Crisis of the Third Century

Septimius Severus, in order to maintain the loyalty of the armies, raised the pay of legionaries, and gave substantial donatives to the troops. This policy was maintained by his successors in the Severan dynasty. Over time the army required larger and larger bribes to remain loyal. The large and ongoing increase in military expenditure caused problems for all of his successors. Instead of warring in foreign lands, the Roman empire was increasingly put on the defensive by marauding enemies and civil wars. This cut off the essential source of income gained from plundering enemy countries, while opening up the Roman countryside to economic devastation from looters both foreign and domestic. Frequent civil wars contributed to depletion of the army's manpower, and drafting replacement soldiers strained the labour force further. Fighting on multiple fronts, increasing size and pay of the army, increasing cost of transport, populist "bread and circuses" political campaigns, inefficient and corrupt tax collection, unorganised budgeting, and paying off foreign nations for peace all contributed to the financial crisis. The emperors responded by confiscating assets and supplies to combat the deficit. The situation of the Roman Empire became dire in 235. Many Roman legions had been defeated during a previous campaign against Germanic peoples raiding across the borders, while the emperor Severus Alexander had been focused primarily on the dangers from the Sasanian Empire. Leading his troops personally, the emperor resorted to diplomacy and accepting tribute to pacify the Germanic chieftains quickly, rather than military conquest. According to Herodian, this cost Severus Alexander the respect of his troops, who may have felt that more severe punishment was required for the tribes that had intruded on Rome's territory. The troops assassinated Severus Alexander and proclaimed the new emperor to be Maximinus Thrax, commander of one of the legions present. Maximinus was the first of the barracks emperors – rulers who were elevated by the troops without having any political experience, a supporting faction, distinguished ancestors, or a hereditary claim to the imperial throne. As their rule rested on military might and generalship, they operated as warlords reliant on the army to maintain power. Maximinus continued the campaigns in Germania but struggled to exert his authority over the whole empire. The Senate was displeased at having to accept a peasant as Emperor. This precipitated the chaotic Year of the Six Emperors during which all of the original claimants were killed: in 238 a revolt broke out in Africa led by Gordian I and Gordian II, which was soon supported by the Roman Senate, but this was quickly defeated with Gordian II killed and Gordian I committing suicide. The Senate, fearing the wrath of Maximinus, raised two of their own as co-Emperors, Pupienus and Balbinus, with Gordian I's grandson Gordian III as Caesar. Maximinus marched on Rome but was assassinated by his own troops, and subsequently Pupienus and Balbinus were murdered by the Praetorian Guard. In the following years, numerous Roman generals fought each other for control of the empire and neglected their duties of defending it from invasion. There were frequent raids across the Rhine and Danube frontier by foreign tribes, including the Carpians, Goths, Vandals, and Alamanni, and attacks from the Sasanian empire in the east. Climate changes and a sea level rise disrupted the agriculture of what is now the Low Countries, forcing tribes residing in the region to migrate into Roman lands. Further disruption arose in 251, when the Plague of Cyprian (possibly smallpox) broke out. This plague caused large-scale death, severely weakening the empire. The situation was worsened in 260 when the emperor Valerian was captured in battle by the Sasanians (he later died in captivity). Throughout the period, numerous usurpers claimed the imperial throne. In the absence of a strong central authority, the empire broke into three competing states. The Roman provinces of Gaul, Britain, and Hispania broke off to form the Gallic Empire in 260. The eastern provinces of Syria, Palestine, and Aegyptus also became independent as the Palmyrene Empire in 267. The remaining provinces, centered on Italy, stayed under a single ruler but now faced threats on every side. raids in the 3rd century An invasion of Macedonia and Greece by Goths, who had been displaced from their lands on the Black Sea, was defeated by emperor Claudius II Gothicus at the Battle of Naissus in 268 or 269. Historians see this victory as the turning point of the crisis. In its aftermath, a series of tough, energetic barracks emperors were able to reassert central authority. Further victories by Claudius Gothicus drove back the Alamanni and recovered Hispania from the Gallic Empire. He died of the plague in 270 and was succeeded by Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus. Aurelian reigned (270–275) through the