Low Roman Empire

However, its representatives soon fell under the influence of generals of barbarian origin who, after Valentinian III's death, installed several fanto emperors on the throne, until Odoacer proclaimed the destitution of Romulus Augustulus and returned the imperial ornaments to Constantinople in 476.

This Low Roman period differed from the preceding one in several ways: the administration underwent numerous changes, notably under Diocletian and Constantine I; the economy saw the creation under Constantine of a gold coin, the "solidus", which would remain the basis of Byzantium's monetary system for centuries; the great cities lost their importance to the large estates that competed with them; finally, Christianity, initially persecuted, spread until it became the state religion with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380.

Nevertheless, the term Low Roman long had a pejorative connotation among Lumières historians, who saw it as a period of decadence marked by monarchical absolutism and the power of the Church, succeeding the Republic and the Empire.

Unable to face all the threats alone while he was detained in Pannonia, in December 285 he enlisted the help of another soldier, Maximian, to whom he entrusted, with the title of Caesar, the task of putting an end to the ravages of the barbarians on the Rhine frontier and those of the Bagaudes in Gaul.

The situation became so complex that by 310, there were seven emperors all claiming to be Augusti, a number reduced to four by 311: Maximin Daia (in Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt), Licinius (in Illyricum and the Balkans), Constantine (in Gaul, Spain and Brittany) and Maxentius (in Italy and Africa).

Brutal towards Donatist Christians, hateful towards pagans to whom he forbade traditional sacrifices, an adversary of the Arians, Constant was also malicious towards the aristocracy of Rome, while increasing the burden of taxation and bureaucracy on the population.

[47][48] Acclaimed emperor on January 18, 350 at Augustodunum (Autun), Magnentius, former head of Constant I's personal guard, was immediately recognized by Gaul, Brittany (England), Africa and Cyrenaica.

A philosopher prince, he reduced court ceremonial and abolished many sinecures, as well as most of the posts of notary andagentes in rebus, officials who acted as controllers and spies for the central government.

[63][64][61] Hastily elected by the generals of a routed army, Jovian (r. June 363 - Feb. 364) had no choice but to accept the terms of a peace dictated by Shapur II, before undertaking a hasty retreat during which he himself was to die, probably asphyxiated in his tent by the fumes of a brazier.

[65] His successor was the result of a compromise between senior military and civil dignitaries: their choice fell on one of their own, Valentinian (r. 364-375), then tribune of the scholae secundae scutariorum, a Pannonian like his predecessor, a moderate Christian renowned for his energy and honesty.

His dismissal of pagan civil servants in favor of Christian ones, combined with his lack of interest in military affairs and his predilection within the army for his personal guard of Aryan deserters, alienated large sectors of the ruling class.

The dynastic ties between the two branches of the family were only broken with the accession of Leo I, of Thracian origin, in 457; laws and decrees were signed by both emperors and, in theory, were applicable in both parts of the empire.

[100] On his death, the senator Petronius Maximus (r. March 455- May or June 455) seized the throne, forcing Valentinian's widow, Licinia Eudoxia, to marry him in order to establish dynastic legitimacy, but this succession was not recognized by the Eastern emperor, Marcian, who was too old to govern both empires.

This marked the beginning of an irremediable decline for the Western Empire, which fell victim internally to the seizure of power by various illegitimate individuals, and externally to invasions from Africa (the Vandals) and Central Europe (the Visigoths).

Leo I having died in the meantime, the new emperor, Zeno (r. February 474 - January 475; August 476 - April 491), appointed Julius Nepos, governor of Dalmatia, to restore order in the West.

[117] Reporting to the prince was a Privy Council, initially made up of members of the equestrian order, whom Constantine later transformed into senators and who, after 337, took the name of Sacred Consistory (Sacrum Consistorium).

[119] As for the Senate of Constantinople, created by Constantine to counterbalance that of Rome, the number of its members rose to 2,000 as Constantius II and his immediate successors brought in friends, courtiers and various provincial officials.

[122] As Constantine's sons divided up his empire, each had his own prefect in charge of a specific geographical area, so that the Praetorian prefecture went from being a personal function to designating an administrative division grouping together a number of dioceses.

[132] For Marcel Le Glay, Diocletian made four major changes: Constantine completed these reforms by establishing a maneuver army, concentrated within the territory and at the immediate disposal of the command.

[163] From the 4th century onwards, the weakening of municipal governments was to benefit these "possessores", and the large estates tended to become autonomous tax units under the sole responsibility of the provincial governor.

[168] The High Roman Empire was made up of a group of cities (Latin civitates, Ancient Greek πόλεις / póleis), autonomous communities consisting of a town and the rural territories that depended on it.

[170] While there were cities where a single town played a key role (e.g. Athens as an intellectual center, Alexandria for its port and industry), the vast majority were essentially small-scale, deriving their wealth from the agricultural land around them.

[171] This municipal council was normally made up of some one hundred members, originally elected and later co-opted by "respectable men", i.e. those with the status of citizens of the city and of well-to-do fortune;[172] they had to be at least twenty-five years old and have served one term of office as mayor or "duumvir".

[178] In the course of the 5th century, curiales were increasingly recruited from among "notables", i.e. people who were not "ex officio" members of these councils: senators, magnates, former military commanders with large estates, bishops, former high-ranking civil servants who had made their fortune, and so on.

[178] Although no longer the same as in the period of Cicero or even the High Empire, paganism- a generic term covering a vast array of different religions - remained very much alive in the 4th century.

In the upper classes of society, some felt a sense of attachment to the traditional values of Rome in the face of growing barbarization, while others, influenced by Eastern religions and philosophies, became increasingly mystical, moving towards a monotheism that gave one god superiority over all others.

This is how Aurelian (r. 270-275) institutionalized the cult of the solar god (Sol Invictus), a divinity that was very popular with the armies of the Danube and to which both the Baal-worshipping Orientals of Emesa and the neo-Platonist elites could adhere.

[187] A supporter of orthodoxy and the Nicene creed, he opposed both the Donatists in Africa and the Arians defended[188] by his brother, Constantius II (r. 337-361), who remained faithful to the ideas of his father, Constantine I.

Valens, operating in an Eastern context where religious struggles were raging, was a convinced Arian who sought to impose his ideas on his Nicene, Homoeusian[Notes 14] and Anomaean opponents by violent means.

Thus, while in the second half of the 3rd century the provinces of Asia Minor were ruined by Persian invasions and Gothic raids, Pamphylia remained a haven of peace, and cities such as Pergé and Sidé flourished.