History of the Later Roman Empire
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (September 2021) |
The history of the Later Roman Empire covers the
Background
The Roman Empire underwent a
The army quickly grew in size and the soldiers were no more kept away from the central territories in the 3rd century. The continued payment of soldiery could be secured only by the regular debasement of the Roman silver coins, the denarii. As soon as the population realized that the face value of the denarii in circulation was much higher than their silver content, inflation became uncontrollable. Old coins that contained silver or gold were quickly withdrawn from circulation and treasured. The unmanageable inflation increased the significance of taxation in kind. Regular demands for the annona militaris—the compulsory grain supply to the army—and the angareia—the mandatory military transport—put an enormous strain on the population of the highly militarized regions. The eastern cities, like Antioch and Athens, could quickly recover invasions by enemy forces, but the towns in the less prosperous western provinces were declining.[4]
The Christians' reluctance to make sacrifices was unacceptable for most Romans. Classical authors like
Tetrarchy
On learning of the death of Carus and Numerian, senior officers staying in Nicomedia proclaimed one of their number, the Illyrian Diocletian, emperor on 20 November 284. Diocletian marched to Illyricum to fight Carus' elder son, Carinus, but Carinus was assassinated by one of his own retainers in the Battle of the Margus.[7] Diocletian, who had no son, made a Pannonian officer Maximian his co-ruler, first as Caesar in 285, then as junior Augustus in 286. The power-sharing agreement proved durable, with Diocletian mostly ruling in the East, and Maximian in the West. The diarchy developed into a tetrarchy—the rule of four co-emperors—when Diocletian appointed two officers from Illyricum, Constantius Chlorus and Galerius, as Caesars in 293. The relationship between the four emperors was reinforced through marriage alliances: Galerius married Diocletian's daughter Galeria Valeria, and Constantius wed Maximian's daughter Theodora.[8][9]
Secessionist movements continued. A mutinous military commander Carausius held sway over Britain and northern Gaul from 286 until Constantius overcame him in 293. Domitius Domitianus ruled Egypt until Diocletian captured Alexandria in 297.[10] The tetrarchs launched military campaigns along the borderlands and restored its strategic control. Galerius forced the Persian king, Narseh to cede lands along the river Tigris to Rome and reimposed Roman suzerainty over the Kingdom of Iberia. Diocletian and Galerius waged wars against the Goths, Carpi, Sarmatians, Quadi and Marcomanni along the Danube. Maximian and Constantius defeated the Franks on the Rhine. Maximian went on war against the Quinquegentiani ("Five Peoples") in Mauretania.[11] The four co-rulers' cooperation and military achievements created a period of stability, allowing the introduction of profound administrative and financial reforms. Examples include the reorganization of the provinces and the development of a sophisticated tax system.[12] Diocletian became convinced that the empire's integrity could only be reinforced through the renewal of the traditional religion and outlawed Christianity in 303.[13] During the subsequent Great Persecution, many Christians suffered martyrdom.[14]
The first tetrarchy[15][16] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The first tetrarchy ended with an unprecedented act, the voluntary retirement of Diocletian and Maximian on 1 May 305. On this occasion, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus were promoted to the rank of Augustus, and two Illyrian military commanders,
