Dominate

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For the album by Adagio, see Dominate (album).

Ancient Rome

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The Dominate[citation needed] or late Roman Empire is the name sometimes given to the "despotic" later
phase of imperial government, following the earlier period known as the "Principate", in the
ancient Roman Empire. This phase is more often called the Tetrarchy[1] at least until 313 when the
empire was reunited.[2]
It may begin with the commencement of the reign of Diocletian in AD 284, following the Third
Century Crisis of AD 235–284, and to end in the west with the collapse of the Western Empire in AD
476, while in the east its end is disputed, as either occurring at the close of the reign of Justinian
 I (AD 565)[3] or of Heraclius (AD 641).[4] In form, the Dominate is considered to have been more
authoritarian, less collegiate and more bureaucratic than the Principate from which it emerged.

Contents

 1Origin of the term

 2Transition from the Principate
 3Characteristics
o 3.1Multiple emperors
o 3.2Devaluation of the Consulate
o 3.3Transformation of the traditional Senatorial order
o 3.4Military reforms
o 3.5Religious reforms
o 3.6Downgrading of Rome as capital of the empire
o 3.7Stylistic changes
 4See also
 5References
 6Further reading
 7External links

Origin of the term[edit]

The modern term dominate is derived from the Latin dominus, which translates into English
as lord or master. Dominus, traditionally used by Roman slaves to address their masters, was
sporadically used in addressing emperors throughout the Principate, usually in the form of excessive
flattery (or political invective) when referring to the emperor.[5] Augustus actively discouraged the
practice, and Tiberius in particular is said to have reviled it as sycophancy.[6] Domitian encouraged its
use,[7] but none of the emperors used the term in any semi-official capacity until the reign
of Aurelian in AD 274, where coins were issued bearing the inscription deus et dominus natus.[8]
However, it was only under Diocletian that the term dominus was adopted as part of the emperor's
official titulature, forming part of Diocletian's radical reforms.[9]

Transition from the Principate[edit]

The Dominate system of government emerged as a response to the 50 years of chaos that is
referred to as the Crisis of the Third Century. The stresses and strains of those years (chronic
usurpations, military insurrections, simultaneous military conflicts across multiple frontiers) exposed
the weaknesses in the Roman state under the Principate, and saw a gradual movement from the
collegiate model of government that existed prior to AD 235 to a more formally autocratic version
that begins after AD 285.[10] In broad terms, it saw the gradual exclusion of the senatorial elite from
high military commands and the parallel elevation of the equestrian orders, the reorganisation of the
armed forces and the creation of mobile field armies, changes in imperial dress and ceremonial
displays, a religious policy aiming at religious unity, large scale monetary reforms, and the creation
of an empire-wide civil bureaucracy.[11]
Although Diocletian is commonly thought of as creator of the Dominate, its origins lie in the
innovations of earlier emperors, principally those undertaken by Aurelian (AD 270–275)[12] some
stretching back to the reign of Gallienus (AD 253–268).[13] Not all the changes that produced the
'Dominate' were completed by the time of Diocletian's abdication in AD 305; many changes were
either introduced or modified by Constantine I. Consequently, just as the Principate emerged over
the period 31 BC through to 14 AD, it is only by AD 337 that the reforms that resulted in the
Dominate were largely complete.[14]
In the opinion of the historian John Bagnall Bury, the system of government,
"constructed with the most careful attention to details, was a solution of the formidable problem of
holding together a huge heterogeneous empire, threatened with dissolution and bankruptcy, an
empire which was far from being geographically compact and had four long, as well as several
smaller, frontiers to defend. To govern a large state by two independent but perfectly similar
machines, controlled not from one centre but from two foci, without sacrificing its unity was an
interesting and entirely new experiment. These bureaucratic machines worked moderately well, and
their success might have been extraordinary if the monarchs who directed them had always been
men of superior ability. Blots of course and defects there were, especially in the fields of economy
and finance. The political creation of the Illyrian Emperors was not unworthy of the genius of
Rome."[15]

Characteristics[edit]
Multiple emperors[edit]
Under the Principate, the position of emperor saw the concentration of various civil and military
offices within a single magistracy.[16] Augustus and his successors usually took great care to disguise
the autocratic nature of the office by hiding behind the institutions of the Roman Republic and the
fiction that the emperor was simply the princeps or first citizen, whose authority was granted by
the Senate. This role was almost always filled by a single individual, and the date that the Potestas
tribunicia was conferred onto that person was the point when imperial authority could be
exercised.[17] Over the course of the Principate, it became common for the emperor (or Augustus) to
nominate an heir (referred to as the Caesar), but the caesar did not have access to the powers of
the emperor, nor was he delegated any official authority.[18]
It was during the Crisis of the Third Century that the traditional imperial approach of a single imperial
magistrate based at Rome became unable to cope with multiple and simultaneous invasions and
usurpations that required the emperor to be everywhere at once. Further, it was their absence which
caused usurpations to occur in response to a local or provincial crisis that traditionally would have
been dealt with by the emperor.[19]
Under the Dominate, the burden of the imperial position was increasingly shared between
colleagues, referred to as the Consortium imperii. It was Diocletian who introduced this form of
government, under a system called the Tetrarchy, which originally consisted of two co-emperors
(augusti) and two respectively subordinate junior emperors (caesars), each of whom shared in the
imperial power. This original power sharing model lasted from AD 289 through to AD 324, being
undone during the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy. With Constantine I’s death in AD 337, the empire was
again shared between multiple augusti, lasting until AD 350. The model became a permanent
feature of the empire in AD 364 with the accession of Valentinian I, who shared the imperial office
with his brother Valens. Barring the 3-year period of solitary rule by Theodosius I from AD 392–395,
this approach would last until the overthrow of the last western emperor in AD 476.
While each augustus was autonomous within each portion of the empire they managed, all laws that
were introduced by any emperor were valid across the entirety of the empire.
Devaluation of the Consulate