A (0:00)

The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily. The Roman Empire at its height was a juggernaut. However, during the third century, almost everything fell apart. In fact, for a brief period of time, it arguably did. It suffered from invasions, plagues, a collapsing economy, lower agricultural productivity, and numerous, numerous political assassinations. They eventually solved their problems, but in the process, the entire empire was changed forever. Learn more about the crisis of the third century and how the Roman Empire almost collapsed on this episode of Everything Everywhere. D.

B (0:54)

Hey, Sal. Hank. What's going on? We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana and it was so easy.

A (1:00)

Too easy.

B (1:01)

Think something's up? You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price.

A (1:08)

Uh huh.

B (1:08)

And it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.

C (1:17)

Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. New Year, new Me.

A (1:25)

Cute.

C (1:25)

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A (1:50)

Experian. Before I start this episode, let me give you fair warning. This period in Roman history had a lot of imperial turnover and most of the emperors were not ones that you have heard of before. Most of them had unusually short tenures, came to power through their predecessor's assassination and were assassinated themselves. Other than getting some coins made with their faces on them, few of them had any lasting impact on Roman civilization or world history. Historians have dubbed the period in Roman history from the years 235 to 284, a 49 year span that saw the empire almost fall apart. The crisis of the third century before this period kicked off several macro level problems paved the way for the crisis and some of which continued to take place during the crisis which which made this period so bad. The first was the Antonine plague. Although the Antonine plague didn't occur during the crisis of the third century, it devastated the population, dramatically weakened the Roman army and damaged the economy. Then came the plague of Cyprian which lasted from 249 to 262. The plague is believed to have caused the population of Alexandria, for example, the second largest city in the empire, to drop by 60%. Another major problem during this period was inflation. During the reign of Augustus, the Roman silver coin, the denarius, had a silver content of about 98%. However, starting with Emperor Nero, emperors began reducing the silver content of the coins. At the start of the crisis, the silver content of the denarius was about 50% and it dropped precipitously during the crisis. The debasement of the currency was mostly to pay for armies. They could effectively raise money by using the same amount of silver to make more denarii coins. And by the same token, the Aureus, the Roman gold coin, was also debased, going from 95% gold during Augustus to about 38% gold during the middle of the crisis. Debasing the currency caused prices to rise, which caused economic chaos. The third century also saw the beginning of the end of the Roman climate optimum period. This was a period of warm temperatures that saw increased agricultural productivity. It would be several centuries before this period would be considered over, but the third century marked an increase in the variability in temperatures. Perhaps most important was the Roman political system. Ever since Augustus established the empire, there was never a system of succession which was put in place. Every time one emperor replaced another, things were kind of up in the air. When things were stable, succession plans were made well in advance. However, when an emperor died unexpectedly or was assassinated, things were thrown into chaos and it usually became a matter of who had the bigger army. The crisis is usually said to have begun in the year 235 with the assassination of Emperor Alexander Severus. Severus ascended to the imperial throne in the year 222 with the assassination of his cousin Elagabalus. He was only 14 years old when he became emperor. Elagabalus was one of, if not the worst emperors in Roman history. Something I covered in my episode on the worst emperors. Severus 13 year reign was the longest since Antoninus Pius who died in 161. This period of stability was broken with his assassination at the hands of his own troops. The soldiers grew discontent with Alexander Severus policies, particularly his attempts to negotiate with the Germanic tribes rather than confront them militarily. Severus was also dominated by his mother who had cut spending on the military. So they got rid of Severus and turned to a military leader by the name of Maximinus Thrax. By all accounts, Maximinus was a large and strong man who had worked his way up the ranks and was respected by the army. However, those traits do not necessarily carry over to being a good emperor. Maximinus was the first of what would be called barracks emperors, men who came up through the army. Unlike Severus, who tried to buy off the Germanic tribes, Maximinus kept Rome in an almost constant state of war. He was never popular with the Senate or the people who considered him an outsider. He raised taxes and was considered a despot. In 238 the empire experienced what became known as the Year of Six Emperors. Maximinus was the first of that year. An uprising erupted in North Africa after locals killed a tax collector. The regional governor Gordian declared himself and his son co emperors and the Senate ratified their claim in March. They were emperors 2 and 3, Gordian I and Gordian II. Maximinus was still alive and and forces loyal to him were fighting against the Gordians and the Senate. 