#历史开讲 #
First, the agricultural recession
In the early period of the Severus dynasty, due to border turmoil and frequent civil wars, the financial pressure of the Roman Empire increased. One of the main sources of revenue was taxation, but during this period the Roman Empire also experienced a recession, and the financial situation of the Roman Empire was even more tense.
The economic decline of the Roman Empire manifested itself first and foremost in the agrarian economy, which was mainly affected by the plague of the time of Marcus Aurelius. According to historical records, in the early period of the Severus dynasty, there were two large-scale plagues in the Roman Empire, one during the reign of Marcus Aurorius, which was called the "Antonic Plague".
The plague was brought back to Rome by Marcus Aurelius during his war with Parthia, and spread through Asia Minor, then to Greece, to Italy itself, and eventually to the Roman Empire.
While the plague ravaged the Roman Empire, it also affected the entire Mediterranean region controlled by Rome, and brought a certain degree of damage to merchant ships and armies in the Mediterranean. The plague lasted for 20 years, and finally subsided around 180 AD. But when the plague returned again in 189 AD during Commodus's reign, historians at the time speculated that it was a resurgence of the Antonian plague, based on the timing of the outbreak.
The occurrence of these two plagues brought a degree of damage to the agricultural economy of the Roman Empire. First of all, the plague led to a large-scale population reduction, because the city of Rome was relatively densely populated, coupled with the infectivity and rapid spread of the plague, so the total number of deaths in this plague was very large.
According to the description of the Antony plague in the Legend of the Roman Kings: "At that time, there was a large-scale plague in the territory of the Roman Empire, and the corpses had to be transported in large wagons... The plague killed thousands of nobles, and in order to better arrange funerals for the common people, Marcus Oliolius also distributed relief money to the commoners. ”
From this description, we can see that the plague did cause the depopulation of the Roman Empire. Since we lack accurate estimates of the exact figures of the Roman population, the exact number of people who died in the Roman Empire due to the plague can only be obtained by estimation. According to Galen, who participated in the treatment, the average fatality rate of this plague should have been about 7%-10% of the total population of the Roman Empire, and according to this ratio, the death toll due to the plague was about 3.5 million to 5 million.
Regarding the plague of 189 AD, Dio also recorded in the History of Rome: "In Rome, the number of people who died of the plague in a day was about 2,000. Herrodite also described the plague, which hit the entire Italian region and caused the most damage to Rome, because the city contained people from all over the world. As the plague continued to spread, Commodus had to leave the city of Rome for Laurent, and for a considerable period of time, the plague spread so much that many people lost their lives and various domestic animals died. Through the records of classical scholars, we see that these two outbreaks of plague did lead to the depopulation of the Roman Empire.
Second, the massive decline in population undermined the development of the agricultural economy of the Roman Empire. During the two plagues, the whole of Italy, estates, fields and towns were abandoned, without cultivators and inhabitants, ruins and woodlands, and agricultural products could not be harvested normally, so agricultural production decreased, and corresponding food crises and famines.
Take Egypt, for example: one of the largest granaries of the Roman Empire, farmland near the Nile was in a state of poor harvest from 158 to 245 AD. Years of poor harvests led to famine, which in turn led to further population decline, creating a vicious circle.
Finally, the occurrence of the plague provided convenient conditions for barbarian invasion, but also led to the bankruptcy and flight of peasants. Agriculture has been encroached upon, which has also adversely affected tax stability. For example, during the Severus period, the provinces were filled with homeless people, who were also tracked and persecuted by the royal special police, such as inspectors and patrol sentries, while fleeing, so that these people formed groups of thieves and grew in number.
During the Severus period, a man named Bra assembled a team of 600 men and plundered all over Italy for nearly two years, only to be quelled by Severus' suppression. In this context, many people did not hesitate to abandon their land and flee in order to escape the burden of taxes and the persecution of officers and soldiers, which further led to the decline of agriculture.
Second, the level of commercial trade has declined
At the same time as the decline of agriculture, the level of commercial trade in the Roman Empire also declined. For example, commercial trade in the Egyptian provinces shrank, which intensified by the 3rd century AD. Throughout the 3rd century, the Roman Empire imposed a heavy tax burden on Egypt in order to increase the money supply, while the region was in turmoil and banditry.
As a result, many inhabitants of Egyptian villages were forced to leave their homes to escape their increasingly heavy tax obligations, often living as bandits, which were not alleviated, but intensified. Alstom had recorded tax revenues in the Nile Delta, and the data showed a massive loss of population from nearby villages in Egypt and a shrinking tax revenue. Trade in the Red Sea region also declined due to Egypt.
The Red Sea trade began to take a turn in the mid-2nd century AD, as the population was greatly reduced by the Antony plague, and Egypt was also affected, and Egypt was closely connected to the East and had an important international position. The plague began in 165 AD and continued intermittently until 180 AD, and due to its relatively long duration, it also had a certain negative impact on Red Sea trade.
Affected by the plague, the population of Egypt declined, and the tax pressure of the Roman Empire began to be transferred to a few people, but these people could not provide more output, so faced with tax pressure, many Egyptians began to flee their settlements on the banks of the Nile, in order to survive, the fleeing soldiers and civilians became bandits, plundering goods from the Red Sea region.
