Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was made a kind of co-emperor with Lucius Verus. Both were the adopted son's of Antoninus Pius, who had been instructed to adopt them by Hadrian in his plan's for succession. They were both groomed for a young age for the job.

Rather than fight it out for control, they both worked together
 * Aurelius was pontifex maximus, set him apart as slightly superior to Verus

Aurelius' Character

 * Aurelius was a favorite of Hadrian; had a marriage arranged between Antoninus' daughter and he
 * wasn't natural solider, trained as stoic philosopher (like Hadrian); becomes philosopher general
 * wrote the Meditations
 * preferred to sleep on ground, wouldn't sleep in bed until his mother made him
 * was apparently reluctant to become emperor
 * very good at delegating tasks, not making enemies
 * had ashes placed in Hadrian's mausoleum; his biological son Commodus took over (Commodus was freakin' crazy)

Aurelius and Verus' Rule

 * Verus waged a Partian War in which Rome was fairly victorious (though it's control was short-lived), while Marcus handled the German problems around the Danube
 * Marcus' advisors in Rome did most politicking (he was on campaign); his supreme ability to delegate to capable people accounted for a great deal of his success; his frank support of beneficial ideology put him on great terms with the people
 * After Verus died of a stroke, Marcus continued as sole Augustus, and fought wars in the North for nearly the rest of his life

Succession
The governor of Egypt (the general who had largely won the Parthian war) had his troops declare himself emperor; Marcus came back down with his son Commodus to prove his legitimacy. After doing so, he was then called back up to deal with further problems in the North, and appointed his son Augusti with him. They ruled until he died on campaign, and Commodus took over as sole Augusti.