Crisis of the Third Century and the Collapse of the Roman Denarius
- Date
- 235–285 AD
- Category
- Economy & trade
- Region
- Europe
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
The Crisis of the Third Century (235–285 AD) was a near-fatal period of military, political, and economic disintegration in the Roman Empire, conventionally dated from the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander in 235 to the accession of Diocletian.
Over roughly fifty years more than fifty men claimed the imperial title, most dying violently amid civil wars, while the empire fragmented into the breakaway Gallic and Palmyrene realms and faced relentless invasions by Germanic peoples and the resurgent Sasanian Persians. To fund constant warfare emperors progressively debased the silver coinage: the denarius, once roughly 95 percent silver under Augustus, fell to about 50 percent under Caracalla and effectively vanished, while its replacement, the antoninianus introduced in 215, collapsed to less than 5 percent silver by the 270s, becoming little more than a silver-washed bronze token. This monetary collapse triggered runaway inflation, the breakdown of long-distance trade, and a partial reversion to local barter and subsistence on great estates. The crisis was ultimately stemmed by the military reunification under Aurelian (270–275) and the sweeping fiscal, administrative, and currency reforms of Diocletian, which reshaped the empire into its Late Antique form.
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Empires active in 235–285 AD
- Roman Empire27 BCE – 476 CE
- Kingdom of Funan50 CE – 550 CE
- Sassanid Empire224 CE – 651 CE
- Kushan Empire30 CE – 375 CE
- Zapotec State of Monte Albán500 BCE – 800 CE
- Teotihuacan100 BCE – 750 CE
Related economy & trade events
- Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices301 CE
- Aksum Issues Its First Coinage under King Endubisc. 270 CE
- Sogdian Merchant Network and Sogdian as the Silk Road Lingua Francac. 400 CE (peak 4th–8th centuries)
- Monsoon-Driven Indo-Roman Sea Trade Boom (Periplus Era)c. 50 CE (Periplus era, monsoon route established c. 45-47 CE)
- Athenian owl tetradrachm becomes the dominant ancient trade currencyc. 449 BCE
- Monsoon-wind navigation opens direct Indo-Roman Indian Ocean tradec. 30 BCE (1st century BCE)
Further reading
The wider story
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Best-selling world history told through the trade routes that moved goods, faiths and ideas.
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