Unit 17: Crisis of the Third Century AD
Contents and layout ©1999 Joseph J. Hughes, Ph.D.
Revised 09 November 2000
Septimius Severus (193-211) Diocletian (284-305)
Crisis of the Third Century Constantine (324-337)
annona Dominate
patrocinium Theodosius (376-395)
honestiores humiliores
I. Successors of the Good Emperors
A. Commodus (180-192)
1. no interest in running government
2. government run by praetorian prefects
3. assassinated by Praetorian Guard 192 BC
4. successors ineffective
a. Pertinax (192)
b. Didius Julianus (193)
B. Civil War (193-197): flare up of 68-69
1. Army commanders from all corners compete for Empire
a. Clodius Albinus (Britain)
b. Pescennius Niger (Syria)
c. Septimius Severus (Danube)
2. Reasons for revolt
a. incompetent emperor at the head of state
b. locally recruited troops
c. warlord phenomenon in a different form
3. Severus wins and establishes "House of Severus"
C. Reign of Septimius Severus (193-211)
1. stopped Parthian inroads into Empire
2. good relationship with the military
3. authoritarian domestic policy: falls off from Antonine emperors
a. disregarded and ignored the Senate
b. believed that he alone merited complete power
c. primary emphasis on military security
4. Succession
a. left Empire to his sons Caracalla and Geta
b. Caracalla killed Geta and became sole Emperor
D. Caracalla (211-217)
1. extended citizenship to all freeborn Roman males 212
2. believed he was Alexander the Great
a. started a war with Parthia
b. started to lose it, too
3. assassinated 217 BC
E. Three lesser emperors (217-235)
1. Macrinus (217-218)
2. Elagabalus (218-222)
a. devotee of the sun god
b. hobby was torturing people
c. assassinated 222 BC
3. Severus Alexander (222-235)
a. his mother actually ran the government
b. to some extent a Golden Age
II. Crisis of the Third Century (235-284)
A. Political reasons
1. continual struggle for the office of emperor
a. 20 Roman emperors
b. average tenure 2.45 years
c. "warlord" phenomenon
2. secondary reasons
a. Roman legions supported their -imperator-'s claim
1). we're all locally recruited
2). we don't know the twit who is supposed to be emperor
3). we do love our beloved Imperator
b. armies could not agree as a whole upon one emperor
c. no single general strong enough
3. the succession
a. armies claim the right to declare successor
b. the result: anarchy
4. secession of parts of the Empire
a. Spain, Britain, W. Europe (259-274)
b. Egypt and Syria (268-272)
B. Problems on the borders
1. Persian expansionism (212-262)
a. overran Parthians in the time of Severus
b. overran Syria 262 BC
c. pushed into Asia Minor
2. Goths
a. many petty raids in the East
b. 268 AD: 320,000 Goths cross the Danube
c. Dacia abandoned to Goths 271 BC
3. Alemanni and Franks
a. operated in western part of Empire
b. destined to cause trouble for many years
4. reasons for Germanic expansion
a. new homelands
b. desire for plunder
c. other tribes pushing them out
d. Roman military weakness
1). plague 260-270
2). frontier legions deserted in some instances
5. steps taken to appease, rather than assimilate, Germans
a. Germans were considered barbarian
1). unusual intoleration on Romans' part
2). Roman hostility was a bad career move
b. lands provided within Empire for Germans
1). ruled by their own leaders (-foederati-)
2). never became Romanized
c. Germans allowed to serve in military
1). mixed in with legions
2). served as border troops (limitanei)
C. Socio-economic malaise
1. crisis of faith in Roman military might
a. invasion of Germanic and other tribes
1). We used to kick their butts on a regular basis
2). Now they are kicking ours!
b. secession of Roman generals and governors
2. crisis of faith in Rome's destiny and civilizing mission
a. Is Lady Luck turning the Wheel o'Fortune on Rome?
b. Are the gods angry at us?