22 days after being declared Emperor, Gordian II was killed in combat fighting forces loyal to Maximinus. And when he heard the news, his father, Gordian I killed himself. Maximinus was declared a public enemy by the Senate and in April they turned to two elderly senators, Pupienus and Balbinus, who they declared co emperors. They were numbers four and five. In June, Maximinus was killed by soldiers in his own army and in July, both Pupienus and Balbinus were killed by the Praetorian Guard in Rome. The Senate then declared the son of Gordian I and the nephew of Gordian II as emperor, who became known as Gordian iii. Gordian III was the sole emperor at the age of 13, the youngest sole emperor ever to rule over a united Roman Empire. However, five years and seven months later, in 244, he too was killed. At the age of 19, he died under mysterious circumstances while at war with the Persians. He's widely believed to have been murdered, most probably at the hands of the leader of the Praetorian Guard and the man who succeeded him as emperor, Philip the Arab. Philip and his son Philip II also ruled for five years and seven months. A usurper named Decius claimed the throne and started a Civil War. In 249, both Philip and his son were killed at the Battle of Verona by the forces of Decius. And Decius was then declared emperor. I think you probably realize by now that the third century was a very bad time to be a Roman emperor. In 251, less than two years after becoming Emperor, Decius is killed in battle against the Goths, marking the first time a Roman emperor died in combat against a foreign enemy. The Senate then taps Decius son Hostilian as emperor. In a shocking turn of events, Hostilian wasn't assassinated or killed in combat. About four months after he became emperor, he died of the plague. The death of Hostilian probably wasn't a bad thing insofar as the Danubian legions had declared someone else emperor. Trebonianus Gallus. Trebonianus Gallus lasted for a little over two years before his troops assassinated him in favor of a provincial governor by the name of of Aemilian. Aemilian lasts two months before surprise, he's murdered by his own troops. In 253, the Rhine Legions declare for another provincial governor named Valerian. Valerian declaries his son Gallienus co emperor. However, Valerian does something that hasn't been seen before. He splits the empire between him and his son. With his son taking the west and he the East. There was a reason for this. Everything was starting to fall apart. The Persians were invading Roman lands in the east. They or their vassal states had conquered Antioch and Armenia. Valerian set about taking the Roman lands back, which he was initially successful in doing. However, in 260, while fighting the Persians, Valerian was not killed in combat or assassinated. Something worse happened. He was captured alive by the Persian king Charpur I. The reason why his capture was worse than death was because it was a huge sign of weakness for Rome. Valerian ended up dying in captivity and there were many rumors as to how he was killed. These include being forced to drink molten gold and being flayed alive. But there's nothing conclusive either way. Gallienus was now the sole emperor, but he faced a crisis. Provinces in both the east and the west declared their independence from Rome. In the west, the Gallic Empire was declared in the provinces of Gaul, Britannia and Hispania under Marcus Cassinius Latinius Postumus. In the East, Queen Zenobia established the Palmyrene Empire in the eastern provinces which included Syria and Egypt. For another eight years, Gallienus ruled as Emperor, unable to reunify the empire. In fact, it got worse because in 267 the Goths broke through the defensive lines to sack Roman towns in the Balkans and Greece, including Athens. Finally, in 268, Gallienus received the reward that most third century emperors received when his own troops assassinated him. He was replaced by the successful general Claudius, known as Claudius ii. Soon after becoming Emperor Claudius finally delivered some good news for the Romans when he defeated the Goths at the Battle of Nisus. The battle earned him the name Gothicus. However, Claudius was old for a Roman 60, and he died about a year later from the plague. He was replaced by his brother Quintilus. It isn't clear what happened to him, but historians put his rule at somewhere between 17 and 77 days, and his death was probably murder. In 270, the Danubian legions declared Aurelian emperor. Aurelian was the first truly competent emperor in several decades. Aurelian defeated both the Gallic and Palmyrene breakaway empires, reuniting the Roman Empire and earning the title Restitutor Orbis, or Restorer of the World. He ordered the construction of new defensive walls around Rome to protect against external threats. And he attempted to stabilize the economy by reforming the currency and addressing hyperinflation. In 275, in thanks for all of Aurelian's hard work, he got what every other emperor assassinated for the next nine years. The conveyor belt of emperors actually got faster after a few months without an emperor, where it was quite possible. Aurelian's wife actually ruled. The elderly Tacitus became emperor. He ruled for only nine months before either dying of natural causes or being assassinated, depending on which historian you believe. He was replaced by his brother Florianus, who ruled for three months before being assassinated. He was replaced by Probus, who actually managed to rule for six years before being assassinated. He was replaced by Carus, who ruled for 10 months before being killed by lightning. Something a little different. He was replaced by his sons, Numerian and Quirinus. Numerian was assassinated in 284, and Quirinus was killed in battle in 285 by the man who finally ended the crisis of the third century, Diocletian. Diocletian is not assassinated or killed in combat. In fact, he went on to become one of the most important Roman emperors in history, completely overhauling the economic, military and political structure of the empire. Diocletian ruled for 21 years until he voluntarily abdicated so he could retire and grow cabbages, which he did for four years until dying of natural causes, which was a highly unnatural way for a Roman emperor to die during this period. The story of Diocletian will be for a future episode, as there were so many reforms that he instituted. Now, if everything I just went over in this episode seems really confusing and a giant mess, that's because it was. There were people in the outer fringes of the empire who had no clue who the emperor was for much of this period because the job was being changed so frequently. If things had gone slightly different, the Roman Empire might have ended in the third century almost 200 years before it did actually fall in the west. And the only reason it didn't fall apart was really due to luck and the fact that the right emperors came along at just the right time. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. He the associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible and I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. That's where everything happens that's outside the podcast and links to those are available in the show notes. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read on the show.