To tackle the chaotic situation Galerius convinced Diocletian to preside over a conference at Carnuntum in November 308. The conference established a new tetrarchy, with Galerius and his Dacian protégé, Licinius as Augusti, and Maximinus Daia and Constantine as Caesares. Neither Maximinus nor Constantine acquiesced in their degradation, and both Maxentius and Domitius Alexander insisted on their imperial status. Maxentius sent an expeditionary force against Domitius Alexander and reconquered Africa, while Maximian staged a coup against Constantine. The coup failed and Maximian was forced to commit suicide in summer 310. After Galerius, the last surviving ruler of the first tetrarchy, died in May 311, Constantine made an alliance with Licinius against Maxentius and Maximinus Daia. Maxentius died fighting Constantine in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312, and Licinius routed Maximinus Daia in Thrace on 30 April 313.[18][19]
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Towards Christianization
Licinius had not yet won his war against Maximinus Daia when he married Constantine's half-sister Constantia in Milan in February 313. The two emperors jointly issued a law about religious tolerance, now known as the Edict of Milan. No more excluded from imperial service, Christians could have brilliant careers, like Ablabius, a Greek of humble origin, who held the highest offices between 324 and 331.[20][21] Relationship between the two emperors grew tense and Constantine seized the Dioceses of Pannonia and Moesia by force in 318. Six years later Constantine launched a new attack against Licinius and forced him to abdicate. In a year, Licinius and his about ten-year-old son by Constantia, also called Licinius, were executed.[22] The tragic child had been appointed as Caesar along with Constantine's two eldest sons, Crispus and Constantine II in 317. Crispus' mother Minervina was Constantine's first wife, while the younger Constantine was born to Fausta. In 326, Crispus and Fausta were executed on mysterious charges, likely because of their adulterous relationship.[23][24] Always hostile to the first Christian emperor, Zosimus alludes that Constantine's actual conversion to Christianity was the consequence of their execution, because only Christianity offered him absolution for his sin. Constantine made his younger sons by Fausta, Constantius II and Constans, and his nephew Dalmatius Caesars, and appointed Dalmatius' brother Hannibalianus ruler of the Pontic regions.[25][26]
Constantine continued Diocletian's administrative and financial reforms, but Christian ethics had an impact on his legislation. He banned gladiator games and promoted the less violent chariot racing. He forbade the branding of slaves on the forehead, abolished penalties for celibacy, and offered financial support to poor parents to discourage infanticide. On the other hand, he prescribed that a slave nurse participating in a girl's abduction be punished with molten lead poured down her throat, and a woman who abandoned her husband was to be banished pennilessly to a remote island.[27][28] Constantine established a new city at a highly defensible place on the site of the ancient Greek polis of Byzantium on the Bosporus in 324. In four years, his "New Rome" was surrounded by walls enclosing about 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of land, and it was adorned with all elements of an imperial capital, including a palace and a large stadium. The city was consecrated as Constantinople on 11 May 330.[29] Constantine launched successful campaigns against the Goths in 332 and 336, and against the Sarmatians in 334. The new Persian king Shapur II invaded Armenia and expelled the Roman client king Tigran VII. Constantine decided to launch a counter-attack, but he died unexpectedly on 22 May 337.[30] His stepbrothers and their sons were soon massacred likely on Constantius II's initiative. Only two children Gallus and Julian survived the purge.[23]
Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans met in Pannonia in September 337. They assumed the title of Augustus and divided the empire, with Constantine ruling the western, Constans the central and Constantius the eastern regions. Constantius restored Roman protectorate over Armenia and secured the Roman control of the eastern borderlands through a series of military campaigns against Persia.
