Rise and Fall of the Emperors

Today Antakya is a small city in southern Anatolia in Turkey, but in ancient times it was Antioch and considered the emporium of the east. It was the capital of the Roman province of Syria. Syria was the economic base of the Roman Empire in the east, confronting the other superpower of the period, which was called Persia then and is known today as Iran.

The Roman Empire was built in an attempt to dampen the rivalries of powerful generals. The security of the Emperors depended on the trust of the army. The tendency of great generals to, at best, think they could do it better, or, at worst, to see their chance and take it, was a problem the Roman system was never able to overcome. After about the middle of the third century CE the Roman Empire was increasingly subject to border problems, which pushed the governing agencies increasingly toward dominance by the military.

If an emperor died, several generals would arrange to be acclaimed by their troops, then they would fight it out. The winner probably got murdered a few months into the job. There was a tendency in the Roman Empire to allow a little Libertas in the conduct of their culture. It was just slightly different from most other places, where they obeyed what the strongest man ordered them to do, period. The generals had to be acclaimed, and accepted by the Senate.