History of the Constitution of the Late Roman Empire
Encyclopedia
The History of the Constitution of the Late Roman Empire is a study of the ancient Roman Empire
that traces the progression of Roman political development from the abolition of the Roman Principate
around the year 300 until the fall of the Western Roman Empire
in 476. When Diocletian
became Roman Emperor
in 284, he inherited a constitution
that was no longer functioning, and so he enacted the most significant constitutional reforms in over three-hundred years. His reforms, much like those three-hundred years before, were intended to correct the errors in the previous constitution. Diocletian's specific reforms were less radical than was the reality that he exposed the state of government for what it had been for centuries: monarchy. With Diocletian’s reforms the Principate
was abolished, and a new system, the Dominate
(Latin: "lord" or "master"), was established.
in 211, and the accession of Diocletian in 284, twenty-three emperors had been installed and then killed. Almost all of these emperors owed their elevation to the force of arms, and were able to maintain power so long as they both kept favor with their armed supporters, and prevented the emergence of a rival. Thus, the army and the Praetorian Guard
became the true power behind the throne. This phenomenon, where the military could act as a political force, illustrated a major constitutional dysfunction, which derived from the fact that there was no universally accepted mechanism to facilitate the installation of new emperors. The result of this chaos was the accession of the emperor Diocletian
to the throne. While the twenty-three emperors before Diocletian all encountered similar problems, the reign of the emperor Gallienus
can be used as a typical example to illustrate the state of the empire during this period. Gallienus reigned from 260 to 268, and during his reign no part of the empire (other than possibly Africa) escaped devastation at the hands of the barbarians. In the east, the Persians had overrun Syria
, and captured Gallienus' father and co-emperor, Valerian
, while in the north, the Goths
invaded Roman territory, and sacked towns as far south as Athens
and Corinth
. Also in the north, the Alemanni penetrated deep into Roman territory, encountering no serious opposition until they reached Ravenna
, while the Franks
passed through Gaul
, and sacked towns in Spain
. These invasions were primarily raiding expeditions, and the invaders usually retreated back to their own territory after their lust for booty had been satisfied. While no major loss of territory resulted from these raids, the sacked towns were laid to waste, commerce throughout the empire was devastated, and entire economies collapsed. One consequence of this situation was the emergence of usurpers, who often came in the form of provincial governors. The citizens in the provinces often had a common enemy, and usually could not rely on Rome for protection. Thus, their loyalty to the emperor was seriously impaired, and they turned to their governors for leadership. The governors began assuming titles that did not legally belong to them, which resulted in a virtual dismemberment of the empire.
One example of these usurpers was Postumus, who was governor of Gaul
(modern France) during Gallienus' reign. After he had driven back an invading army of Franks, his troops saluted him as emperor, and while he did not use his new-found power to march on Rome, he did establish his own empire in Gaul. He established a court, appointed generals, and proclaimed himself Consul and pontifex maximus, which in effect, made his empire in Gaul a mirror image of the Roman Empire. In 268, he was succeeded by another governor, Tetricus
. Tetricus seems to have added Spain to his empire. In 273, the Roman Emperor Aurelian
forced Tetricus to resign, and reestablished Roman rule over his territory. While the rule of Postumus and Tetricus was never formally recognized by Rome, the rule of the governor Odaenathus
over the province of Palmyra
was formally recognized by Rome. Odaenathus made himself king and his wife, Zenobia, queen. Rome did not object to this, and he was given control over Asia, and was allowed to appoint governors and generals. While Odaenathus recognized the authority of the emperor Gallienus, Zenobia
did not, and in 269 she took an army and conquered Egypt. In 271, the Roman Emperor Probus drove her out of Egypt, and quickly reacquired the province of Palmyra. n
became Roman Emperor
in 284, the military situation had recently stabilized, which allowed him to enact badly needed constitutional reforms. Diocletian resurrected the system that Marcus Aurelius had first used, and divided the empire into east and west. Each half was to be ruled by one of two co-emperors, called the Augusti
. He then resurrected the precedent set by Hadrian
, and ensured that each emperor named his successor early in his reign. Diocletian called that successor a Caesar
. Diocletian then created a bureaucratic apparatus that was similar to the system that Hadrian had created, where each office had a defined set of responsibilities, a set rank, and a set path of promotion. In this administrative system, Diocletian followed the example that had been set by Domitian, and divided the empire into small administrative units. He also assigned to the four tetrarchs (the two Augusti and the two Caesares) honorary titles and insignia that had been used by Domitian
. Diocletian simply took concepts that had either been developed, or were underdeveloped, and streamlined them into a single constitution. One important consequence of these reforms was the fact that the image of a free republic had finally given way. The illusion of shared power between the emperor and senate was finally extinguished, and the centuries-old reality of monarchy had now become obvious.
