14 events the sources record for this year, grouped by region.
What happened
South Asia (1)
During the Ekanalika Great Famine, King Kunchanaga kept the offerings for 500 monks flowing without interruption. (Mahavamsa (Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka) 36.19-20)
Southern Europe (11)
Marcus died (17 March); it was said the physicians killed him to please Commodus; his dying watchword was: "Go to the rising sun, for I am already setting" (Cassius Dio, Roman History 72(71).33)
Commodus rejected his guardians' advice, made a truce with the barbarians and hurried back to Rome (Cassius Dio, Roman History 73(72).1.2)
When the Marcomanni, suffering famine and depopulation, sent envoys, Commodus made peace though he could easily have destroyed them: they returned deserters and captives, supplied troops, and met once a month in the presence of a centurion (Cassius Dio, Roman History 73(72).2)
Commodus granted peace to the Buri, accepting hostages and captives and making them swear to keep a five-mile strip of the Dacian frontier empty; Sabinianus pacified 12,000 expelled Dacians (Cassius Dio, Roman History 73(72).3)
Marcus Aurelius dies of illness on the Danube front. He urges his son Commodus to treat his ministers well and passes away within a day and a night. (Herodian, History of the Empire 1.4)
Commodus addresses the army from a platform and wins its loyalty by distributing a donative. (Herodian, History of the Empire 1.5)
Flatterers disparage the Danube cold and extol the pleasures of Rome, so Commodus longs to return. (Herodian, History of the Empire 1.6)
Pompeianus urges him to end the war and leave, saying "Rome is wherever the emperor is." Commodus asks for time. (Herodian, History of the Empire 1.6)
As Commodus enters Rome, the Senate and the people meet him with laurels and flowers. He stops at the temple of Jupiter and then goes to the palace. (Herodian, History of the Empire 1.7)
Falling ill, Marcus calls his son and urges him not to take the remaining war lightly, then dies (Historia Augusta Marc. 28.1)
When Marcus dies at Vindobona after a reign of 18 years, the Senate and people decree temples, a column and a priest for him. (Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus Aur. Vict. Caes. 16.14)
Eastern Europe & Russia (1)
Commodus entrusts the frontier defenses to others, buys peace from the barbarians with money, and leaves for Rome. (Herodian, History of the Empire 1.6)