PolledHistory: Friday Special - The 3rd Century Crisis

 Hello! This friday special is about the Crisis of the 3rd Century, a major time period and event in history between 235 and 285 AD - fifty years.

Just from the name "Crisis of the 3rd Century", we know it was a crisis (which it definitely was) and we know that it was during the 3rd century, which was when it took place. Before we study the actual event, let's see the background.

180 AD in the bustling streets of the ancient city of Rome. The emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius had died, and Commodus his son became emperor. This event ended a period in history known as the Time of the Five Good Emperors (between 98 and 180 AD) - nearly a century of prosperity in the Roman empire following the sucession of emperor Domitian and Nerva's ascent to the throne.

Commodus began a line of usually bad or mediocre kings that worsened the great state of the empire during the better days of their predecessors. In 235 AD, fifty five years after Marcus Aurelius' death, Severus Alexander, who succeeded the terrible emperor Elagabalus, was killed by his own soldiers.

After him came an emperor named Maximinus Thrax who also only reigned three years. The common theme in 3rd Century Crisis Roman emperors was that their reigns were short - only one emperor within the crisis reigned more than ten years.

Maximinus (given the nickname Thrax for his Thracian ancestry). He was a mediocre emperor with military prowess. He was assasinated just after three years and his sucessors was a co rule of Gordian I and Gordian II. Gordian I reigned three weeks and so did his son Gordian II.

After them came Pupienus and Balbinus reigned only three months before quickly being killed. As you see, this time was extremely chaotic and partiucularly violent. It was full of bloody civil wars, barbarian invasions from the north were extremely concerning, and economic stress - corruption and inflation and the debasement of the currency basically almost destroyed the empire.

After the two (Pupeinus and Balbinus) died, Gordian III ruled. Finally, he reigned a decent time for the condition of the empire - a great six years. Rebellions were dominant during his reign, but he did respond well against germanic tribes. (Popularly known as Barbarians).

Even Shapur, who had ravaged the empire previously, the king of the Sassanid Persians, were defeated. Gordian then died, likely in battle. Now, a man named Philip the Arab became emperor of Rome. Philip the Arab also reigned an impressively long reign for the state of the empire - a solid five yesrs.

Philip the Arab was, well, Arab, and one of his most known achievements was celebrating the Ludi Saeculares - the thousandth anniversary of Rome's founding. However, after that came downfall for the emperor and then he was killed in battle and Decius succeeded  him as emperor.

Note that the sucession of emperors often were not from familial ties (though there were some), as the Crisis of the 3rd Century was a very turbulent time. Back to Decius, he was a politician who became emperor after the death of his predecessor. He ruled for almost two years and his reign ended chaotically - he was killed by foreign enemies, the first emperor to die that way. He lead a great and brutal persecution against the Christians.

After Decius' death, Trebonianus Gallus ruled, ruling for slightly more than two years. He was afflicted with problems all around him - Shapur I's attacks against Rome, rebellions, and Germanic and Scythian tribes flooded into the east, destroying the ancient Temple of Artemis. 

After Gallus was Aemillianus who only reigned three months. He was a bad emperor and Valerian the Governor overthrew him and Valerian succeeded him as emperor. Valerian would reign a shockingly lengthy SEVEN years.  He was a mediocre king but Shapur the Persian king (yes, Shapur I again) caprured him  in battle and was later executed. 

After Valerian came his son Gallienus. He reigned a duration never seen before in the crisis of the 3rd century - fifteen whole years. Gallienus was a terrific emperor who revitalized and helped the empire in times of crisis. However, he was not able to restrain the rebellions of the Gallic provinces (modern day France) and Britain to become the Gallic Empire.

After Gallienus died, Claudius Gothicus, whose father was Gordian II, would reign two years and he did defeat the Goths (Germanic tribespeople), gaining the title "Gothicus". After he died, Egypt, the Levant, and Syria, under the queen Zenobia rebelled against Rome, creating the Palmyrene Empire.

Never before was Rome in such a terrible state. Economic distress, a huge internal crisis, external crises from the Sassanids, Germanic Tribes, and two huge rebellions, losing half of Rome's initial territory. It seemed as if Rome was about to fall. Germanic tribes flooded in to the Italian peninsula, further than they ever went in centuries.

And when all seemed hopeless, Claudius Gothicus' sucessor, Aurelian, in five years, restored the empire. Aurelian was the son of a farmer and became a soldier and rised the ranks to fame in the military, until eventually he was made emperor by the Roman Senate.

Aurelian then defeated the German tribespeople when they were attacking Italy in a great battle, defeated the Goths too after, he managed to help return the currency and slow down inflation, then attacked the rebellion of Palmyra, lead by queen Zenobia, which was a risky and dangerous move, as their armies were strong and if he did, he potentially would stop getting grain from the fertile land of Egypt under Palmyran control.

Zenobia was defeated and the rebellious city of Palmyra was spared. However, when they rebelled again, Aurelian destroyed the city. He then came to attack Tetricus, the king of the unruly Gallic Empire that rebelled during the reign of Gallienus, and they were easily defeated and Tetricus and Zenobia brought as captives and embarassed in front of the Roman public.

He also built the Aurelian Walls around Rome, making the city fortified, and was entitled by the senate as "Restitutor Orbis", or "The Restorer of the World". He was a strict but effective leader and he was a skilled military leader.

Still, he was assasinated after restoring the Roman Empire's unity in just five years, with his reign ending in 275 AD. Then Tacitus became emperor, then Florian, then Probus, then Carus, then Numerian, and by 285 AD, Diocletian.

Diocletian was the last emperor in the 3rd Century Crisis. He organized the empire, changed economic systems and ended the crisis. He reigned a long time - twenty one years then retired. Then the Tetrarchy - a system of rule with four co emperors succeeded him. Though he was a good ruler on the technical side, he did initiate a harsh persecution against Christians, but he was one of the last emperors to, as later about two decades after, Constantine legalized and popularized the religion.

That ended the 3rd Century Crisis!

Next Friday Topic: Justinian and Byzantium (527-565 AD)