The effects of this continuous unrest are difficult to quantify. That there was, inevitably, some breakdown in the relationship between government and subject can be assessed from the number of rescripts, the answers that emperors made to appeals from their subjects, that have survived: 240 survive from the reign of Caracalla (211-17) and 453 from the reign of Severus Alexander (222-35) when government was still functioning well. In the five years of Philip the Arab’s reign (244-9), however, there are only 81 and for the reign of Gallienus (260-8) only 10. For the emperors who ruled between 268 and 275 there are only 8. There are all kinds of reasons why documents may or may not have been preserved but the steady decline in their numbers is surely significant. Subjects felt, perhaps, that the emperor could not be relied on for help.
The economic impact of the crisis is particularly hard to quantify. One response to the increasing costs of war had been the debasement of coinage. Marcus Aurelius had cut the silver content of coins by a quarter and Septimius Severus and Caracalla had reduced it even further. By the reign of Gallienus a typical ‘silver’ coin only contained 2 per cent silver. In fact, this had less impact that one might think as the face value of the coins remained linked to the gold coins in which senior officials were paid and the silver coins were accepted as tokens of exchange much as coins of little metallic value are today. Even so it paid to hoard coins with higher levels of silver. It was when Aur-elian tried to reform the coinage that problems arose (see below, p. 569).
The insecurity of the times can be seen in the building of defensive walls, across the Isthmus at Corinth, in Athens, and in Rome (by the emperor Aurelian), though many smaller cities did not complete theirs until later in the century or beyond. In general, other building in cities is now rare and few dedicatory inscriptions survive. Even a major site such as Olympia has few after 270 although the Games continued. Large cities, filled with imposing buildings, had already become increasingly difficult for their councillors to maintain and the invasions may only have confirmed a faltering in new projects. On the other hand, some cities, Trier, Milan, and Sirius (in the Balkans), gained new importance as centres of defence and administration. In general the cities of the east appear to have been more resilient than those of the west: Antioch was able to survive and flourish despite being plundered twice by the Sasanians.
There were other factors at work. ‘Plague’, probably smallpox, was first attested in 165 and spread from the eastern army camps throughout the empire. There was another bad period between 250 and 275 that led to depopulation in the worst affected areas. There are other reports of peasants fleeing from taxation—villages in Egypt are known to have been abandoned. The archaeological evidence from the countryside shows that estates became larger and this suggests that speculators moved in to buy up land. Some of the great fortunes of landowners that are recorded for the fourth century were probably built up this way and so there may have been an important shift from city life to luxurious villas. Agriculture as a whole was not significantly threatened by the upheavals of the century. Pannonia on the upper Danube seems, despite its exposed position, to have benefited from new economic contacts with the east. The construction of villas there continued throughout the century. In less vulnerable areas of the empire prosperity continued. Inland Asia Minor was hardly affected by the unrest and olive production in north Africa increased. Spain also prospered.
Overall, despite the instability at the centre, the empire proved astonishingly resilient, which is why scholars are reluctant to exaggerate the scale of the crisis. No emperor, however proclaimed, attempted to act outside the system. All portrayed themselves on coins that were set in traditional imperial iconography. They used titles hallowed from the past and most called on the favours of the ancient Roman gods. Aurelian effected a great triumph in Rome that echoed those of earlier centuries. Imperial patronage continued. When petitions were made to the emperor, they were expressed in traditional terminology.
One sign of this resilience is, perhaps paradoxically, the appearance of revived or new local cultures. With the establishment of Roman rule local cultures had often been undermined, first by conquest and then through an influx of goods from Italy. As the shock effect of Roman victory wore off, the regions recovered their confidence. In the Celtic parts of the empire divinities such as the equestrian goddess Epona reappear and Roman towns are renamed with Celtic names. In other parts of the empire there are the first literary works in local languages, in Egypt in Coptic (popular Egyptian speech but written in Greek letters) and Syriac, both important media for Christian texts. There are economic revivals. Roman artefacts—pottery, for instance—became produced locally and trade links with Italy declined. The disruptions of the century may have, in fact, encouraged the growth of regional craftsmanship. This new vitality, which reflected a shifting but enduring balance between imperial and local cultures, was, without doubt, a factor strengthening the empire.
World History
