ABSTRACT
Historians used to portray the third century as one of catastrophic decline from the economic, social, and cultural heights of the first and second centuries AD. The accumulation of new evidence and analysis over last fifty years paints a different picture. The heights of the earlier centuries have been overemphasized. Changes in so vast an entity as the Roman Empire in the third century varied enormously in pace and scale with local conditions. The political and military crises of the third century may have accelerated some trends or retarded others. Crime, prostitution, the selling of children, military service, and flight to the countryside or even beyond the Imperial frontiers were among the few options for survival. Those who professed Christianity, however, found relief through the growing charitable activities of the local churches. Christianity and other popular mystery religions gave greater expression to the cultural traditions of those who could not afford to acquire the educated polish of upper-class paideia.