As this happened, not only did Egypt's agricultural taxes decrease, but it also affected the collection of trade taxes in Alexandria. In order to fight bandits, merchants began to hire troops to protect the caravans, but the situation did not improve, and as the Red Sea trade expenditure increased, income decreased, and the number of merchants decreased, leading to signs of decline in trade in the Red Sea region.
Due to political turmoil, the level of trade in the Mediterranean region has also declined. From 162 to 168 AD, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, he captured Ctesiphonne and Seleucid, and then occupied the valley of the Two Rivers and the Persian Gulf, opening the way to the east by sea. But at the same time, the outbreak of war also interrupted silk fabrics from the Silk Roads, and merchants on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean suffered some losses.
According to Parker, trade in the Mediterranean was significantly lower in the 3rd century AD than in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Hopkins came to a similar conclusion to Parker. By analyzing the number of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean during the late Greek and Roman periods, he pointed out that the period when trade was most active was between 200 BC and 200 AD, with a significant decline in the 3rd century AD and a recovery only in the 4th century AD.
Political turmoil at home and abroad, the reduction of the size of the market, and the devaluation of the currency limited long-distance trade in the eastern part of the Roman Empire to some extent. It can be seen that the level of trade in the Mediterranean region has indeed declined.
3. Currency depreciation
Under financial pressure, the Roman Empire, in order to increase the amount of money in circulation and alleviate financial pressure, adopted the response of depreciating currency, the most important of which was the depreciation of silver coins. Regarding the devaluation of silver coins, it was greatly practiced in the period of Commodus, Severus, Caracalla. Until the eve of Diocletian's rise to power, the depreciation of silver coins in the Roman Empire reached its peak, when silver coins contained no more than 5% of their own weight.
Before the Severus dynasty, the monetary system of Augustus was always used. In 23 BC, Augustus reformed the monetary system of the Roman Empire in order to clean up the chaotic monetary system. Augustus believed that the creditworthiness of money and the value of the face of the currency should be unified with the actual value of the currency.
At the same time, he also believed that the monetary system, like the tax system, should be simpler and clearer, the easier it was to be accepted by the public, so Augustus reformed the monetary system, clearly stipulating the weight of gold and silver coins and the exchange ratio. Through the reform of the monetary system, the currency of the Roman Empire was unified, and the chaos in the circulation field was corrected, thus ensuring the normal operation of the military and administration.
This monetary system lasted 87 years from the time it was established, until Nero made some changes in 64 AD. The first adjustment of this monetary system was made during the Nero period, and the whole monetary system remained in use for more than 120 years. During Nero's time, the value of gold relative to other metals was constantly rising, and perhaps Nero's currency depreciation seemed to be correct, but the danger was that he increased the alloy in the silver coin.
And this phenomenon is increasing. At the beginning of the Nerva period, due to the gradual depletion of the original silver mines, and the discovery of no new silver mines, coupled with the profligacy of property by the heads of state during this period, the normal sources of income of the state could not cover the expenses, and over time, the most commonly used silver dollar casting material in the Roman Empire has begun to be supplemented with copper on a large scale.
During the Severus dynasty, the situation deteriorated further. In order to increase the amount of money in circulation, Severus again reduced the silver content of the currency, which at this time was only 56%. The depreciation of the currency has not achieved the effect of stabilizing the economy, but has caused a growing gap in the country's financial ministers. Then, during the Caracalla period, due to the excessive depreciation of the currency, he simply issued a new currency, the Antony silver coin.
One Antony silver coin is equivalent to two Dinarius, but weighs only 5.11 grams, which is only 1.5 Dinarius. The Antonic currency issued by Caracalla was actually a turning point in the monetary development of the Severus dynasty, and since then, the purchasing power of the currency has continued to decline.
Caracalla was killed by the Guards commander in 217 AD, but the Antonic currency he issued survived and continued to serve as a profiteer. From the issuance of the Antonic currency in 215 AD until the issuance of the weight-reduced Antonic currency by Carus in 283 AD, the Antony silver coin was in circulation for a total of 68 years. During this period, successive heads of state issued Antony silver coins in large quantities and amassed wealth. Currency depreciation is undoubtedly beneficial for the government.
But this is, after all, a stopgap measure, and the constant depreciation of the currency will inevitably lead to increased inflation. For example, a slave sold for 500 Dinarius during Commodus' reign, but 2500 Dinarius during Severus. Inflation is accompanied by an increase in national prices, for example, the price of cereals is constantly rising as a result of inflation. Between 160 and 190 AD, grain prices rose by 178 percent and wine by 200 to 255 percent.
The rise in prices inevitably hurt the country's finances, and over time, even the most primitive barter appeared on the market in the late Severus dynasty. High prices are one of the biggest victims for soldiers, because a single purchase is enough to deprive them of allowances and salaries. At the same time, the city's economy was in general decline and business activity was sluggish. In this way, the city gradually lost its previous domination of the countryside. Therefore, the financial situation was in a tight state throughout the dynasty.