The Crisis of the Third Century was a genuine perfect storm — a legitimacy crisis, civil wars, foreign invasions, hyperinflation, and plague — that nearly caused the Roman Empire to disintegrate.
Kaldellis describes the third-century crisis as a true 'perfect storm' of civil wars, the rise of a bellicose Sasanian Persia, inflation, and plague that nearly broke the empire apart before Aurelian and Diocletian restored it. ✦ AI generated
Anthony Kaldellis · Lex Fridman · 2026-06-30 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 58:07
“Let's talk about the crisis of the third century, where 26 emperors were murdered in a period of 50 years.”
Yeah, it's a perfect storm. Yeah, I mean, you have a crisis of imperial legitimacy. Basically, the army's proclaiming emperors left and right. But you also have a serious uptick in foreign invasions. In the north, you have the creation of the Sasanian Persian or Iranian Empire in the east, and this was very, very bellicose. So lots of foreign defeats. And so under the pressure of all of those forces, it almost fell apart.
verbatim transcript · starts at 58:07
58:07fractured into three pieces, but then Emperor, Aurelian miraculously reconquered them in a period of five years. So just a lot of chaos. It deserves the name, the Crisis of the Third Century. - Yeah, it's a perfect storm. Yeah, I mean, you have a crisis of imperial legitimacy. Basically, the army's proclaiming emperors left and right. In an odd sense, ironically, this is in part because there are now a lot more
58:33stakeholders in the Roman tradition, right? There's all of these provincial armies, and they're appointing their generals as rival emperors. But you also have a serious uptick in foreign invasions. In the north, you have the creation of the Sasanian Persian or Iranian Empire in the east, and this was very, very bellicose. So lots of foreign defeats. Armies are defeated by you know, like, quote, "barbarian enemies." You have eventually
59:03inflation, and you have plague. And so under the pressure, right, of all of those forces, it almost fell apart. Now, it didn't actually. Inevitably, there are also historians who downplay the crisis. Of course, right, like, and legitimately so, right? We must push back against every of these characterizations. - 26 emperors died, bro. What do you- - That's just the emperors. That's just the emperors. We should be
59:29- I'm sorry. In 50 years. - Yeah. - Every other year, emperor dead. - Yeah, that's- - Civil war - ... that's political instability at the top, right? But what- - Right, that's not- - ... what are the l- the lives of most people? - Sure. - So if you go to Egypt, for example, which is kind of out of the... Right? What's going on there? How are people living there? And we can see how people are living in Egypt
59:49because we have all these papyrus documents from Egypt. - That's true. - And for the most part, they don't seem to be experiencing a crisis. - I mean, this is something you talk about. Constantine, as we'll get to him, is one of the most murderous leaders in all of human history, if you consider his own family. But if you're living in the provinces, you know, there's... He's not-