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In the course of the 3rd Century, the Roman Empire was shaken by the longest crisis in its history, with several successive civil wars, secession attempts and foreign invasions. In this article, we will discover the impact of this crisis on Roman Africa.
The Third Century crisis
The crisis was precipitated by the death of Severus Alexander, the last Emperor of the (native African) Severan dynasty, who was assassinated in 235 by his own troops. During the following years, rival military officers fought for the throne: this time period is know as the Military Anarchy. Rome was simultaneously facing farmers’ uprisings in rural regions (especially in Gaul), the arrival of foreign populations migrating into Roman territory, and the growing threat of the Persian Empire.
Political instability caused an economic crisis: the Roman currency was debased, the roads were poorly maintained, and trade and productivity dropped. Between 250 and 270, the Empire was also hit by a terrible epidemic: the Plague of Cyprian, named after the bishop of Carthage who wrote about it. At the peak of the epidemic, 5000 people were dying daily in Rome.
During the decades of crisis, at least thirty claimants to the Imperial throne succeeded and fought each other. Most of them reigned only a few years or months, before being killed by their successor. In 238, six Emperors succeeded each other in one year, including the three Gordian, who reigned in Carthage. The Empire recovered a certain stability during the reign of Philip the Arab (244-249), but the crisis continued after his death. One Emperor of this period was a North African soldier: Aemilianus, born in Djerba, of Moorish origin, who reigned for three months in 257 before being killed by his troops, who favored his rival Valerian.
Valerian, Aemilianus’ successor, was captured in 260, in a battle against the Persians, and ended his life as a prisoner in Persia. He had never been to Rome during his whole reign. The imprisonment of their Emperor was a deep humiliation for the Romans. Before his exile, Valerian had launched a ferocious persecution campaign against the Christians of his Empire, in which bishop Cyprian of Carthage died as a martyr. The Christians saw Valerian’s capture by the Persians as a divine judgment. His son Gallienus, who succeeded him, gave the Christians religious freedom.
After Valerian’s exile, the Empire was even divided. In 260, Postumus, a Roman general of Germanic origin, who served as governor of Roman Germania, took control of Gaul and Britain, where he established the Gallic Empire. He was killed in 269, but his Empire remained. In 270, Zenobia, the Arabic Queen of Palmyra, conquered the Eastern part of the Empire: Syria, Anatolia and Egypt, presenting herself as a new Cleopatra. At this time, in Africa, the Bavares, a confederation of Amazigh tribes of Mauretania, took profit from the crisis to revolt against the Romans.
Emperor Aurelian (270-275) managed to reestablish the unity of his Empire by taking back control of the Gallic, and then the Palmyrene Empire. However, the wars between military rivals started continued after his assassination in 275.
This period of anarchy ended in 284, when Diocletian took the Imperial throne. After getting rid of all his rivals, he initiated a deep reform of the Imperial administration, with the goal of restoring stability.
Consequences
After the 3rd Century, Roman control over North Africa no longer extended beyond the coastal cities. The Amazigh tribes of the interior enjoyed strong autonomy, while still symbolically acknowledging the sovereignty of the Roman Emperor.
