ABSTRACT
In 248, amid tremendous pomp and ceremony involving several days of magnificent and gory spectacles, the emperor Philip celebrated the millennium of the foundation of Rome. The celebrations were designed as a demonstration of Roman self-confidence, but the euphoric sense of optimism was short-lived. During the two decades that followed, under the impact of unprecedented external pressure exacerbated by numerous civil wars, the empire very nearly disintegrated. After a decade in which the defensive capacity of the empire was stretched almost to breaking-point, the events of the disastrous year 260 proved too much. The Roman empire effectively split into three. The emperor recognized at Rome, preoccupied with the defence of Italy and the Balkans and beset by numerous challenges to his authority from within, was incapable of giving the Euphrates and Rhine frontiers his personal attention. The defence and effective government of the east devolved upon the ruler of Palmyra, a semiautonomous city in the Syrian Desert. At the same time, the defence and government of the western provinces was assumed by a local commander on the Rhine.
