CRISIS OF THE 3RD CENTURY

he Crisis of the Third Century - "Military Anarchy" or "Imperial Crisis" - refers to the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284.

The changes in the institutions, society, economic life and eventually religion were so profound and fundamental, that the "Crisis of the Third Century" is increasingly seen as the watershed marking the difference between the classical world and the early medieval world, or world of late antiquity.

With the Crisis of the Third Century Rome's vast 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. This produced profound changes that, in many ways, would foreshadow the 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, 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 Manorialism.

The common free people of the cities, meanwhile, began to move out to the countryside in search of food and protection. Made desperate by economic necessity, many of these former city dwellers, as well as many small farmers, were forced to give up basic rights in order to receive protection from large land holders. The former became a half-free class of citizens known as coloni. They were tied to the land and, thanks to later Imperial reforms, their positions were made hereditary. This provided an early model for serfdom, which would form the basis of mediaeval feudal society.

The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, (AD 235–284) was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression. The Crisis began with the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander at the hands of his own troops in 235, initiating a fifty-year period in which there were at least 26 claimants to the title of Emperor, mostly prominent Roman army generals, assuming imperial power over all or part of the Empire. Twenty-six men were officially accepted by the Roman Senate as emperor during this period, and thus became legitimate emperors.

By 268, the Empire had split into three competing states: the Gallic Empire, including the Roman provinces ofGaul, Britannia and (briefly) Hispania; the Palmyrene Empire, including the eastern provinces of Syria Palaestina and Aegyptus; and the Italian-centered and independent Roman Empire, proper, between them. Later, Aurelian (270–275) reunited the empire; the Crisis ended with the ascension and reforms of Diocletianin 284.

The Crisis resulted in such profound changes in the Empire's institutions, society, economic life and, eventually, religion, that it is increasingly seen by most historians as defining the transition between the historical periods of classical antiquity and late antiquity

The situation of the Roman Empire became dire in 235 AD, when emperor Alexander Severus was murdered by his own troops. Many Roman legions had been defeated during a campaign against Germanic peoples raiding across the borders, while the emperor was focused primarily on the dangers from the Sassanid Persian Empire. Leading his troops personally, Alexander Severus resorted to diplomacy and paying tribute in an attempt to pacify the Germanic chieftains quickly. According to Herodian this cost him the respect of his troops, who may have felt they should be punishing the tribes who were intruding on Rome's territory.^[2]

In the years following the emperor's death, generals of the Roman army fought each other for control of the Empire and neglected their duties in preventing invasions from foreigners. Provincials became victims of frequent raids by foreign tribes, such as theCarpians, Goths, Vandals, and Alamanni, along the Rhine and Danube Rivers in the western part of the Empire, as well as attacks from Sassanids in the eastern part of the Empire. Climate changes and a rise in sea levels ruined the agriculture of what is now the Low Countries, and forced tribes to relocate in order to find food.^[3] Additionally, in 251, the Plague of Cyprian (possibly smallpox) broke out, causing large-scale mortality which may have seriously affected the ability of the Empire to defend itself.^{[citation needed]}

After the loss of Valerian in 260, the Roman Empire was beset by usurpers, who broke it up into three competing states. TheRoman provinces of Gaul, Britain and Hispania broke off to form the Gallic Empire. After the death of Odaenathus in 267, the eastern provinces of Syria, Palestine and Aegyptus became independent as the Palmyrene Empire, leaving the remaining Italian-centered Roman Empire-proper in the middle.^{[citation needed]}

An invasion by a vast host of Goths was beaten back at the Battle of Naissus in 268. This victory was significant as the turning point of the crisis, when a series of tough, energetic soldier-emperors took power. Victories by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus over the next two years drove back the Alamanni and recovered Hispania from the Gallic Empire. When Claudius died in 270 of the plague,Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus, succeeded him as the emperor and continued the restoration of the Empire.^{[citation needed]}

Economic impact[edit]

Emperor Diocletian. 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^{[citation needed]} and doubled the legionaries' base pay. As each of the short-lived emperors took power, he 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 were often 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 = 1000 denarii = 4000sestertii).^{[citation needed]} This currency had almost no value by the end of the third century, and trade was carried out without retail coinage.

Gordian I, Latin in full Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus Romanus (born c. 157—died April 238) Roman emperor for three weeks in March to April 238.

Gordian was an elderly senator with a taste for literature. The Greek writer Flavius Philostratus dedicated his Lives of the Sophists to him. Early in 238, when Gordian wasproconsul in Africa, a group of wealthy young landowners resisted and killed the tax collectors who had been sent to Africa by the emperor Maximinus (reigned 235–238). The insurgents proclaimed Gordian emperor, and the Senate recognized him. Gordian killed himself upon learning of the death of his son and coruler, Gordian II, in a battle against the governor of Numidia, Capelianus. Gordian’s rule of only a few weeks had drawn the Senate to opposeMaximinus, and they continued the war against him with new emperors, Balbinus and Pupienus.