worst of the crisis, gradually restoring the empire. He defeated the Vandals, Goths, Palmyrene Empire, and finally the remainder of the Gallic Empire. By late 274, the Roman Empire had been reunited into a single entity. However, Aurelian was assassinated in 275, sparking a further series of competing emperors with short reigns. The situation did not stabilize until Diocletian, himself a barracks emperor, reunified the empire in 285. More than a century would pass before Rome again lost military ascendancy over its external enemies. However, dozens of formerly thriving cities, especially in the Western Empire, had been ruined. Their populations dead or dispersed, these cities could not be rebuilt, due to the economic breakdown caused by constant warfare. The economy was also crippled by the breakdown in trading networks and the debasement of the currency. Major cities and towns, including Rome itself, had not needed fortifications for many centuries, but now surrounded themselves with thick walls. Fundamental problems with the empire still remained. The right of imperial succession had never been clearly defined, which was a factor in the continuous civil wars as competing factions in the military, Senate, and other parties put forward their favored candidate for emperor. The sheer size of the empire, which had been an issue since the late Roman Republic three centuries earlier, continued to make it difficult for a single ruler to effectively counter multiple threats at the same time. These continuing problems were addressed by the radical reforms of Diocletian, who broke the cycle of usurpation. He began by sharing his rule with a colleague, then formally established the Tetrarchy of four co-emperors in 293. However the trend of civil war would continue after the abdication of Diocletian in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy (306–324) until the rise of Constantine the Great as sole Emperor. The first Roman emperor Augustus, who had established the ('Peace of Augustus') in the 1st century BC, had used the title ('leading citizen'). Historians call this first phase of Roman imperial rule the Principate, as Augustus created a system of imperial government that maintained Republican norms and consent given by the Roman Senate. The Principate period ended with the Crisis of the Third Century and the reign of Diocletian, who discontinued the use of the princeps title; from his reign onward emperors used the title '' ('lords').'' The crisis resulted in such profound changes in the empire's institutions, society, economic life, and religion that it is increasingly seen by most historians as defining the transition between the historical periods of classical antiquity and late antiquity. The empire survived until 476 in the West and until 1453 in the East. == Causes ==

Problem of succession and civil war From the beginning of the Principate there were no clear rules for the imperial succession, largely because the empire maintained the facade of a republic. During the early Principate, the process for becoming an emperor relied on a combination of proclamation by the Senate, popular approval, and acceptance by the army, in particular the Praetorian Guard. A family connection to a previous emperor was beneficial, but it did not determine the issue in the way a formal system of hereditary succession would. From the Julio-Claudian dynasty onwards there was sometimes tension between the Senate's preferred choice and the army. As the Senatorial class declined in political influence and more generals were recruited from the provinces, this tension increased. Whenever the succession appeared uncertain, there was an incentive for any general with support of a sizable army to attempt to seize power, sparking civil war. The most recent example of this prior to the Crisis was the Year of the Five Emperors which resulted in the victory of Septimius Severus. After the overthrow of the Severan dynasty, for the rest of the 3rd century, Rome was ruled by a series of generals, coming into power through frequent civil wars which devastated the empire. Natural disasters The first and most immediately disastrous of the natural disasters that the Roman Empire faced during the Third Century was the plague. The 2nd-century Antonine Plague that preceded the Crisis of the Third Century sapped manpower from Roman armies and proved disastrous for the Roman economy. From 249 to 262, the Plague of Cyprian devastated the Roman Empire to such a degree that some cities, such as the city of Alexandria, experienced a 62% decline in population. These plagues greatly hindered the Roman Empire's ability to ward off barbarian invasions but also factored into problems such as famine, with many farms becoming abandoned and unproductive. A second and longer-term natural disaster that took place during the third century was the increased variability of weather. Drier summers meant less agricultural productivity and more extreme weather events led to agricultural instability. This