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> However, the Roman Empire was basically over by 256 AD Instability during the crisis of the third century was not the end of the Empire in the slightest; esp
by mmanfrin 3y ago
> However, the Roman Empire was basically over by 256 AD
Instability during the crisis of the third century was not the end of the Empire in the slightest; especially considering that the Palmyrene Empire lasted hardly more than a single decade before it was reconquered by the Romans who held on to it for centuries longer.
- araes 3y agoThe comment is in reference to the generally held height of Ancient Rome being ~100 AD. Afterward, largely 2nd order downward. This Wikipedia gif illustrates. [1] The crisis article and late antiquity articles note: > The crisis resulted in such profound changes in the empire's institutions, society, economic life, and religion that it is increasingly seen by most historians as defining the transition between the historical periods of classical antiquity and late antiquity. > Diocletian (Emp: 284 AD), who began the custom of splitting the Empire into Eastern and Western portions ruled by multiple emperors simultaneously. The Roman Empire was effectively broken, and mostly just oscillated until the final West-East break. It was already "customarily" split in two by 284 AD. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire#/media/File:Romempgif.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire#/media/File:Romem...
- crop_rotation 3y agoThis is just incorrect and the empire had multiple multi dedade solo emperors post Diocletien, including Constantine and Theodosius. > The comment is in reference to the generally held height of Ancient Rome being ~100 AD The height of an empire has no bearing on it's existence. Otherwise one could shorten each empire's existence to it's golden decade.
- mmanfrin 3y agoOf the many end dates people debate as the end of the empire, 284CE is not one of them.
- sheepshear 3y agoI think it's fair to call it the transition from Empire to Tetrarchy. Like how we distinguish between the Roman Kingdom, Republic, and Empire.
- actuallynotsofa 3y agoI read somewhere that the Roman Empire has not ended. It just morphed into the Catholic Church and has had various emanations(Austro-Hungarian empire) since then. One of the reason Christianity was chosen as the main religion was that it emphasized "turning the cheek" and followers already believed in one power, so it was thought that it would be easier to rule the masses this way. Gibon I think is where I got it from.
- Exoristos 3y agoGibbon was aptly named.
- exar0815 3y agoTangently Related: The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was the biggest mislabeling of human history - neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire, not a Nation and not really German.
- seanw444 3y agoYeah that always confused me. Still does. I need to research it more.