The Divine Triad of Palmyra

Paris, The Louvre, AO 19801

This image via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_of_the_divine_trinity-AO_19801-IMG_4334-gradient.jpg

Just where to begin the story of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire has interested scholars for centuries. With no claims whatsoever to originality, we would humbly suggest that the period from 177 to 235 is at least a candidate. 

We being with Commodus. Given every advantage by his “philosopher” father Marcus Aurelius, he nonetheless fell into violence and debauchery. His murder gave rise to the bizarre spectacle of the Empire being effectively put up for auction before order was restored, by a dynasty with its roots in Africa and Syria. The Severans may have begun with a semblance of return to order, but they ended in a weird shambles – all the more difficult to understand today, because of the hatred and vitriol it evoked. Their violent end heralded a long period known as “the anarchy”.

As for the zeitgeist, perhaps it is best expressed by Septimius Severus on his deathbed: “Enrich the troops, and scorn all other men”.

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