Category: Narrative episode
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1.18 Let the gods decide
Diocletian initiates a great persecution of the Christians, and his reformed Roman empire undergoes the ultimate test as the time for succession arrives. This is the Chi Rho symbol. It’s formed by putting the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek – Χριστός – over one another. Image from Wikimedia Commons user Dylan Lake. Here you can…
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1.17 Reforging
Diocletian transforms the Roman world through rational and autocratic reforms, discarding the system Augustus had built nearly three centuries earlier and forging an entirely new order. Below, you can see Diocletian’s reformed empire in the year 300 CE. The Mediterranean world was divided into four regions, each ruled by an emperor with a capital near…
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1.16 The empire minus one
Aurelian campaigns relentlessly to restore the Roman empire, and the inhabitants of the former province of Dacia must negotiate a working relationship with the migratory peoples that are now settling near them.
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1.15 Fragmentation
The Roman empire nears collapse as the Goths overrun the Balkans, the Persians invade the East, generals fight for the throne, and provinces secede to form new states, all while plague kills millions of people. As the inhabitants of Dacia stand against the chaos, messengers arrive bearing an imperial decision that will forever alter their…
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1.14 New citizens
The character of the Roman empire evolves as all of its free inhabitants are granted citizenship, spurring ever more growth and prosperity in Dacia. Yet that very wealth draws the attention of two powerful tribes living on the periphery of the empire: the Dacian Carpi and the Germanic Goths.
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1.13 Iron swords for marble cities
Dacia recovers from the crisis that had defined Marcus Aurelius’ reign and becomes more urban than ever before. At the same time, the province strengthens its defenses, and its soldiers grow more attached to the local communities they defend. Here is a look at Dacia in 198 CE after emperor Septimius Severus elevated several settlements…
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1.12 To bear this worthily is good fortune
Plague decimates the population, the frontiers are breached, and barbarians ravage Dacia as emperor Marcus Aurelius fights to overcome the empire’s direst crisis in living memory. For extra content that didn’t make it into the episode, head to A history of Romania‘s Facebook page.
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1.11 The allure of Rome
The diverse society of the Dacian provinces flourishes during the reign of Antoninus Pius as colonists from across the empire bring their local beliefs to the region and blend them with Roman ones. Meanwhile, the identity of the Dacians living inside the empire begins to change in relation to their ancestors as well as to…
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1.10 The silenced masses
Hadrian’s defense of Dacia is followed by fifty years of peace and growth, but the prosperity of the region is founded on the labour of tens of thousands of enslaved people.
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1.09 Eagle and falx
The peoples beyond the frontier threaten to overrun the provinces of Dacia and Moesia Inferior, and the new Roman emperor must race to the Danube to secure the region. This is what Roman domains looked liked north of the Danube in 124 CE after the reorganization of the region. The empire relinquished the territory it…