The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler

Volume 3 the Classical World

episode 79

the classical world summary part 4 The Classical World Summary Part 4 So, Oh, The year 300

the 300. The Roman Empire was at a low point and the Persian lands were being ruled by the Sasanians who were flexing their muscles in Asiatic lands since defeating the Parthians.

The Sasanians had also subjugated the Kushan Empire and therefore had a firm grip on the important

land routes of the Silk Road. When the Romans and the Sasanians met in battle at Odessa in 260.

The Roman Emperor Valerian was defeated and captured and never seen again, which is something unimaginable in Roman history up until this point.

Roman emperors were generally coming and going at an alarming rate, but the capture of an emperor was unprecedented.

The Roman emperor called Arrelian attempted to introduce the cult of the unconquered son to be recognized as a

God called Soul Invictus.

But this cult did not enjoy mainstream honour for very long, and although it continued to

exist until the fourth century, it never did prosper. Christianity right now represented a noticeable

percentage of the Roman Empire's population but it was still very much a

minority religion.

The real problem within the Roman Empire was the secular organization.

The Emperor Diocletian looked to resolve this by splitting the empire into sections that would

be governed by emperors ruling their sections of the empire under the overall rule of Emperor Diocletian.

One of the major actions was to have a Western half and an Eastern half, which was generally the Greek-speaking half.

This would be the first significant recognition of what would eventually become

the split of the Empire into two separate empires.

Diocletian was known for his new political landscape but also for his persecution of Christians.

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