Julian had received a Christian education, but he was captivated by Neoplatonic mysticism in his youth. During the reign of Constantius II, he had to conceal his pagan sympathies, but as emperor he could openly adhere to paganism. He declared the restoration of religious tolerance as his principal object, but he prohibited Christians from teaching rhetoric and grammar. He wanted to justify his conversion to paganism by a splendid victory, but his invasion of Persia failed. While his army was retreating from Mesopotamia, he was killed in a skirmish on 26 June 363.[35][36] After a high-ranking pagan official Salutius refused the imperial title, a Christian military commander, Jovian was proclaimed emperor. He abandoned Roman territories in Mesopotamia and acknowledged Persian protectorate over Armenia in return for a thirty-year peace treaty with Shapur II. He died unexpectedly in February 364.[37]
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Defeats and reconstruction
The commanders of Jovian's army discussed his succession with civil officials at Nicaea. On 26 February 364, they elected a Pannonian tribune Valentinian I emperor, and about a month later, Valentinian appointed his younger brother Valens his co-ruler. They divided the empire with Valentinian ruling in the West, and Valens in the East.[38] After a severe illness, Valentinian made his son Gratian the third co-emperor. Although Picts, Scoti, Attacotti, Alemanni, Saxons, Quadi, Sarmatians and Goths launched regular raids across the imperial borders, the Roman army pacified the situation. In the east, Valens had to face a rebellion by Julian's relative Procopius, but he quickly crushed it in Lydia in 366.[39] After launching two invasions across the Lower Danube, Valens forced the Goths to renounce their claim to a yearly contribution from Rome.[40] When Valentinian I died in November 375, leaders of his army proclaimed his four-year-old son Valentinian II emperor. Gratian acknowledged his half-brother's promotion, but in practice he ruled the western part of the empire alone.[41]
From the 350s, the nomadic
Gratian's alleged favoritism towards his Alan mercenaries outraged the Roman troops in Britain and they proclaimed their commander Magnus Maximus emperor in 383. Gratian was assassinated by his own guards in August, and Maximus took control of the western provinces to the north of the Alps. He invaded Italy and forced the young Valentinian II and his family to seek refuge in Thessaloniki in 387. After marrying Valentinian II's sister Galla, Theodosius launched a surprise attack against Maximus. Unable to resist, Maximus was captured and executed at Aquileia. In 388, Valentinian returned to the West, but Theodosius appointed a Frankish military commander Arbogast as the young emperor's guardian.[47] In the east, Theodosius and the Sassanian king Shapur III divided Armenia to avoid a new war. Western Armenia was incorporated into the Roman Empire, but the new provinces were ruled by local Armenian hereditary governors.[48] Arbogast openly disobeyed Valentinian's orders and the young emperor committed suicide in 392. With Arbogast's support, a Roman pagan aristocrat, Eugenius was proclaimed emperor. Theodosius elevated his younger son Honorius to the status of Augustus before departing for a military campaign against Eugenius. He inflicted a decisive defeat on the usurper in the Battle of the Frigidus on 6 September 394. He re-unified the Roman Empire, but he died on 17 January 395.[49]
Emperors of the Valentinianic dynasty[50]
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Divided empire
Theodosius I was succeeded by the eighteen-year-old Arcadius in the East, and the ten-year-old Honorius in the West. The notion of imperial unity persisted, although divergences between the two realms deepened.
The empire faced new waves of mass migrations likely triggered by the Huns' westward expansion. Around 405, a mixed group of peoples invaded Italy under the command of a Gothic chieftain Radagaisus, but Stilicho overcame them at Florence. On 31 December 406, tens of thousands of Vandals, Alans, Suebi, Sarmatians and "hostile Pannonians" crossed the Rhine into Gaul.[57][58] Insecurity led to insurrections in Britain, and the rebellious troops proclaimed their commanders emperors, but only one of them, Constantine III could consolidate his position. He crossed the Channel and restored peace along the Rhine through treaties with the Franks, Alemanni and Burgundians. The western crisis compromised Stilicho's position.[59][60]
