The Problem:

By the mid 3rd century, Rome was clearly in a crisis. The imperial system was stressed by civil war; the borders were increasingly permeable, the tax base of the empire was breaking down. That is, the ability of the empire to fund the high standard of living we have observered was now being compromised.

Two general introductions to the problems

  1. Revisiting the economy: some basics
    1. Agriculture was pre-eminent, but most products were consumed locally, not traded. Thoughout ancient and pre-modern history:
      1. Towns were where rich landowners lived; they provided centers for administration and state religion, modest crafts and local markets.
      2. They were also centers of consumption and financed by taxes and rents rather than trade or industry.
      3. Interregional trade was constrained by the relative lack of specialization and by uniform conditions of farming; no mass markets; costs associated with moving products by land.
    2. During Principate,
      1. agricultural production increased, more land was cultivated, population expanded to level of early modern period. A greater proportion of workers was involved in non-agricultural production and services (tho by modern standards this was still low).
      2. Specialization of labor allowed for an increase in per capita production, stimulated by the collection of taxes and rents.
      3. The collection of taxes for army led to money being spent at the frontier, encouraging the development of urban centers on the Rhine and Danube, and the development of some long distance trade especially if the products could be carried by ship.
      4. Traders and craftsmen were modest in their operations, and of low social status; any that did make fortunes [social mobility], like Trimalchio, the hero of Petronius's satire, promptly bought land, and became 'respectable' landowners.
      5. Land brought status; status involved display in the form of private and public benefactions.
    3. Still, a fragile core: Agricultual increases due more to cultivation of marginal land (i.e., better suited for pasturage than agriculture). Constrained by the lack of fertilizer, irrigation, technology; that is the prosperity depended upon continuing peace.
  2. The Severans (origin of family, Marcinus, Septimius; Julia Domna and children; Caracalla without Geta; Elagabalus ('surpassed all others in good looks but that was his only recommendation'; Alma-Tadema).  Severus Alexander.   The following are first apparent under the Severans, but become progressively more serious throughout the century.
    1. Open military monarchy; (RC §104-5: it was impossible to give the soldiers their pay in full in addition to the donatives they were receiving...and equally impossible not to give it; and Thenceforth military power regained the ascendant, and the senate has remained until our time [360] deprived of the power to choose the emperor) Open reliance on soldiers. Mater castrorum. Pay increases from 300 to 500 to 750.
    2. decline of Senate; emperor not the servant of the state, but dominates it =>hence the new name for the Principate, namely the Dominate. dominus et deus the new title: note contrast to optimus princeps.
    3. External pressure building: Persia, Britain, lower Danube. The final consolidation of frontier; soldier allowed to marry (no longer a field force); hereditary leases of imperial property to auxiliaries (barbarians), a kind of danegeld(RC II 110)
    4. Extension of franchise (RC II 106).
    5. Most cities still prosperous under Severans (to AD 230), but note case of Aquileia in 238RC §111.
    6. Rural areas increasingly oppressed by higher taxes, aurum coronarium, and rents (RC II 107). Encourages brigandage (RC 109) and centrifugal tendencies.
    7. Signs of the change: Silver content of coins declines 50% (RC II 112). Resort to compulsory services (RC II 115-7). 
  3. Stages in the 'Crisis'
  4. The Crisis of the 3rd Century: the 'soldier emperors'. The problems described in III become much more serious.
    1. Increasing pressure of barbarians on the frontiers => increasing demand for soldiers (note map of frontier). Cities no longer safe (RC II 109). Barbarization of army.(RC II 110).
    2. Minimal real growth in economy after 100; lack of technological progress in agriculture and manufacturing. The economy of the empire could only support a governmental structure of a certain size. Clear in the archaeological record; cities begin to become smaller; labor leaves the cities RC §111.
    3. Internal population decline (?) due to:
      1. Plague in late 2nd Cent.; other things being equal not a long term problem.
      2. General decline in population (alimenta programs); failure to raise children (RC II 87) --such programs indicate general awareness of problem.
    4. Rise of military monarchy: the arcana imperii ('secret of the empire exposed'); competition between armies and commanders. Of 26 empp. between 235-285, only one died of natural causes.
      1. recruits come from more barbarian elements with less commitment to 'idea of Rome' RC §110.
      2. emerging regionalism ('Gallic Empire') due to failure of central authority to protect.
      3. army commanders no longer represent intellectual and civic elite but are less well educated and less sensitive to the values of the Augustan system; compete with one another to buy loyalty of soldiers. How to pay for army?
    5. Growth of bureaucracy without growth in economy; from 40 to 100 provinces and then dioceses above them each with full bureaucratic structure. Ratios not clear, but Mediterranean could support a far smaller administration than could China.
    6. The financial squeeze. Higher bureaucratic costs and higher costs for defense in a situation in which the economy could not expand to support the additions produced
      1. Increasingly oppressive tax structure and lawlessness undermined urban life, the essence of imperial society and culture. RC§107, 111
      2. With declining revenues, government undermined currency by reducing gold/silver content of coinage => inflation. Complicated by the fact that the government regularly refused to accept its coin for taxation; reversion to barter RC§112
      3. Regimentation in professions: Compulsory services and a command economy. RC§111.

A general model

We will do a 'Classroom Exercise' at the beginning of Wednesdays class. Here is the topic: We have seen a significaof nt amount of evidence illustrating the transformation of Roman life in the mid third century.

The measurement of Rome's success in the principate was the prosperity of her cities. Document the transformation of the Empire and its cities during the 3rd Century, and explain the factors associated with that transformation.

Class Reporting Tool.