Roman Usurper - Practical Effects

Practical Effects

The usurpation mania of the 3rd century had profound effects in the bureaucratic and military organization of the Empire. Fear of potential rivals was to be the main driving force for the evolution of the Roman world from the early to the late Empire.

One of the most striking changes was the division and multiplication of the Roman provinces. Provinces were ruled by a governor, either a proconsul, propraetor or procurator, and were ascribed a certain number of legions, according to the degree of pacification they required. This meant that the governors of, for instance, Moesia or Pannonia in the Danubian border had huge military contingents on their hands. The greater the number of legions a provincial governor had, the greater the temptation to make a bid to the throne. And indeed, the majority of usurpation attempts came from the Asian province of Syria, and the Rhine and Danube provinces, frontier provinces with large military presence. Thus, provinces were slowly divided into smaller units to avoid concentration of power and military capacity in the hands of one man. Syria is a perfect example: a single province in AD 14, in the middle of the 3rd century it was divided in four different administrative regions: Tres Daciae, Cappadocia, Syria Coele and Syria Palestina. In a similar way, Moesia and Pannonia were divided in Superior and Inferior (Upper and Lower) halves; Dardania was later separated from Moesia, and Pannonia was further divided into Prima, Valeria, Savia and Secunda.

As the fear of civil war increased, the emperor felt the need of legions permanently in his reach, to be deployed against possible internal threats. This caused the geographic division of the army into limitanei legions, which remained in the borders, and comitatenses, which were stationed in strategic points within the Empire. Legio II Parthica, garrisoned in the Alban mountains outside of Rome since the time of Septimius Severus, was among the first comitatenses created.

Despite this administrative subdivision of legions for internal security purposes, the fact remains that men had to be removed from the frontier garrisons to accomplish this. A smaller number of legions meant less secure borders and eventually raids from the Germanic and Gothic tribes against the Rhine and the Danube became more frequent. In the East, the Persian Empire grew bolder in their attacks on the Roman communities. Moreover, in a time when individual initiative was a common way to assume the imperial purple, giving important commands to competent generals was asking for trouble. Jealousy and fear often prevented the presence of the right man to deal with a specific threat, and, in consequence, marginal provinces were often raided, sacked or conquered.