When Arcadius died on 1 May 408, his seven-year-old son Theodosius II succeeded him under the tutelage of the praetorian prefect Anthemius. A Hunnic leader, Uldin invaded the Balkans and demanded a tribute, but Anthemius forced him to abandon the campaign by bribing his lieutenants.[61][62] Taking advantage of the Romans' distrust of Stilicho's foreign mercenaries, his former protégé Olympius staged a coup and achieved Stilicho's execution.[63] Searching for a new homeland, the Vandals and their allies left Gaul and invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 409. Constantine III appointed his son Constans to take command of the defence, but the general Gerotnius disobeyed and proclaimed one Maximus emperor in Tarraco.[64] Alaric invaded Italy in the autumn of 408. He demanded tribute and his appointment to a senior military office, but his negotiations with Honorius failed. On his demand, the Senatus proclaimed a Roman aristocrat Priscus Attalus emperor, but Honorius resisted at Ravenna with the support of Eastern Roman reinforcements. Alaric attacked Rome and the Visigoths sacked the city on 24 August 410. As historian Peter Heather emphasizes, the Visigoths carried out "one of the most civilized sacks of a city ever witnessed", but their capture of the old capital shocked the Roman world. After abandoning Rome, Alaric decided to conquer the wealthy northern African provinces, but a storm destroyed his fleet and he died in southern Italy.[65][66]
As Honorius could no more guarantee the defense of Britain, he suggested the provincials to provide for their own protection in 410. The influx of Roman coins stopped, indicating that Britain
Constantius married the widowed Galla Placidia and the childless Honorius appointed them Augustus and
The Vandals and Alans suffered heavy losses during their fights with the Romans and Visigoths in Iberia and their king
The Huns extracted 350 pounds of gold as a yearly tribute from the Eastern Roman Empire, and the amount was doubled in a new treaty in 434. The same treaty prohibited the Romans to receive fugitives from the
The childless Theodosius died in a riding accident on 28 July 450. His sister Pulcheria chose an elderly military commander Marcian as her husband without consulting with Valentinian. She allegedly acted in concern with the all-powerful Aspar who had been Marcian's superior in the army. Marcian was proclaimed emperor in Constantinople in late August. On learning of Attila's plan about a military campaign in the west he stopped tribute payments to the Huns.[note 3][79][80] Attila launched a massive incursion into Gaul at the head of a mixed army of Huns and subject peoples. Aetius assembled Roman, Visigothic and Burgundian troops and engaged the enemy at the Catalaunian fields in June 451. Although the battle was inconclusive, Attila withdrew from Gaul. Next year he invaded Italy, but supply problems and an epidemic forced him to again withdraw. He died unexpectedly of bleeding in 453. In a year, the Hunnic Empire collapsed due to a civil war between his sons and a revolt of the subject peoples. With the Hunnic threat vanishing, Valentinian got rid of the domineering Aetius with the assistance of his eunuch courtier Heraclius who murder the general in September 454. Aetius' death was revenged by his two retainers who assassinated Valentinian on 16 March 455.[81][82]
Officials who were staying at Rome proclaimed one of their number Petronius Maximus as Valentinian's successor. He married Valentinian's widow Licinia Eudoxia. Her elder daughter by Valentinian Eudocia was married off to Maximus' son Palladius breaking her engagement to Gaiseric's heir, Huneric.[83][84] The Vandals occupied the remnants of Roman Africa and Geiseric sent his fleet against Rome. News of the arrival of the Vandal ships caused panic in the city and a mob slaughtered Maximus and Palladius on 31 May. The Vandals sacked Rome for two weeks and captured many prisoners, among them Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughters, Eudocia and Placidia. While Rome was in anarchy, the Gallic troops proclaimed their commander Avitus emperor. He hastened to Rome, but his attempts to secure his Gallic and Visigothic soldiers' food supply and salary at all costs caused a general discontent. In October 456, two powerful generals Ricimer and Majorian took up arms against him, enforcing his abdication. The two generals entered into negotiations with Marcian about Avitus' succession, but Marcian died in Constantinople on 26 January 457. Marcian's son-in-law Anthemius was bypassed, and the still powerful Aspar secured the Eastern Roman throne for the Thracian Leo I who had been his lieutenant. Leo rewarded Ricimer and Majorian with honors and the two generals agreed that Majorian was to rule the Western Empire first as Caesar, then as Augustus. Majorian restored imperial rule in Gaul and launched successful campaigns against the Visigoths and Suebi, but his position weakened after the Vandals crushed his fleet.[85][86]
