The Severi

Septimius Severus
	- when Comodus died each of the 3 major armies (Syrian, Danube, British) appoints an emperor and once again civil war ensues
	- Established a military autocracy
		-all decisions were made for the good of the troops
	- he was african therefore he held no loyalty toward Italy
	- focused all attention on the provinces
	- removed the tax break that the Italians had
	- allowed tribesman to join the military and rise to the highest posistions
Caracalla
	- appointed along with Geta as assistant emperor by Septimius
	- kills Geta
	- Believed he was Alexander the Great reincarnated
	- spent large amounts of money on ridiculous wars
	- extended citizenship to all who lived in the Roman Empire
Elagabuleus
	- killed Caracalla with the help of Alexander
	- ends up being murdered for the thrown by Alexander

Rome is busy with it's civil wars and multitude of leaders for 50 years meanwhile the rest of Europe is building up their troops

Diecletian
	- born poor
	- joined the army; started at the very bottom and worked his way up to becoming emperor
	- establishes an autocracy
	-lead successful campaigns against the Franks and the Bergandians
	- divides the empire into west and east sections
		- each section will have an Augustus and a Caesar 
	- he becomes the Augustus of the east with Galerius as Caesar
	- Maximium becomes Augustus of the west with Constatus as Caesar
	- both the east and west are broken into 4 Prefectures
		- each of these is broken into 12 dioces
			- each dioces is headed by a vicarius
	- reimposed paganism and outlawed christianity
	- after 20 yrs he passes the thrown to his aesar
		- Constatus dies immediately after he is appointed
Constantine
	- appointed by the army
	- civil war ensues again
	- Built a new capital
		- Byzantine, present day Istanbul
	- Dies and his sons inherit the empire
		- Constantine II, Constantuis, Constans
			- civil war once again ensues and all 3 brothers die
Julian
	- takes over when the brothers die
	- executes christians again

Culture

- full of wars
- many different emperors

Decline of Rome

Why did Rome Decline?

- Lost a strong and effective emporer
- lost diciplined military
- lost a strong senate
- the economy collapsed
	- bread and circus made people lazy
		- bread and circus is basically food and entertainment
- there was a shortage of silver
- colapse of civil service
	- no city officials 
	- lack of efficiant administration