The Roman Empire in Crisis, 248260, Paul N Pearson
The Roman Empire in Crisis, 248260, Paul N Pearson
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The Roman Empire in Crisis, 248-260
When the Gods Abandoned Rome

Author: Paul N Pearson

Narrator: Roger Clark

Unabridged: 12 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/08/2023

Synopsis

This book is a narrative history of a dozen years of turmoil that begins with Rome's millennium celebrations of 248 CE and ends with the capture of the emperor Valerian by the Persians in 260. It was a period of almost unremitting disaster for Rome, involving a series of civil wars, several major invasions by Goths and Persians, economic crisis, and an empire-wide pandemic, the 'plague of Cyprian'. There was sustained persecution of the Christians. A central theme of the book is that this was a period of moral and spiritual crisis in which the traditional state religion suffered greatly in prestige, paving the way for the eventual triumph of Christianity.

The sensational recent discovery of extensive fragments of the lost Scythica of Dexippus sheds much new light on the Gothic Wars of the period. The author has used this new evidence in combination with in-depth investigations in the field to develop a revised account of events surrounding the great Battle of Abritus where the army of the emperor Decius was annihilated by Cniva's Goths. New light is shed on a period which is pivotal for understanding the transition between Classical civilization and the period known as Late Antiquity.

About Paul N Pearson

Paul N. Pearson is Honorary Professor of Geology at Cardiff University and has a long-held passion for Roman history. He has written numerous peer-reviewed articles and is the author of the highly praised Maximinus Thrax: from Common Soldier to Emperor of Rome (Pen & Sword, 2016). He lives in Somerset.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Faustibooks

This was a great read. In this book, Pearson looks at the relatively small time period of 12 years from the celebrations of the first millennium of Rome in 248 AD in the reign of Philip I, until 260 AD, when the emperor, Valerian, got taken captive by the Persians. These years take place in the dram......more

Goodreads review by Ethan

As humans, we tend to suffer a little bit from the “tyranny of the present.” We tend to magnify the present time in various ways, acting as if it has never been this good or bad before. It’s rarely a bad thing for us to get a dose of reality about what people in the past experienced. In this way a lo......more

Goodreads review by Alex

The Roman Empire when through a period of disintegration in the third Century AD. Wars were lost, Emperors were deposed and proclaimed at dizzying speed, parts of the Empire became independent of the centre, Plague ravaged the land, and although it was a time of repeated and growing persecution Chri......more

Goodreads review by Kara

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. Pandemic, insurrections, invasions, economic down turns, supply chain issues, religious strife - is it the 2020's? No, its the Roman Empire in the mid-3rd century when they were hit on all sides by all sorts of problems. People tend to blame fiddle-playing, gr......more

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