THE WORLD ATLAS

Chapter · Late Antiquity

Rome of Four Emperors

The world in 300

By 300 CE the Roman Empire has survived a half-century of civil wars, invasions and economic chaos. Emperor Diocletian has saved it by splitting power among four rulers, the Tetrarchy: two senior emperors, Diocletian in the East and Maximian in the West, and two juniors, Galerius and Constantius.

The old Parthian state has been replaced by the aggressive Sasanian Persians, though they have just lost a war to Rome. In China, the Western Jin dynasty reunited the country in 280, but it is now tearing itself apart in the War of the Eight Princes, and nomadic peoples settled inside China are about to rise. In northern India the Gupta family is building a small kingdom that will soon become a great empire. Christianity is still a persecuted minority religion in Rome, but Armenia is about to become the first Christian kingdom. In the Americas, Teotihuacan dominates Mexico and Maya Classic civilization is flowering in the lowland jungles.

Open the map in 300

The great powers

Region by region

Southern Africa

Iron-working Bantu-speaking farmers are now settled across much of eastern and southern Africa, growing sorghum and millet and herding cattle. Khoisan foragers and herders live in the Kalahari and the far south. Madagascar is still essentially uninhabited, though Austronesian sailors may be starting to visit.

Northern Africa

Egypt and the North African coast are Roman provinces reorganized under Diocletian. The Kingdom of Axum is now a major power, minting its own gold coins and trading across the Red Sea, while Meroe is in decline. In West Africa the Soninke kingdom of Ghana (Wagadu) may be taking shape on the edge of the Sahara, as camels begin to make desert crossings easier.

Europe

The Roman Empire is governed by the Tetrarchy: Maximian rules Italy, Africa and Spain from Milan, Constantius Chlorus holds Gaul and Britain from Trier, and Galerius guards the Balkans. Frankish, Alamannic and Gothic peoples press on the Rhine and Danube, while the Goths have settled north of the Black Sea. Christians face the Great Persecution, which begins in 303.

Middle East & South Asia

Diocletian personally rules the eastern provinces from Nicomedia, and his Caesar Galerius defeated the Sasanian king Narseh in 298, forcing the Peace of Nisibis (299). The Sasanian Persian Empire rules Iran and Mesopotamia from Ctesiphon. Armenia, under Tiridates III, will adopt Christianity, traditionally in 301 (many scholars prefer c. 314). In India the Gupta family, under Ghatotkacha, holds a small kingdom in Magadha, while the Kushans have been reduced to vassals of Persia in the northwest.

Northern & Central Asia

The Sasanians have taken over the former Kushan lands of Bactria, ruling them through Kushano-Sasanian princes. Iranian-speaking nomads and Xianbei groups move across the steppe, and the Xiongnu-descended peoples settled in northern China are restless. Siberia remains a land of scattered hunters, fishers and reindeer herders.

East Asia

The Western Jin dynasty, under the weak Emperor Hui (r. 290–307), rules a reunited China from Luoyang but is collapsing in the War of the Eight Princes (291–306). In 304 the Xiongnu chief Liu Yuan will found the Han Zhao state, beginning the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms in the north. Goguryeo, under King Micheon, is expanding in Korea alongside Baekje and Silla, and Japan has entered the Kofun period of giant keyhole-shaped tombs.

Southeast Asia

Funan controls the Mekong delta and the trade route across the Malay Peninsula, adopting Indian ideas of kingship and religion. Linyi, the early Cham kingdom, rules central Vietnam, while the north is still a Chinese province. Indian influence is spreading to trading ports across the islands.

Northern North America

Dorset hunters live in the eastern Arctic, and Alaskan coastal peoples hunt whales and walrus. The subarctic forests are home to bands of caribou and moose hunters, and Pacific Northwest peoples live in large, settled fishing villages.

Southern North America

Teotihuacan is at its height, the largest city in the Americas, with influence reaching the Maya region. The Maya Classic period has begun, with cities like Tikal raising carved stone monuments to their kings, while Monte Albán rules Oaxaca. North of Mexico, Hopewell mound-building is declining and Basketmaker farmers grow maize in the Southwest.

Northern South America

The Moche and Nazca cultures flourish on the coasts of Peru, and Tiwanaku is expanding as a religious and trading centre near Lake Titicaca. Peoples of the Amazon farm manioc and build settlements along the great rivers.

Southern Cone

Hunter-gatherers range across the pampas and Patagonia, and fishing peoples live in the southern channels. Farming villages exist in northwest Argentina and northern Chile, some trading with the growing Tiwanaku world.

Australasia & Oceania

Aboriginal Australians live across the continent, with Tasmanians long separated by Bass Strait. Farming societies flourish in New Guinea, and Polynesians in Tonga and Samoa are on the eve of their great voyages east.

Events

  1. Ardashir I overthrows the Parthians and founds the Sasanian Empire
  2. Persia's Shapur I captures the Roman emperor Valerian
  3. Western Jin reunites China
  4. Diocletian becomes Roman emperor
  5. War of the Eight Princes begins in China
  6. Diocletian creates the Tetrarchy
  7. Peace of Nisibis after Rome defeats Persia
  8. Armenia adopts Christianity (traditional date; possibly c. 314)

Moments of this period

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Sources