could also have contributed to the increased barbarian pressure on Roman borders, as they too would have experienced the detrimental effects of climate change and sought to push inward to more productive areas of the Mediterranean region. Foreign invasions Barbarian invasions came in the wake of civil war, plague, and famine. Distress caused in part by the changing climate led various barbarian tribes to push into Roman territory. Other tribes coalesced into more formidable entities (notably the Alamanni and Franks), or were pushed out of their former territories by more dangerous peoples such as the Sarmatians (the Huns did not appear west of the Volga for another century). Eventually, the frontiers were stabilized by the Illyrian Emperors. However, barbarian migrations into the empire continued in greater and greater numbers. Though these migrants were initially closely monitored and assimilated, later tribes eventually entered the Roman Empire en masse with their weapons, giving only token recognition of Roman authority. The defensive battles that Rome had to endure on the Danube since the 230s, however, paled in comparison to the threat the empire faced in the East. There, Sassanid Persia represented a far greater danger to Rome than the isolated attacks of Germanic tribes. The Sassanids had in 224 and 226 overthrown the Parthian Arsacids, and the Persian King Ardashir I, who also wanted to prove his legitimacy through military successes, had already penetrated into Roman territory at the time of Severus Alexander, probably taking the strategically important cities of Nisibis and Carrhae in 235/236. ==Economic impact==

. With his rise to power in 284, the Crisis of the Third Century ended and gave rise to the Tetrarchy Internally, the empire faced hyperinflation caused by years of coinage devaluation. This had started earlier under the Severan emperors who enlarged the army by one quarter, and doubled the base pay of legionaries. As each of the short-lived emperors took power, they needed ways to raise money quickly to pay the military's "accession bonus" and the easiest way to do so was by inflating the coinage severely, a process made possible by debasing the coinage with bronze and copper. This resulted in runaway rises in prices, and by the time Diocletian came to power, the old coinage of the Roman Empire had nearly collapsed. Some taxes were collected in kind and values often were notional, in bullion or bronze coinage. Real values continued to be figured in gold coinage, but the silver coin, the denarius, used for 300 years, was gone (1 pound of gold = 40 gold aurei = 1,000 denarii = 4,000 sestertii). This currency had almost no value by the end of the third century, and trade was carried out without retail coinage. Breakdown of the internal trade network One of the most profound and lasting effects of the Crisis of the Third Century was the disruption of Rome's extensive internal trade network. Ever since the Pax Romana, starting with Augustus, the empire's economy had depended in large part on trade between Mediterranean ports and across the extensive road systems to the Empire's interior. Merchants could travel from one end of the empire to the other in relative safety within a few weeks, moving agricultural goods produced in the provinces to the cities, and manufactured goods produced by the great cities of the East to the more rural provinces. Large estates produced cash crops for export and used the resulting revenues to import food and urban manufactured goods. This resulted in a great deal of economic interdependence among the empire's inhabitants. The historian Henry St. Lawrence Beaufort Moss describes the situation as it stood before the crisis: With the onset of the Crisis of the Third Century, however, this vast internal trade network broke down. The widespread civil unrest made it no longer safe for merchants to travel as they once had, and the financial crisis that struck made exchange very difficult with the debased currency. This produced profound changes that, in many ways, foreshadowed the very decentralized economic character of the coming Middle Ages. Large landowners, no longer able to successfully export their crops over long distances, began producing food for subsistence and local barter. Rather than import manufactured goods from the empire's great urban areas, they began to manufacture many goods locally, often on their own estates, thus beginning the self-sufficient "house economy" that would become commonplace in later centuries, reaching its final form in the manorialism of the Middle Ages. The common, free people of the Roman cities, meanwhile, began to move out into the countryside in search of food and better protection. Made desperate by economic necessity, many of these former city dwellers, as well as many small farmers, were forced to give up hard-earned basic civil rights in order to receive protection from large land-holders. In doing so, they became a half-free class of Roman citizen known as