Latest / The Story of Italy: Rome, Renaissance, and the Birth of Modern Europe — Fexingo History / The Crisis of the Third Century: Rome's Empire on the Brink
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the Roman Republic and the early empire, but today I want to jump forward a bit — to the third century AD. A period that almost saw the whole thing come crashing down. Luna: You mean the Crisis of the Third Century? Lucas: Exactly. Starting around 235 AD with the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander, and lasting about fifty years. In that time, Rome went through something like twenty-six emperors — most of them lasted just a few months or years, and almost all died violently. Lucas: The empire was being hit from all sides. On the Danube and Rhine frontiers, new waves of Germanic tribes — Goths, Franks, Alemanni — were pushing in. On the eastern frontier, a revitalized Persian Empire under the Sassanian dynasty was on the offensive. And to make matters worse, a terrible plague swept through the empire, killing thousands in Rome alone. Luna: So it's not just political chaos — it's like a perfect storm of disasters. Lucas: Exactly. The historian Herodian describes cities abandoned, fields untilled, and the streets of Rome filled with the dead. The economy tanked — the silver denarius was so debased it was almost worthless. Prices soared, and the state started demanding taxes in kind rather than coin. Lucas: But let's back up a bit. The crisis really kicks off when Severus Alexander is murdered by his own troops in 235. The soldiers were unhappy with his cautious approach to the Germanic tribes — they wanted a more aggressive leader. So they proclaimed Maximinus Thrax, a giant Thracian soldier who had risen from the ranks, as emperor. Lucas: Maximinus was the first of the so-called 'barracks emperors' — men who were professional soldiers with no senatorial background. He spent his short reign fighting on the Rhine and Danube, but he was brutal and unpopular with the aristocracy and the people. He was eventually assassinated by his own men during a siege of Aquileia in 238. Luna: And then the floodgates opened. Lucas: Right. The year 238 is sometimes called the 'year of the six emperors.' After Maximinus, we have Gordian I and II in Africa, then Pupienus and Balbinus in Rome, then Gordian III. It's a mess. But the real existential threat came from the east. Lucas: In 253, the Sassanian king Shapur I invaded deep into Roman territory. He defeated the Roman army at Barbalissus, then captured the city of Antioch — the third largest city in the empire. But the worst humiliation came in 260, when Emperor Valerian himself was taken prisoner during negotiations. Luna: Wait — a Roman emperor captured alive? That's unprecedented. Lucas: Absolutely unprecedented. Shapur used Valerian as a footstool when mounting his horse, according to Persian sources. The Romans were horrified. It shattered the myth of Roman invincibility. And with Valerian gone, his son Gallienus had to deal with breakaway regimes: a Gallic Empire in the west under Postumus, and the Palmyrene Empire in the east under Queen Zenobia and her son Vaballathus. Lucas: So by the 260s, the Roman Empire had effectively split into three parts. It looked like the whole thing was about to unravel. Luna: So how did they pull it back together? Lucas: That's the remarkable part. The empire was saved by a series of tough soldier-emperors, the most important of whom was Aurelian, who reigned from 270 to 275. He earned the title 'Restorer of the World' — and he lived up to it. Lucas: First, he defeated the Alamanni and the Juthungi, who had invaded Italy, and then — to protect Rome from future attacks — he ordered the construction of the Aurelian Walls, a massive circuit of walls around Rome that still stands today. Then he marched east and crushed the Palmyrene Empire, capturing Zenobia. Then he turned west and reconquered the Gallic Empire. Luna: So in just five years, he reunified the whole empire. Lucas: Exactly. But Aurelian was assassinated in 275 by his own officers, just as he was preparing a campaign against the Sassanians. The crisis didn't fully end until Diocletian came to power in 284. Diocletian completely restructured the empire — dividing it into East and West, creating the Tetrarchy, and stabilizing the economy with the Edict on Maximum Prices. Lucas: It's fascinating because the Crisis of the Third Century fundamentally changed the Roman Empire. The old Principate, with its pretense of republicanism, was gone. The empire became more autocratic, more bureaucratic, and more militarized. The emperor was no longer a princeps — he was a dominus, a lord. Luna: And all that happened just to survive. Lucas: Right. The empire that emerged was different — less classical, more medieval in many ways. But it survived. And that's a story that doesn't get told as often as the Punic Wars or the rise of Augustus. Luna: It really makes you appreciate how fragile even the mightiest empires can be. Lucas: Exactly. And if you've been stepping into history with us, episode by episode — through the Republic, the early empire, and now the crisis period — we hope you're enjoying the journey. Supporting the show helps us keep it ad-free and focused on the stories that matter. If you'd like to chip in, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, every contribution really helps us keep digging into these topics. Now, back to the crisis — after Diocletian, the empire stabilizes, but it's a very different beast. Lucas: That's right. Diocletian's reforms — the division of the empire, the fixed prices, the expansion of the army — all set the stage for the late Roman period. And eventually, for Constantine and the shift to Christianity. But that's a story for another episode.