Assuming the role of king-maker, Ricimer captured and executed Majoran and proclaimed
Relationship between Ricimer and Anthemius grew tense and Ricimer attacked Rome with the assistance with his Burgundian nephew
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Survival and reconquest
The early-6th-century historian
As Zeno outlived his two sons, his death caused a succession crisis in April 491. His brother
The childless and ailing Justin appointed his nephew Justinian I as Augustus shortly before he died on 1 August 527.[104] Justinian was one of the most ambitious Roman emperors and he implemented systematic reforms to improve state administration and the army. He continued the war against the Sassanians, but neither the Roman nor the Persian army could achieve a decisive victory. In spring of 532 Justinian and the new Sassanian king Khosrow I concluded a peace treaty whereby Justinian paid 11,000 pounds of gold, reportedly in remuneration for the defense of the Caucasian passes by the Sassanians.[105] Justinian introduced harsh measures against rioters to restore public order in the major cities, and his officials implemented his laws with great vigour. After a bloody riot following the races on 10 January 532, seven fans of the racing teams were arrested for murder. Five were executed, but one each from the Blue and the Green team escaped. Three days later, at the next racing, the Blues and the Greens made public appeals to Justinian on the two convicts' behalf, but he ignored them. The fans of both clubs united in a riot of elementary force, chanting the word Nika ("Conquer!") as a rallying cry. Although the Nika riots lasted for less than a week, the rioters destroyed much of the city center. Justinian's three generals, Narses, Belisarius and Mundus, crushed the riot mercilessly, reportedly slaughtering at least 30,000 townspeople.[106]
The pro-Roman Vandal king
From 541 to 543, the first outbreak of bubonic plague ravaged the Roman Empire and its neighbors. The death toll was tremendous, particularly in the largest cities,[note 4] and epidemic recurred several times. Justinian was among the few who caught the plague but survived.[112][113] Although the Sassanian Empire was also struck by the plague, Khosrow made a new incursion against Syria in 544. His siege of Edessa was unsuccessful, and early next year he signed a five-year truce in return for the lump sum of 144,000 nomismata.[114] The conflict between the two empires enabled the Ostrogothic king, Totila to expel the Romans from much of Italy. Cooperating with unpaid Roman troops, he could termporarily seize Rome in 546 and 550. Justinian sent Narses with fresh troops to Italy and he defeated the Ostrogoths at Taginae in 552. Totila perished in the battlefield, and his successor Teia died fighting in the Battle of Mons Lactarius. The Ostrogothic Kingdom collapsed, although small Ostrogothic groups resisted at Cumae and other places till 562.[115] In 551, a rebellious Visigothic aristocrat, Athanagild, sought Roman alliance against King Agila. Justinian appointed the praetorian prefect of Italy Liberius to lead an expeditionary force against the Visigothic Kingdom. Cooperating with Roman rebels, Liberius conquered southern Hispania.[116] To defend the Balkan provinces against further raids by the Hunnic Utigurs, the Romans persuaded an other steppe people the Kutrigurs to attack them in the 550s. The Kutrigurs were attacked from the east by the nomadic Avars. Tensions along the western frontier developed into a new armed conflict between Rome and the Sassanians until a new peace treaty was signed for fifty years in 562.[117]
Consequences of overexpansion
Justinian, as historian
Tiberius paid 45,000 solidi to Khosrow for a one-year peace. A year later he agreed to pay a yearly tribute of 30,000 solidi. He was proclaimed Augustus shortly before Justin died on 26 September 578.[124] He wanted to renew the peace treaty with the Persians, but the new Sassanian king Hormizd IV refused, likely because he was aware of the Romans' troubles in the West. Tiberius appointed a Cappadocian general Maurice the commander of the eastern army. The unpaid troops were on the verge of mutiny, but Maurice adopted an offensive tactic until a Persian counter-invasion forced him into retreat. Unable to wage war on two fronts simultaneously, Tiberius left the Balkan frontiers undefended.[125] He hired the Avars to prevent Slavic raids over the Lower Danube, but he failed to pay the promised yearly tribute—about 1,100 pounds of gold—to them. In retaliation, the Avars seized Sirmium in 582. From then on, the Slavs freely crossed the Lower Danube and started to settle in Roman territory.[126]
