The reign of the emperor Diocletian is often considered a breaking point in Roman history.¹ Many administrative, military, and financial reforms, which together transformed the government of the Empire, were ascribed to this emperor and his colleagues. Clearly, the administration of the Empire from Diocletian onwards differed greatly from the way the realm was administered under the Antonine emperors in the second century AD. Beginning with the murder of the last Antonine emperor Commodus, the Empire experienced a period of increasing instability, as a growing number of internal and external military threats, epidemics, and banditry pressured the imperial treasury and...

For any scholar who is examining power and status relations in Roman imperial times, the position of the emperor is a logical starting point. Although it seems obvious that the emperor’s office held the greatest power within the Empire, it cannot be accepted unquestioningly that emperors kept exercising the highest power in the same way, given that the Roman world changed so much between AD 193 and 284. However, while the position of individual emperors was hardly ever unchallenged in the third century, especially from 235 to 284, the emperor as such remained the focal point of the Empire. Under...

The crises of the third century altered the position of the senatorial order. This development has been discussed by many scholars, some of whom have even argued that senators had to deal with a crisis within the social system and entirely lost their position as leading elite to theordo equester.¹ More recently, scholars have taken a less extreme position, but they have still been inclined to focus on the changes in the situation of theordo senatoriusin the third century, and to ignore, or at least deemphasize, the continuities.² However, the fact that certain offices held by senators...

The following pages discuss the senatorial elite families in detail. Their background, position before, during, and after the period AD 193 to 284, as well as relations with senators inside and outside theirgens, are described both schematically and in a narrative account. Thegens Caesoniais only described schematically here. Information on careers and relations is generally derived fromPIRandPLRE, in which references to the primary sources can be found. Where other scholarly works supplement or correctPIRandPLRE, this is stated in footnotes.

The patrician family of the Acilii, which was probably Italic and claimed...

In the past, scholars have perceived a rise of theequitesduring the third century AD.¹ However, this view is problematic in more than one way. Already in the high Principate— from the Flavian to the Antonine emperors—, the equestrianordowas an even more heterogeneous group than the higher-rankingordo senatorius. Within the political system, the most significant subset ofequitescontained those who served as equestrian officers in the army and senior civil administrators.² Juniorequitesserved astribuni militumof legions and aspraefectiof cohorts and cavalry units. Each year about 360 posts were available...

Discussed so far have been changes in power and status of the emperors, the senatorial elite and high equestrians. This chapter examines the military officers, among whom both senators and equestrians played a role. To illustrate the developments in the power and status of military officers during the third century, two cases will be analyzed and compared: the set of high-ranking military officers under Septimius Severus and those operating under Gallienus.

Admittedly, confining oneself to test cases can be tricky, since this could paint too fragmentary a picture. There are, however, several reasons why such an approach is justified. First...

This study has aimed to define changing power and status relations between the highest ranking representatives of Roman imperial power at the central level, particularly in a period when the central level came under tremendous pressure, AD 193–284. Prosopography has been used as the principal method for analyzing the Empire’s administration, appointment policies and socio-political hierarchies. Hereby, it was possible to trace the political elite of the Empire, consisting of the third-century emperors, the senatorial elite and high-ranking equestrians who served as senior military officers in the army and as senior civil administrators. The examination of these groups, via...