1). mos maiorum violated
2). proliferation of weird religions
c. Has our corruption caught up with us?
3. Roman economy a shambles after 253
a. constant devaluation led to worthless currency
1). talk about nickel and dime stuff!
2). started from Nero's time on
3). paper money not an option
b. inflation was rampant
c. would not take their own money as payment of taxes
d. military needs did not abate: they got worse
1). money no longer kept an army supplied
2). annona (payment in kind) exacted
4. faith in Roman justice evaporating
a. poor bear most of the financial burden of Empire
b. "might makes right" becomes rule in the provinces
c. legitimate government becomes more oppressive
1). military conscription
a). bodies needed to guard the frontier
b). service was a burden, not an opportunity
2). taxation in kind (annona)
a). taxes were the first priority
b). if you can't eat after taxes, tough luck
5. social struggle (honestiores vs. humiliores)?
a. local upper classes (honestiores) were obligated to collect taxes
1). no more seeking office as an honor
2). now, the offices were seeking you!
b. the poor (humiliores) did not want to pay
c. internal dissension the result
1). government sided with the rich
2). the rich called in the military
3). shades of 19th century USA??
6. effects of civil wars of 3d cent AD
a. tens of thousands of people and cattle killed
b. cities, farms destroyed
c. local units of government rendered powerless
d. initiative often stamped out
III. The restitution of the empire
A. Aurelian (270-275)
1. background
a. poor Dacian boy who joined the army
b. helped Claudius II depose Gallienus
c. raised to the pvrple May 270
2. actions
a. secures Italy by defeating barbarian tribes
b. builds humongous wall around Rome
1). 20 ft. high, 12 miles long
2). 381 towers at 100 ft. intervals
3). symbol of siege mentality
a). last wall built after Celtic raid 386 BC
b). what goes around comes around
4). added to and improved on by successors
c. defeats three pretenders in the provinces
d. withdraws Roman troops behind the Danube River
e. stamps out Zenobia's queendom of Palmyra
f. assassinated during invasion of Persia 275 AD
3. things he attempted but never got done
a. war with Persia
b. reform of coinage
c. religious reform
1). wanted to establish a cult of Sol Invictus
2). wanted to stamp out Christianity
4. assessment of Aurelian
a. rightly hailed as restitutor orbis
b. who knows how he might have reorganized the Roman world?
1). perhaps keyed into the mos maiorum more
2). not exactly a bold visionary though
B. Diocletian (284-305)
1. Proclaimed emperor by his troops
a. poorly educated
b. possessed of great common sense
2. Realized he could not run the empire by himself
3. Diocletian's administrative reforms: "Tetrarchy"
a. empire divided into East and West
b. succession in the Tetrarchy
4. instituted "cult of personality"
a. trappings of Republic fall by the wayside
b. oriental ritual begins to be adopted
1). more inscrutable
2). less accessible
c. took up title of "dominus et deus"
5. precursor of Byzantine court ritual
a. elaborate system of officials
b. not conducive to harmonious sharing of power
C. Constantine (324-337)
1. accession
a. fights his way into Tetrarchy 306 BC
b. were supposedly on friendly terms
c. open warfare breaks out 314; is inconclusive
d. bloodbath at Chrysopolis 324
2. Constantine and Christianity
a. persecution of Christians continues under Diocletian
b. Edict of Milan 313: X state religion
c. Edict of Nicaea 325
D. Structure of the Dominate: the new totalitarianism
1. despot's rule is absolute
a. bound by no laws or precedents
b. all authority vested in Emperor
2. equivalent to Oriental potentate
a. elaborate rituals installed
b. precursor of trappings of Western monarchy
3. mos maiorum completely thrown over
a. no pretense of common bonds between ruler and subject
1). figment of Republican days
2). had been observed carefully during Empire
b. emperor is a figure of awe
1). not only a ruler
2). also a god
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