Image Gallery
The Roman Empire and the Crisis of the Third Century, c. 270 CE
A map illustrating the state of affairs in the lands of the Roman Empire following the violent death of Emperor Severus Alexander in 235 CE during a period known as the Crisis of the Third Century, as multiple pretenders staked a claim to the imperial throne (in 50 years, fifty-one individuals received the title of the Roman Emperor predominantly through military coups and most of them never reached Rome). The time of the "Crisis" was the most disruptive in Roman history as the Empire struggled not only with issues of succession, devaluation of the currency, and an inflationary economy but also with existential threats from breakaway states (the Gallic and the Palmyrene empires), the Persian Sassanid monarchy and countless barbarian invasions across the imperial frontier. On top of these, there was also the "Plague of Cyprian" (most probably smallpox or pandemic influenza, named after a chronicle by the Bishop of Carthage) which caused significant shortages of manpower for the army and the production of food. The crisis gradually came to an end as the Empire was stabilized through the military success of Aurelian (c. 270 CE) and the implementation of wide-ranging reform by Diocletian in 284 CE.