When Diocletian resigned, chaos ensued, but after the chaos had subsided, most of his reforms remained in effect. While the emperor Constantine the Great did enact some revisions to this constitution, the most significant change over the centuries was in the abolition of the Caesares. Ultimately this constitution survived, in one form or another, until the Roman Empire fell in 476. Diocletian's division of the empire into west and east set the stage for ages to come, and was a significant factor behind the ultimate division of the Christian church
into western Roman Catholic and eastern Greek Orthodox, while his division of the empire into prefectures and dioceses is used by the Catholic Church to this day.
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
that traces the progression of Roman political development from the abolition of the Roman Principate
Principate
The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate. The Principate is characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the...
around the year 300 until the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
in 476. When Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
became Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
in 284, he inherited a constitution
Constitution of the Roman Empire
The Constitution of the Roman Empire was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent. After the fall of the Roman Republic, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the Roman Senate to the Roman Emperor. Beginning with the first emperor, Augustus, the...
that was no longer functioning, and so he enacted the most significant constitutional reforms in over three-hundred years. His reforms, much like those three-hundred years before, were intended to correct the errors in the previous constitution. Diocletian's specific reforms were less radical than was the reality that he exposed the state of government for what it had been for centuries: monarchy. With Diocletian’s reforms the Principate
Principate
The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate. The Principate is characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the...
was abolished, and a new system, the Dominate
Dominate
The Dominate was the "despotic" latter phase of government in the ancient Roman Empire from the conclusion of the Third Century Crisis of 235–284 until the formal date of the collapse of the Western Empire in AD 476. It followed the period known as the Principate...
(Latin: "lord" or "master"), was established.
The state of the empire at the end of the Principate
Between the death of the emperor Septimius SeverusSeptimius Severus
Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...
in 211, and the accession of Diocletian in 284, twenty-three emperors had been installed and then killed. Almost all of these emperors owed their elevation to the force of arms, and were able to maintain power so long as they both kept favor with their armed supporters, and prevented the emergence of a rival. Thus, the army and the Praetorian Guard
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard was a force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors. The title was already used during the Roman Republic for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC...
became the true power behind the throne. This phenomenon, where the military could act as a political force, illustrated a major constitutional dysfunction, which derived from the fact that there was no universally accepted mechanism to facilitate the installation of new emperors. The result of this chaos was the accession of the emperor Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
to the throne. While the twenty-three emperors before Diocletian all encountered similar problems, the reign of the emperor Gallienus
Gallienus
Gallienus was Roman Emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and alone from 260 to 268. He took control of the Empire at a time when it was undergoing great crisis...
can be used as a typical example to illustrate the state of the empire during this period. Gallienus reigned from 260 to 268, and during his reign no part of the empire (other than possibly Africa) escaped devastation at the hands of the barbarians. In the east, the Persians had overrun Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and captured Gallienus' father and co-emperor, Valerian
Valerian (emperor)
Valerian , also known as Valerian the Elder, was Roman Emperor from 253 to 260. He was taken captive by Persian king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the only Roman Emperor who was captured as a prisoner of war, resulting in wide-ranging instability across the Empire.-Origins and rise...
, while in the north, the Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
invaded Roman territory, and sacked towns as far south as Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
. Also in the north, the Alemanni penetrated deep into Roman territory, encountering no serious opposition until they reached Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
, while the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
passed through Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, and sacked towns in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. These invasions were primarily raiding expeditions, and the invaders usually retreated back to their own territory after their lust for booty had been satisfied. While no major loss of territory resulted from these raids, the sacked towns were laid to waste, commerce throughout the empire was devastated, and entire economies collapsed. One consequence of this situation was the emergence of usurpers, who often came in the form of provincial governors. The citizens in the provinces often had a common enemy, and usually could not rely on Rome for protection. Thus, their loyalty to the emperor was seriously impaired, and they turned to their governors for leadership. The governors began assuming titles that did not legally belong to them, which resulted in a virtual dismemberment of the empire.