coloni. They were tied to the land, and in later Imperial law, their status was made hereditary. This provided an early model for serfdom, the origins of medieval feudal society and of the medieval peasantry. The decline in commerce between the imperial provinces put them on a path toward increased self-sufficiency. Large landowners, who had become more self-sufficient, became less mindful of Rome's central authority, particularly in the Western Empire, and were downright hostile toward its tax collectors. The measure of wealth at this time began to have less to do with wielding urban civil authority and more to do with controlling large agricultural estates in rural regions since this guaranteed access to the only economic resource of real value – agricultural land and the crops it produced. The common people of the empire lost economic and political status to the land-holding nobility, and the commercial middle classes waned along with their trade-derived livelihoods. The Crisis of the Third Century thus marked the beginning of a long gradual process that would transform the ancient world of classical antiquity into the medieval one of the Early Middle Ages. However, although the burdens on the population increased, especially the lower strata of the population, this cannot be generalized to the whole empire, especially since living conditions were not uniform. Although the structural integrity of the economy suffered from the military conflicts of that time and the inflationary episode of the 270s, it did not collapse, especially because of the complex regional differences. Recent research has shown that there were regions that prospered even further, such as Egypt, Africa and Hispania. But even for Asia Minor, which was directly affected by attacks, no general decline can be observed. While commerce and the overall economy flourished in several regions, with several provinces not affected by hostilities, other provinces experienced some serious problems, as evidenced by personal hoards in the northwestern provinces of the empire. However, there can be no talk of a general economic crisis throughout the whole of the Empire. Even the Roman cities began to change in character. The large cities of classical antiquity slowly gave way to the smaller, walled cities that became common in the Middle Ages. These changes were not restricted to the third century, but took place slowly over a long period, and were punctuated with many temporary reversals. In spite of extensive reforms by later emperors, however, the Roman trade network was never able to fully recover to what it had been during the Pax Romana (27 BC – AD 180). This economic decline was far more noticeable and important in the western part of the empire, which was also invaded by barbarian tribes several times during the century. Hence, the balance of power clearly shifted eastward during this period, as evidenced by the choice of Diocletian to rule from Nicomedia in Asia Minor, putting his second in command, Maximian, in Milan. This would have a considerable impact on the later development of the empire with a richer, more stable eastern empire surviving the end of Roman rule in the west. While imperial revenues fell, imperial expenses rose sharply. More soldiers, greater proportions of cavalry, and the ruinous expense of walling in cities all added to the toll. Goods and services previously paid for by the government were now demanded in addition to monetary taxes. The empire suffered from a crippling labour shortage. The steady exodus of both rich and poor from the cities and now-unprofitable professions forced Diocletian to use compulsion; conscription was made universal, most trades were made hereditary, and workers could not legally leave their jobs or travel elsewhere to seek better-paying ones. This included the unwanted middle-class civil service positions and under Constantine, the military. Constantine also tried to provide social programs for the poor to reduce the labour shortage. Increased militarization All the barracks emperors based their power on the military and on the soldiers of the field armies, not on the Praetorians in Rome. Thus, Rome lost its role as the political center of the empire during the third century, although it remained ideologically important. In order to legitimize and secure their rule, the emperors of the third century needed above all military successes. The centre of decision-making shifted away from Rome and to wherever the emperor was with his armies, typically, in the east. This led to the transfer of the capital to the four cities Milan, Trier, Nicomedia, and Sirmium, and then to Constantinople. The Senate ceased to be the main governing organ and instead members of the equestrian class who filled the military officer corps became increasingly prominent. == Emperors ==

