The Crisis Of The Third Century
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The Crisis of the Third Century (235–284 AD) was a fifty-year period where the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined weight of invasion, civil war, and economic hyperinflation. It began with the assassination of Emperor Alexander Severus, triggering a chaotic "Barracks Emperors" era where over 25 claimants vied for the throne, most meeting violent ends. The empire effectively splintered into three competing states: the Gallic Empire in the west, the Palmyrene Empire in the east, and the original Roman core. Compounding this political fragmentation was the Plague of Cyprian, which decimated the labor force and military. Economically, the debasement of the silver denarius led to runaway inflation, forcing a shift toward a barter economy. The empire was only saved by the "Illyrian Emperors," specifically Aurelian, who suppressed revolts and reunited the territories. Stability was finally codified by Diocletian in 284 AD through the creation of the Tetrarchy, fundamentally transforming Rome from a principate into a more rigid, bureaucratic autocracy. |
Maximinus Thrax
| GAIVS IVLIVS VERVS MAXIMINVS was born in 173 in Thrace to a Gothic father, Micca, and an Alan mother, Ababa, both of peasant stock. He was noted for his tremendous size and strength. He entered the army and commanded a legion by the time of Severus Alexander's German campaign of 234-235. His soldiers murdered Alexander and proclaimed him Augustus on March 22, 235. He spent the next three years fighting the Germans, Dacians and Sarmatians. A revolt in Africa in 238 spread to Italy and he moved to put it down. He was killed by his own men during the siege of Aquileia on May 10, 238. |
Gordian III
| MARCVS ANTONIVS GORDIANVS was born in 225. His grandfather was Gordian I and his uncle was Gordian II. After their failed revolt in 238, Gordian was raised (April, 238) to Caesar under the Senate's co-Augusti, Balbinus and Pupienus. When they were killed in July, 238, Gordian became sole Augustus. His rule was mild and wise with his Praetorian Praefect, Timesitheus, whose daughter Tranquillina he married in 241. Unfortunately, both Timesitheus and Gordian died on campaign against the Sassanians in 243-244. His mysterious death on February 25, 244 possibly was plotted by his successor, Philip I |
Philip I
| MARCVS IVLIVS PHILIPPVS was born near Damascus in about 204. He married Marcia Otacilia Severa, and their son Philip II was born in 237. Philip was Praetorian Praefect when Gordian III mysteriously died in 244 on the Sassanian campaign. He was acclaimed Augustus, made a quick peace, and returned to Rome. He ruled benevolently, engaged in a Danubian campaign, and celebrated the 1,000th anniversary of Rome in 248. In 249 the commander in the Danubian region, Decius, was hailed as Augustus by his men. Philip marched north, but was killed in the battle of Verona in August, 249. |
Trajan Decius
| GAIVS MESSIVS QVINTVS DECIVS was born in Budalia in Pannonia Inferior in about 190. He and his wife, Herennia Etruscilla, had two sons, Herennius Etruscus and Hostilian. Decius was commanding an army along the Danube when he was proclaimed Augustus by his troops in July, 249. Philip I was then killed at the battle of Verona in August, and Decius became sole Emperor. He greatly persecuted the Christians, and vigorously tried to repel the Goths. While doing the latter he and Herennius Etruscus were killed at Abrittus in July, 251. He was the first Emperor to die at the hands of foreign enemies. |
Trebonianus Gallus
| GAIVS VIBIVS TREBONIANVS GALLVS was born in Italy about 206. He was Governor of Moesia in 250 when the Goths invaded. The Emperor Trajan Decius came to his assistance but was killed by Goths in July, 251. Gallus was declared co-Emperor with Decius' son Hostilian, who died four months later (Gallus' son Volusian then became co-Augustus). Gallus returned to Rome and sat for two years while enemies assaulted the Empire from the north and east. The legions of Aemilian, the new Governor of Moesia, declared Aemilian Augustus, and Gallus and Volusian were slain by their own men in July, 253. |
Volusian
| Volusianus (Latin: Imperator Caesar Gaius Vibius Volusianus Augustus; died August 253), also known as Volusian, was a Roman Emperor from November 251 to August 253. His father, Trebonianus Gallus, became Roman Emperor after being elected in the field by the legion, following the deaths of the previous co-emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus. Trebonianus Gallus raised Hostilian, the son of Decius, to augustus, making him his co-emperor in June 251. Volusianus was elevated to caesar in the same month. After the death, or murder, of Hostilian in November 251, Volusianus was raised to augustus, co-ruling with his father. The short reign of Trebonianus Gallus and Volusianus was notable for the outbreak of a plague, which is said by some to be the reason for Hostilian's death, the invasion of the Sasanian Empire, and the raids of the Goths. Volusianus was killed alongside his father in August 253 by their own soldiers, who were terrified of the forces of the usurper Aemilian which were marching towards Rome. |
Valerian
| PVBLIVS LICINIUS VALERIANVS was born shortly after 190. He was commanding troops along the Rhine when Trebonianus Gallus was killed during Aemilian's revolt in July, 253. Valerian's troops hailed him Augustus and he quickly moved into Italy to confront Aemilian, who was then killed by his own men in September, 253. Valerian and his son (and co-Augustus) Gallienus set out in 254 to restore the Empire's frontiers, Valerian taking the east and Gallienus the west. After six years of warfare, Valerian was captured by treachery by the Sassanians in May, 260, and he died in captivity at an unknown date |
Gallienus
| PVBLIVS LICINIVS EGNATIVS GALLIENVS, born about 218, was the son of Egnatia Mariniana and the future Emperor Valerian I. He married Cornelia Salonina about 242. He became co-Augustus with his father in 253 upon the death of Aemilian. Valerian was captured by the Sassanians in 260, leaving Gallienus as sole Emperor. His reign was one of unparalleled chaos caused by barbarian incursions and usurpers. The eastern and western parts of the Empire seceded during his reign, only to be restored by Aurelian in his. Gallienus was killed by his own men while besieging a usurper at Milan in March, 268. |
Vabalathus, Palmyrene Empire
| SEPTIMIVS VABALATHVS was the son of Septimius Odenathus and Zenobia, the rulers of the Syrian city of Palmyra. Odenathus was a valuable Roman ally, and after the capture of Valerian I by the Sassanians in 260, he preserved the Roman east. However he was murdered in 267 and Zenobia and Vabalathus assumed control. They grew increasingly independent of Rome and in 271 finally assumed the imperial titles. Aurelian crushed them in mid-272, but they were preserved to march in Aurelian's triumph at Rome in 274. Zenobia was well-treated afterward, but nothing more is known of Vabalathus. |
Salonina, Wife of Gallienus
| CORNELIA SALONINA was married to Gallienus about 242. The Caesars Saloninus and Valerian II were among their children. Salonina is said to have been very beautiful, virtuous, faithful, intelligent, gentle, and learned. She was very much esteemed by the Roman public, and was called by the Greeks 'Chrysogena', which means "begotten of gold". She sometimes traveled with her husband and was unfortunately with him in March of 268 when he was assassinated while besieging the rebel Aureolus in Mediolanum (Milan). She was also killed by the assassins, to the great sorrow of the Roman public. |
