Assessment Task- Research Essay & Bibliography

assessment-task-3-ancient-history-research-essay 

bibliography-and-referencing-ancient-history-assessment-task

Progress Report (from week 4)

 

Over the past few weeks, I have begun compiling information and resources, as well regularly posting my findings in order to ensure some structure is put in place in the early stages of the historical investigation process. Essentially, I have targeted a few key components to keep everything simple and develop a strong foundation for my subsequent essay. These components have included a general understanding of my focus area (which is the Crisis of the Third Century in Rome) and why it appealed to me; the development of my possible essay questions and decision on the final one; my plans for answering the question, the sources I intend to use and their reliability, and the way I am hoping to structure my essay.

 

Firstly, I had to explore the many areas of ancient history before I decided on the one I would investigate. Things that I initially considered ranged from the historicity of Homer’s Iliad, the myth of Atlantis, the bridge between classical and late antiquity, Celtic culture and Egyptian civilization. Eventually, I chose the Crisis of the Third Century in Rome, also known as the “Military Anarchy” or the “Imperial Crisis”, which are all commonly applied names referring to the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by three simultaneous issues: external invasion, internal civil war, and economic collapse.  The changes in the Roman world’s institutions, society, economic life and eventually religion were so profound and fundamental, that in historical periodization, the “Crisis of the Third Century” is increasingly seen as the watershed marking the difference between the classical world and the world of late antiquity, so that the end of the crisis seen as the accession of Diocletian is used as the Epoch event dividing the two periods. The epoch beginning it was the assassination of the emperor Alexander Severus. The external borders were beset by foreign powers and due to internal strife within the empire, intrusions by foreigners were not dealt with properly, resulting in defeats which were a cause for further internal strife.

 

I realised that this topic would enable me the freedom to decide on what I found to be interesting without being either restricted or spoilt for choice, such as would be the case in a study involving whole civilizations or very large, or even very short, periods of time. Additionally, other students had already taken some of the aforementioned areas of learning, and I sought a different challenge in something that I knew very little about. It appealed to me because of the number of angles that it could be looked upon from and portions of time that it would be broken up into; the terminology of “crisis” and whether it was something that the people of the time viewed as a threat or simply a modern interpretation, the factors leading to the crisis, the role that certain people played in resolving the issue and why the Empire collapsed less than a century later in spite of the reformations. My questions for consideration more or less covered these points, such as the role of Aurelian’s reign (270 275), and the economic impact of the Crisis. These were all things that could be explored in depth with a range of reliable sources on both the web and in print, but my final essay question is: “Outline the perceived issues facing the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century and assess the effectiveness of Diocletian’s response.”

 

By breaking up the question into two key parts, outline and assess, I was able to shape my whole investigation around deconstruction and rebuilding. I could have chosen to analyse it solely, but I can now answer it through three simple steps; identifying and explaining the contributing factors to the Crisis, putting the role of Diocletian in place and then assessing the effectiveness of his reforms for the future regarding what he saw as the fundamental problems facing the Empire when he inherited it in 284 AD, just as it had become stable again. With the structure of my essay, I will not be looking to complicate things too much, planning so far to, obviously, to start with an introduction which immediately addresses the question and highlights my main points with reasonable depth, followed by a couple of pages of body paragraphs which support my response through effective argument and justification, with a concise conclusion recapping everything and re-iterating my interpretation of the question. Additionally, I hope to have my own voice heard within the factual account, which is something I will find more about soon.

 

So far, I have come across several informative Internet sources, which I have briefly assessed for relevance and reliability on my word press page regarding Diocletian and the Crisis itself, as you can see here. They range from good background tools to in- depth analyses of the topic area, and offer differing takes that I can include in my essay. Books that I have come across by modern authors include The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, by Pat Southern, which tracks the time period of the Crisis perfectly and discusses cause and effect relating to prior and resulting events, and Rome in the East; the transformation of an empire, by Warwick Ball, which extends on this. I have found it difficult to locate many ancient authors, but as my investigation continues and I have more time, I plan to look for them in some more wide ranging libraries, but because of the nature of the crisis, at this stage I doubt there will be too many clear cut first hand accounts.