Usurpation, that is, the unauthorized assumption of the imperial title, was relatively common during all of Roman imperial history. Given that real power was ultimately based on brute force and control of the army, it became common to see one or several Roman generals try to take power by force, just as Julius Caesar did in his time. This was solidified early on with the accession of Claudius, the fourth emperor, who was raised to the throne by the Praetorian Guard after the murder of Caligula. The role of the army increased in the following century, leading the way to the military anarchy. The crisis saw over 50 different people claim the title of augustus ("emperor"), but only about half of them managed to become "legitimate" emperors through their recognition by the Roman Senate. Several of these men attempted to create stability by appointing their descendants as caesar (heir), or co-augustus, resulting in several brief dynasties. These generally failed to survive beyond one generation, although there were exceptions. With the exception of Claudius Gothicus (a few emperors' deaths are disputed), every single "legitimate" emperor died in a violent manner, often killed by their own troops. The chronology follows and (see also ), with biographical information from and . Roman Empire (235–285) } Claudian dynasty (268–270) ==== Palmyrene Empire (271–273) ==== The Palmyrene Empire was a short-lived breakaway state centered around the city of Palmyra. It encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria Palaestina, Arabia Petraea, and Egypt, as well as large parts of Asia Minor. Chaos consumed the East following the capture of Valerian and the revolts of Macrianus, but the territories were eventually pacified by Odaenathus, who was named Dux Romanorum ("leader of the Romans") and Corrector totius orientis (essentially "governor of all the East") by Gallienus, effectively turning the territory into a semi-independent entity. Odaenathus was proclaimed "King of Kings" (rex regum), but remained loyal to the Emperor. He was murdered by his son Hairan in 267, who was in turn killed by his cousin Maeonius. The throne went to Odaenathus' young son Vaballathus, who reigned under the regency of her mother Zenobia. Non dynastic (270–282) Caran dynastic (282–285) ==Timeline==

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:3 bottom:150 right:150 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:235 till:285 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:235 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:235 Colors = id:canvas value:white id:emperor value:red id:caesar value:blue BarData = bar:MaximinusI bar:MaximusCaesar bar:GordianI bar:GordianII bar:Pupienus bar:Balbinus bar:GordianIII bar:PhilipI bar:PhilipII bar:Decius bar:HerenniusEtruscus bar:Hostilian bar:TrebonianusGallus bar:Volusian bar:Aemilian bar:Valerian bar:Gallienus bar:ValerianII bar:Saloninus bar:ClaudiusII bar:Quintillus bar:Aurelian bar:Tacitus bar:Florian bar:Probus bar:Carus bar:Carinus bar:Numerian PlotData = width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till bar:MaximinusI from:235 till:238 color:emperor text:Maximinus I Thrax bar:MaximusCaesar from:236 till:238 color:caesar text:Verus Maximus bar:GordianI from:238 till:238 color:emperor text:Gordian I bar:GordianII from:238 till:238 color:emperor text:Gordian II bar:Pupienus from:238 till:238 color:emperor text:Pupienus bar:Balbinus from:238 till:238 color:emperor text:Balbinus bar:GordianIII at:238 mark:(line,blue) from:238 till:244 color:emperor text:Gordian III bar:PhilipI from:244 till:249 color:emperor text:Philip I the Arab bar:PhilipII from:244 till:247 color:caesar from:247 till:249 color:emperor text:Philip II the Younger bar:Decius from:249 till:251 color:emperor text:Decius bar:HerenniusEtruscus from:250 till:251 color:caesar from:251 till:251 color:emperor text:Herennius Etruscus bar:Hostilian from:250 till:251 color:caesar from:251 till:251 color:emperor text:Hostilian bar:TrebonianusGallus from:251 till:253 color:emperor text:Trebonianus Gallus bar:Volusian at:251 mark:(line,blue) from:251 till:253 color:emperor text:Volusian bar:Aemilian from:253 till:253 color:emperor text:Aemilian bar:Valerian from:253 till:260 color:emperor text:Valerian I bar:Gallienus from:253 till:268 color:emperor text:Gallienus bar:ValerianII from:256 till:258 color:caesar text:Valerian II bar:Saloninus from:258 till:260 color:caesar from:260 till:260 color:emperor text:Saloninus bar:ClaudiusII from:268 till:270 color:emperor text:Claudius II Gothicus bar:Quintillus from:270 till:270 color:emperor text:Quintillus bar:Aurelian from:270 till:275 color:emperor text:Aurelian bar:Tacitus from:275 till:276 color:emperor text:Tacitus bar:Florian from:276 till:276 color:emperor text:Florian bar:Probus from:276 till:282 color:emperor text:Probus bar:Carus from:282 till:283 color:emperor text:Carus bar:Carinus from:282 till:283 color:caesar from:283 till:285 color:emperor text:Carinus bar:Numerian from:282 till:283 color:caesar from:283 till:284 color:emperor text:Numerian • denotes Emperors • denotes Caesars (official heirs) ==See also==

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