ABSTRACT
After the murder of Severus Alexander in 235, chaos threatened to engulf the Roman Empire. The frontiers were under repeated attack. The office of emperor became a foo tball tossed back and forth among a bewildering number of usurpers. One of the major factors was the failure of the Severi to produce another emperor of Septimius Severus’ stature. Under increasing stresses and strains, there was no one person powerful enough to maintain firm control over the whole in the face of regional needs and interests. Interregional jealousies were just as bad. The legions and inhabitants of one province or group of provinces often believed that an emperor who came from another part of the Empire was not paying enough attention to their problems. Equestrians also gradually replaced senatorial governors in most of the imperial and occasionally even in the senatorial provinces. Therefore, civil and military powers at the provincial level generally remained linked.
