Western History 48: - Who were the Severan and Military Emperors?

The early decline of the Roman Empire was hinted at during the turbulent reigns of Caligula, Nero and Domitian. However the era of the Good Emperors provided a much necessary respite that would unfortunately not continue. Commodus, the son of Marcus Arurelius was a poor and malicious ruler. Septimus Severus, founder of the Severan dynasty took power in 193 CE (the Year of the Five Emperors). 

He defeated the Gauls at Lugdunum and fought successfully against the Old Enemy in the East (the Parthians) but his reign was characterized by the persecution of the Jews and Christians. An invasion of Scotland was cut short by his death in 211 CE. Soon afterwards fortunes began to decline in the Empire. Plague, Economic Depression, invasion and Civil war threatened and none of Severus’ successors – Caracalla, Geta, Macrinus, Elgabalus and Alexander Severus – proved capable of stopping the slide. 

By 235 CE the military was in effective control of the Imperial office but it administered an Empire that was fragmenting. As of 268 CE the Empire was now a composite of three parts – The Gallic Empire (Provinces of Spain, Britannia and Hispania), the Palmyrene Empire (Syria, Palestina and Egypt) and the Italian portion.

Strong leaders like Aurelian (270 –274 CE), the famed soldier Emperor temporarily reunited the portions but it was only under Diocletian that a solution for resolving the power dynamics was implemented.

Known as the Tetrachy – rule of four, the model of power sharing divided the Empire into two parts – East and West. Each part would have their own emperor and a junior emperor (the official successor) for a total of four rulers overall. The major emperors were also known as the Augusti and the methodology behind the re-design was to ensure that Emperors would succeed on merit.

Roman territory was also further sub-divided  for administration purposes into more manageable units but these changes seemed more to cover up a system in decline than actually reverse the trend. Infighting would rear its head and the Empire struggled with economic inflation that was poorly handled by wage and price fixing. At the same time Diocletian upped his persecution of the Christians and demanded that soldiers of the Christian faith take up a Roman God. This act further impacted a system in deterioration.