One example of these usurpers was Postumus, who was governor of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
(modern France) during Gallienus' reign. After he had driven back an invading army of Franks, his troops saluted him as emperor, and while he did not use his new-found power to march on Rome, he did establish his own empire in Gaul. He established a court, appointed generals, and proclaimed himself Consul and pontifex maximus, which in effect, made his empire in Gaul a mirror image of the Roman Empire. In 268, he was succeeded by another governor, Tetricus
Tetricus I
Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus was Emperor of the Gallic Empire from 271 to 274, following the murder of Victorinus. Tetricus, who ruled with his son, Tetricus II, was the last of the Gallic emperors following his surrender to the Roman emperor Aurelian.-Reign:Tetricus was a senator born to a noble...
. Tetricus seems to have added Spain to his empire. In 273, the Roman Emperor Aurelian
Aurelian
Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...
forced Tetricus to resign, and reestablished Roman rule over his territory. While the rule of Postumus and Tetricus was never formally recognized by Rome, the rule of the governor Odaenathus
Odaenathus
Lucius Septimius Odaenathus, Odenathus or Odenatus , the Latinized form of the Syriac Odainath, was a ruler of Palmyra, Syria and later of the short lived Palmyrene Empire, in the second half of the 3rd century, who succeeded in recovering the Roman East from the Persians and restoring it to the...
over the province of Palmyra
Palmyra
Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
was formally recognized by Rome. Odaenathus made himself king and his wife, Zenobia, queen. Rome did not object to this, and he was given control over Asia, and was allowed to appoint governors and generals. While Odaenathus recognized the authority of the emperor Gallienus, Zenobia
Zenobia
Zenobia was a 3rd-century Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Roman Syria. She led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. The second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus, Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene Empire following Odaenathus' death in 267...
did not, and in 269 she took an army and conquered Egypt. In 271, the Roman Emperor Probus drove her out of Egypt, and quickly reacquired the province of Palmyra. n
The constitution of Diocletian
When DiocletianDiocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
became Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
in 284, the military situation had recently stabilized, which allowed him to enact badly needed constitutional reforms. Diocletian resurrected the system that Marcus Aurelius had first used, and divided the empire into east and west. Each half was to be ruled by one of two co-emperors, called the Augusti
Augustus (honorific)
Augustus , Latin for "majestic," "the increaser," or "venerable", was an Ancient Roman title, which was first held by Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus , and subsequently came to be considered one of the titles of what are now known as the Roman Emperors...
. He then resurrected the precedent set by Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, and ensured that each emperor named his successor early in his reign. Diocletian called that successor a Caesar
Caesar (title)
Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator...
. Diocletian then created a bureaucratic apparatus that was similar to the system that Hadrian had created, where each office had a defined set of responsibilities, a set rank, and a set path of promotion. In this administrative system, Diocletian followed the example that had been set by Domitian, and divided the empire into small administrative units. He also assigned to the four tetrarchs (the two Augusti and the two Caesares) honorary titles and insignia that had been used by Domitian
Domitian
Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...
. Diocletian simply took concepts that had either been developed, or were underdeveloped, and streamlined them into a single constitution. One important consequence of these reforms was the fact that the image of a free republic had finally given way. The illusion of shared power between the emperor and senate was finally extinguished, and the centuries-old reality of monarchy had now become obvious.
When Diocletian resigned, chaos ensued, but after the chaos had subsided, most of his reforms remained in effect. While the emperor Constantine the Great did enact some revisions to this constitution, the most significant change over the centuries was in the abolition of the Caesares. Ultimately this constitution survived, in one form or another, until the Roman Empire fell in 476. Diocletian's division of the empire into west and east set the stage for ages to come, and was a significant factor behind the ultimate division of the Christian church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
into western Roman Catholic and eastern Greek Orthodox, while his division of the empire into prefectures and dioceses is used by the Catholic Church to this day.
See also
External links
- Cicero's De Re Publica, Book Two
- Rome at the End of the Punic Wars: An Analysis of the Roman Government; by Polybius
- Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline, by Montesquieu
- The Roman Constitution to the Time of Cicero
- What a Terrorist Incident in Ancient Rome Can Teach Us