ABSTRACT
T he middle years of the third century represented what appears to have been the lowest ebb of the Roman state: the frontiers in Europe and the east were under pressure and, in places, breached; the gulf between the eastern and western parts of the empire was widening; the Roman army was more concerned with king-making than with defending those frontiers. As a consequence, anarchy and, with it, economic chaos became apparently endemic. To all intents and purposes, it looked as if collapse was imminent. Yet, by the end of the third century, a recovery package had been put in place by Diocletian which seemed, against all the odds, to offer hope of survival.
