Crisis of the Third Century
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
The Crisis of the Third Century (also "Military Anarchy" or "Imperial Crisis") (235–284 AD) 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 Alexander Severus at the hands of his own troops, initiating a fifty-year period in which 20–25 claimants to the title of Emperor, mostly prominent Roman Army generals, assumed imperial power over all or part of the Empire. By 258–260, the Empire split into three competing states, with the Gallic Empire including the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britannia and Hispania; and the Palmyrene Empire, including the eastern provinces of Syria Palaestina and Aegyptus; becoming independent from the Italian-centered Roman Empire proper between them. The Crisis ended with the ascension of Diocletian.
The Crisis resulted in such profound changes in the institutions, society, economic life, and eventually, religion, that it is increasingly seen by historians as the transition period between the historical periods of Classical antiquity and late antiquity.