 

In summary, I believe the progress in approaching this historical investigation that I have made has been steady over the last couple of weeks, and that I have a solid blueprint for building a good essay with regards to structure and in the other key areas that I have researched and worked on up until this stage.

 

By Benjamin French

Investigation Goals

Through my research essay on the Crisis of the Third Century, I aim to achieve a number of goals. These include:

-succesfully identifying the issues facing Rome during the crisis

-effectively discussing the role of Diocletian and the impact that his reforms had on the Empire

-draw from a number of reputable sources, and reference correctly

-allow my own voice (possible rhetorical questions, opinions) to be heard within my factual research essay

-provide an in-depth response that answers both key word question skills (outline, assess)

-construct an engaging overall historical investigation that demonstrates my skills, highlights my interest in the topic and meets the outcomes

Progress Report- Structure

In my progress report, I aim to address several key components in the development of my investigation. In the five minute presentation, the areas at this stage, ideally, will be explained in some detail as well as the relationship they share with the wider picture that I am trying to construct.

Below is an organized plan of my progress report and things that I hope to include:

Structure:

• Introduction

-give a background of my focus area (Crisis of the Third Century)

-what particular aspects of the proposed investigation appealed to me

• Development of Research Essay Question

-state my essay question

-discuss my reasons for choosing this particular question over the other candidates

-How I intend on going about answering the question

• Sources

-Identify the internet sites, books, authors and any other supplementary material that I will be using for my investigation

-Justify reasons for choosing these sources and what they offer my focus area

-Allude to the availability, quality, reliability and historicity of most sources regarding the topic itself

• Structure

-explain how I plan to structure my research essay

-briefly mention a few of my early points

• Conclusion

-wrap up the progress report by recapping the aforementioned plan and how I intend to further my research essay through my own understanding of the focus area

 

Crisis of the Third Century: Perceived Problems Brainstorm

• Roughly between 235-284 AD
• Caused by three simultaneous crises: external invasion, internal civil war, and economic collapse

External invasion and internal civil war:

• The situation the empire was in became dire in 235, when the emperor Alexander Severus was murdered by his own legions, after Roman legions were defeated during a campaign against Germanic peoples raiding across the borders, while he was focused primarily on the dangers, which were minor at that time, from the Sassanid Persian Empire.
• In the the aftermath of the death of Alexander Severus, and in the following years, generals of the roman army fought each other for control of the empire and neglected their duties in preventing invasions from foreigners. Provincials became victims of frequent raids by foreign tribes, such as the Carpians, Goths, Vandals, and Alamanni along the Rhine and Danube river in the western part of the empire, as well as attacks from Sassanids in the eastern part of the empire.
• Finally, by 258, the attacks came from within, when the Empire broke up into three separate competing states. The Roman provinces of Gaul, Britain and Hispania broke off to form the Gallic Empire, and two years later in 260, the eastern provinces of Syria, Palestine and Aegyptus became independent as the Palmyrene Empire (with Sassanid backing), leaving the remaining Italian-centered Roman empire proper in the middle.

Economic collapse:

• Internally the empire faced runaway hyperinflation caused by years of coinage devaluation. This had started earlier under the Severan emperors who enlarged the army by one quarter and doubled the base pay. As each of the short-lived emperors took power they needed ways to raise money quickly to pay the military’s “accession bonus” and the easiest way to do so was by simply cutting the silver in coins and adding less valuable metals. This had the predictable effect of causing runaway inflation and by the time Diocletian came to power the old coinage of the Roman Empire had nearly collapsed. Some taxes were collected in kind and values were often notional in bullion or bronze coinage. Real values continued to be figured in gold coinage, but the almost solid silver coin, the denarius, used for 300 years was gone (1 pound of gold = 40 gold aurei = 1000 denarii = 4000 sestertii). The currency had almost no value and trade was by barter. Every aspect of the Roman way of life was affected.
• One of the most profound and lasting effects of the Crisis of the Third Century was the disruption of Rome’s extensive internal trade network. Ever since the Pax Romana, Imperial Rome’s economy depended in large part on trade between the Mediterranean ports and over Rome’s extensive road system. Merchants could travel from one end of the Empire to the other in relative safety in a few weeks, moving agricultural goods produced in the provinces, and manufactured goods produced by the great cities of the East. Large estates produced cash crops for export, and used the resulting revenues to import food and manufactured goods. This resulted in a great deal of interdependence between the Empire’s inhabitants.
• With the Crisis of the Third Century, however, this vast trade network broke down. The widespread civil unrest made it no longer safe for merchants to travel as they once had, and the financial crisis that struck made exchange very difficult.

