The Crisis of the Third Century

## The Murder of an Emperor On a cold March morning in 235 CE, Emperor Alexander Severus emerged from his tent along the Rhine frontier, preparing to negotiate with Germanic tribes threatening the empire's borders. The young emperor, just 26 years old, had ruled for thirteen years with his mother Julia Mamaea acting as his closest advisor. As he adjusted his imperial purple cloak, a group of his own soldiers suddenly burst into the tent. Within moments, both Alexander and his mother lay dead, their bodies mutilated by dozens of sword thrusts. The assassins were members of the Legio XXII Primigenia, frustrated by what they saw as the emperor's weak response to barbarian incursions.This bloody scene marked the beginning of what historians would later call the Crisis of the Third Century – fifty years of near-constant civil war, economic collapse, and external invasion that brought the Roman Empire to the brink of total destruction. The soldiers who murdered Alexander quickly proclaime...