Ancient sources suggest that they had received only half their promised pay.

Neither the guards on duty nor the palace officials choose to resist them.

Pertinax sends Laetus to meet them, but he chooses to side with the insurgents instead and deserts the emperor.

Although advised to flee, Pertinax then attempts to reason with them, and is almost successful before being struck down by one of the soldiers.

Pertinax must have been aware of the danger he faced by assuming the purple, for he refused to use imperial titles for either his wife or son, thus protecting them from the aftermath of his own assassination.

Immediately after the murder of Pertinax, the Praetorian assassins announce that the throne is to be sold to the man who will pay the highest price.

Titus Flavius Sulpicianus, prefect of the city, father-in-law of the murdered emperor, being at this moment in the camp to which he had been sent to calm the troops, begins making offers when Didius Julianus, having been roused from a banquet by his wife and daughter, arrives in all haste, and being unable to gain admission, stands before the gate, and with a loud voice competes or the prize.

Julianus, consul in 175 along with Pertinax, had further distinguished himself in a campaign against the Chatti, ruled Dalmatia and Germania Inferior, and then was made prefect charged with distributing money to the poor of Italy.

It was around this time that he had been charged with having conspired against the life of Commodus, but he had had the good fortune to be acquitted and to witness the punishment of his accuser.

After governing Bithynia, he had succeeded Pertinax in 190 as the proconsul of Africa.

As the bidding goes on, the soldiers report to each of the two competitors, the one within the fortifications, the other outside the rampart, the sum offered by his rival.

Eventually Sulpicianus promises 20,000 sesterces to every soldier; Julianus, fearing that Sulpicianus will gain the throne, then offers 25,000.

The guards immediately close with the offer of Julianus, throw open the gates, salute him by the name of Commodus, and proclaim him emperor.

Threatened by the military, the Senate declares him emperor.

His wife and his daughter both receive the title Augusta.

Julianus immediately devalues the Roman currency  upon his accession, decreasing the silver purity of the denarius from 87% to 81.5%—the actual silver weight dropping from 2.75 grams to 2.40 grams.

After the initial confusion subsides, the population does not tamely submit to the dishonor brought upon Rome.

Whenever Julianus appears in public he is saluted with groans, imprecations, and shouts of "robber and parricide."

The mob tries to obstruct his progress to the Capitol, and even throws stones.

When news of the public anger in Rome spreads across the Empire, the generals Pescennius Niger in Syria, Septimius Severus in Pannonia, and Clodius Albinus in Britain and Gaul, each having three legions under his command, refuses to recognize the authority of Julianus.

Clodius Albinus, born into an aristocratic family at Hadrumetum in Africa had, according to his father, received the name of Albinus because of the extraordinary whiteness of his body.

Showing great disposition for a military life, he had entered the army at an early age and served with great distinction, especially during the rebellion of Avidius Cassius against the Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 175.

His merits were acknowledged by the Emperor in two letters in which he calls Albinus an African, who resembled his countrymen but little, and who was praiseworthy for his military experience and the gravity of his character.

The Emperor likewise declared that without Albinus the legions (in Bithynia) would have gone over to Avidius Cassius, and that he intended to have him chosen consul.

Commodus had given Albinus a command in Gallia Belgica and afterwards in Britain.

A false rumor having been spread that Commodus had died, Albinus denounced the man before his soldiers in Britain, calling Commodus a tyrant, and maintaining that it would be useful to the Roman Empire to restore to the senate its ancient dignity and power.

The Senate was very pleased with these sentiments, but not so the Emperor, who sent Junius Severus to relieve Albinus of his command.

Some time before, Commodus had offered him the title of Caesar, which he declined.

Notwithstanding the appointment of Junius Severus as his successor, Albinus has kept his command.

Although Pescennius Niger had been born into an old Italian equestrian family, he is the first member of his family to achieve the rank of Roman senator.

Not much is known of his early career; it is possible that he held an administrative position in Egypt, and that he served in a military campaign in Dacia early in Commodus’ reign.