Fundamental Problems:

Although Aurelian had been successful in restoring the Empire’s borders, problems that lay at the heart of Rome remained a potent threat. In particular the right of succession had never been clearly defined in the Roman Empire leading to continuous civil wars as competing factions in the military, senate and other parties put forward their favoured candidate for Emperor. Another problem was the sheer size of the Empire making it difficult for a single autocratic ruler to effectively manage multiple threats at the same time. All of these continuing problems would be radically addressed by Diocletian allowing the Empire to survive in the West for well over another one hundred years, and in the east, for another thousand years.

Sources: Diocletian

• http://www.roman-emperors.org/dioclet.htm
• http://www.roman-empire.net/decline/diocletian.html

Informative essays highlighting his primary reforms

• http://w3.mrki.info/split/car.html

Brief summary of Diocletian’s impact on the Roman Empire

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian

Starting point for most aspects of his life

Final Research Essay Question

“Outline the perceived issues facing the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century and assess the effectiveness of Diocletian’s response.”

Potential Internet Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_the_Third_Century 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Emperor_(Crisis_of_the_Third_Century)

Good starting point and background information regarding the crisis. Possible bias and inaccuracy.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/thirdcenturycrisis_article_01.shtml
• http://isthmia.osu.edu/teg/50501/4.htm

Solid overview covering causes, restoration and effects. Not that extensive.

• http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/history/crisis.htm

Simple explanation, but very basic.

• http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/firsteuro/imgs/map15.html

Good visual aid highlighting Rome at the height of the Crisis.

• http://everything2.com/e2node/Crisis%2520of%2520the%2520Third%2520Century

Interesting insight into the situation from an imaginatory standing point.

Possible Research Essay Questions

For consideration:

-Evaluate the role of Aurelian’s reign (270-275 AD) in cooling the crisis and restoring the Empire’s borders

-Examine the fundamental problems that led to the crisis and their continuing impact on the Empire up until its eventual collapse

-Analyse the effectiveness of Diocletian’s response to the perceived issues facing the Roman Empire

-Assess the economic impact of the Crisis of the Third Century

-Discuss whether the Crisis was recognized as a threat to the Empire by the people of the time or whether it is a modern interpretation of ancient sources

Historical Investigation: Crisis of the Third Century- Roman Empire

Background:

Crisis of the Third Century (also known as the “Military Anarchy” or the “Imperial Crisis”) is a commonly applied name for the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by three simultaneous crises: external invasion, internal civil war, and economic collapse. The changes in the Roman world’s institutions, society, economic life and eventually religion were so profound and fundamental, that in historical periodization, the “Crisis of the Third Century” is increasingly seen as the watershed marking the difference between the classical world and the world of late antiquity, so that the end of the crisis seen as the accession of Diocletian is used as the Epoch event dividing the two periods. The epoch beginning it was the assassination of the emperor Alexander Severus, the last emperor prior to Diocletian’s reign who would rule for over a half-a-decade.

During this period, the empire was ruled by roughly 20 to 25 individuals, the exact number being a matter of debate as so many claimed the title at the same time. Most of them were prominent generals who assumed imperial power over all or part of the empire, only to lose it by defeat in battle, murder, or natural death, ruling on average only 2 to 3 years.

The external borders were beset by foreign powers and internal stresses were high with many rebellions (many fomented by other generals with ambitions) during the Crisis of the Third Century, as can be inferred forty into the crisis; since between the death of Aurelian in 275 and the accession of Diocletian ten years later (November 20th of 284 AD), at least eight emperors or would-be emperors were killed, many assassinated by their own troops—a sign that the population-at-large was unhappy with the unsettled nature of the empire during the prolonged crisis—most such assassinations can be seen to be popular movements to minimize frictions in the empire.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_the_third_century