On his deathbed, Tiberius – who had no sons – proclaimed Maurice Augustus. When Tiberius died in August or October 582, Maurice succeeded as the sole emperor. He was the first emperor to speak Greek at native level since Anastasius. He married Tiberius' daughter
Disintegration
Phocas replaced many high-ranking officers with his relatives. He could not gain popularity, and he faced popular riots in Constanstinople. The Avars and the Lombards made simultaneous raids against Dalmatia, and Slavic troops in Avar service assisted the Lombards to capture Cremona and Mantua in Italy. In the east, Narses took up arms in favor of a young pretender whom he had identified as Maurice's son, Theodosius, claiming that Theodosius survived the purge. A hastily concluded peace treaty with the Avars enabled Phocas to deploy troops against Narses from the Balkans. As the Balkans was left almost undefended, the Slavs resumed their raids and attacked Thessaloniki. Narses's revolt provided Khosrow II with a pretext to capture and destroy Dara in 604. Narses was fooled into surrender with a promise of amnesty, but Phocas had him burnt alive.[132][133]
The plague returned and a bad harvest caused a famine in 608. Maurice's old comrade Heraclius, who was the governor of Roman Africa, revolted and refused to ship grain to Constantinople. He sent a fleet to Sicily under the command of his son and namesake, and appointed his nephew Nicetas to invade Egypt. Phocas was forced to relocate troops from the eastern provinces to Egypt, enabling the Persians to make raids as far as the Bosporus. In 610, Nicetas overcame the loyalist forces in Egypt, and the younger Heraclius sailed for Constantinople. On his arrival in October, the Greens and the commander of the imperial guard, Priscus deserted to him. A mob captured Phocas and dragged him to Heraclius, who reportedly beheaded him in person.[134][135]
On Heraclius' ascension the empire was in ruins. His father died in Africa, and he could trust only a few people. He concentrated his troops in Anatolia and appointed Priscus as their commander. Between 610 and 613, the Persians captured
The Persian invasion continued: Shahrbaraz occupied Egypt in 620, and an other Persian general, Shahin launched devastating raids against Anatolia. Heraclius could muster new troops only after he convinced Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople to lend gold and silver to the state. In early 622 he made a truce with the Avars and attacked the Persians in Anatolia. He defeated Shahrbaraz in Cilicia, but news of an Avar invasion of Thrace forced him to return to Constantinople. He paid 200,000 nomismata to the Avars for the renewal of the truce, and hastened back to the eastern theatre of war. The Persians and Avars joined their forces in an attack on Constantinople in the summer of 626, but they could not conquer the city. The Slavs revolted against their Avar overlords and the Avars could not again attack the Romans. Heraclius resumed the invasion of the Sassanian Empire and routed the Persians at Nineveh. Khosrow was murdered and his son Kavad II concluded a peace treaty with Heraclius, giving up all territories that his predecessors had conquered from the Romans after 591. The Sassanian Empire plunged into anarchy and Roman rule was quickly restored in Syria and Egypt.[138][139]
The Romans did not regard the disorganized Arab tribes of the
Aftermath
The ancient world came to an abrupt end with early Islamic conquests.[145] The Sassanian Empire collapsed and the Arabs completed its conquest by 651. The Roman Empire persisted, but its territory shrunk.[146] With the loss of Syria, Egypt and Africa, Rome was no more the dominant Mediterranean power, and the Roman state persisted in the east mainly in the shadow of the more powerful Umayyad Caliphate.[9] The empire's remaining citizens continued to regard themselves as Romans (Greek: Ρωμαίοι), however since 610 the official language was changed to Greek. The term "Byzantines", nowadays applied in reference to them, is an early modern scholarly invention.[147]
Notes
- ^ Theodora may have been Maximian's stepdaughter by Eutropia.
- ^ Theodora may have been Maximian's stepdaughter.
- ^ Rumours spreading in Valentinian's court accused his sister Honoria of inciting Attila to attack the Western Romans. She allegedly offered her hand to the Hunnic king after her brother had executed her lover Eugenius and put her under their mother's custody. Others claimed that the Vandals bribed Attila into attacking the Western Romans.
- ^ The Syrian John of Ephesus notes that more than 230,000 people (about one third of the total population) died of the plague in Constantinople in 542. Evagrius Scholasticus lost his wife, their only son and a daughter, along with "other relatives, and numerous servants and estate dwellers" in Antioch between 542 and 594.
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