During the late 180s, Niger was elected as a Suffect consul, after which Commodus made him imperial legate of Syria in 191.

He is still serving in Syria when news comes through firstly of the murder of Pertinax, followed by the auctioning off of the imperial title to Didius Julianus.

Niger is a well regarded public figure in Rome and soon a popular demonstration against Didius Julianus breaks out, during which the citizens call out for Niger to come to Rome and claim the imperial title for himself.

As a consequence, it is alleged that Julianus dispatched a centurion to the east with orders to assassinate Niger at Antioch.

The result of the unrest in Rome sees Niger proclaimed Emperor by the eastern legions by the end of April 193.

On his accession, Niger takes the additional cognomen Justus, or "the Just".

Although imperial propaganda issued on behalf of Septimius Severus later claims that Niger was the first to rebel against Didius Julianus, it is Severus who beats Niger to it, claiming the imperial title on April 9.

Although Niger sends envoys to Rome to announce his elevation to the imperial throne, his messengers are intercepted by Severus.

Septimius Severus, whose Romanized North African family is not politically prominent, has nevertheless held a number of important posts, and had received from the Emperor Commodus the command of the legions in Pannonia.

In response to the murder of Pertinax, Severus' soldiers proclaim him Emperor at Carnuntum, whereupon he hurries to Italy.

Julianus declares Severus a public enemy because he is the nearest of the three rival claimants and, therefore, the most dangerous foe.

Deputies are sent from the Senate to persuade the soldiers to abandon him; a new general is nominated to supersede him, and a centurion dispatched to take his life.

The Praetorian Guard, long strangers to active military operations, are marched into the Campus Martius, regularly drilled, and trained in the construction of fortifications and field works.

Severus, however, having secured the support of Albinus by—deceitfully—declaring him Caesar, which implies some claim to succession, progresses towards the city, makes himself master of the fleet at Ravenna, defeats Tullius Crispinus, the Praetorian Prefect, who had been sent to halt his progress, and gains over to his cause the ambassadors sent to seduce his troops.The Praetorian Guard, lacking discipline and sunk in debauchery and sloth, are incapable of offering any effectual resistance.

Matters being desperate, Julianus now attempts negotiation and offers to share the empire with his rival, but Severus ignores these overtures and presses forward, all Italy declaring for him as he advances.

At last the Praetorians, having received assurances that they will suffer no punishment—provided they surrender the actual murderers of Pertinax—seize the ringleaders of the conspiracy and report what they have done to Silius Messala, the consul, by whom the Senate is summoned and informed of the proceedings.

The Senate passes a motion proclaiming Severus emperor, awarding divine honors to Pertinax, and sentencing Julianus to death.

Julianus is deserted by all except one of the prefects and his son-in-law, Repentinus.

Julianus is killed in the palace by a soldier in the third month of his reign (June 1, 193).

According to Cassius Dio, who lived in Rome during the period, Julianus's last words were "But what evil have I done?

Whom have I killed?"

His body is given to his wife and daughter, who bury it in his great-grandfather's tomb by the fifth milestone on the Via Labicana.

After his entry to Rome, Severus dismisses the Praetorian Guard and executes the soldiers who had killed Pertinax.

The surviving guardsmen are stripped of their ceremonial armor and ordered to remove themselves within one hundred miles of the city on pain of death.

Severus now raises a new Guard composed of fifty thousand loyal soldiers mainly camped at Albanum, near Rome (also probably to grant the emperor a kind of centralized reserve).

He recognizes Pertinax as a legitimate emperor and not only pressures the Senate to deify him and provide for him a state funeral, but also adopts his cognomen of Pertinax as part of his name, and also for some time will hold games on the anniversary of Pertinax's ascension and his birthday.

Septimius Severus, contending for the imperial throne in the Year of the Five Emperors, receives support from Jewish communities in his war against Pescennius Niger, governor of Syria, who had once told a Jewish delegation that he was sorry he could not tax the air they breathed.