The golden age of the Roman Empire ended in 180 AD with the reign of Commodus … (The First Four Seals, pg. 25).
“In the view of the Greek historian Dio Cassius, a contemporary observer, the accession of … Commodus in 180 AD marked the descent ‘from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron’—a famous comment which has led some historians, notably Edward Gibbon, to take Commodus’ reign as the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire.”
“History of the Roman Empire,” Wikipedia.
“The first years of his reign were uneventful, but in 183 he was attacked by an assassin at the instigation of his sister Lucilla and many members of the senate, which felt deeply insulted by the contemptuous manner in which Commodus treated it. From this time he became tyrannical. Many distinguished Romans were put to death as implicated in the conspiracy, and others were executed for no reason at all. The treasury was exhausted by lavish expenditure on gladiatorial and wild beast combats and on the soldiery, and the property of the wealthy was confiscated. … Plots against his life naturally began to spring up. … He was poisoned … on the 31st of December, 192.”
“Commodus, Lucius Aelius Aurelius,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 6, pg. 777.
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