The Emperor and his Administration

The chapter is a general overview of the development of government and administration from the Severan age to the new state of Diocletian and Constantine. An introduction to the third century in the contemporary debate on periodization is followed by the analysis of the issues of imperial designation, legitimation and succession, of the development of the administration from the Severans to the central decades of the century, of the reforms and the administrative organization of the Empire from the Tetrarchy to the reunification of the Empire.

Il capitolo è una trattazione sintetica dell’evoluzione delle tecniche di governo e di amministrazione dall’età dei Severi a Diocleziano e Costantino. Dopo un’introduzione sul problema del terzo secolo nel dibattito contemporaneo sulla periodizzazione dell’età imperiale romana, le tre sezioni del capitolo esaminano i problemi della designazione, della legittimazione e della successione imperiale, gli sviluppi dell’amministrazione tra l’età dei Severi e i decenni centrali del III secolo, le riforme e l’organizzazione amministrativa dell’impero dalla Tetrarchia alla riunificazione dell’impero The chapter is a general overview of the development of government and administration from the Severan age to the new state of Diocletian and Constantine. An introduction to the third century in the contemporary debate on periodization is followed by the analysis of the issues of imperial designation, legitimation and succession, of the development of the administration from the Severans to the central decades of the century, of the reforms and the administrative organization of the Empire from the Tetrarchy to the reunification of the Empire.