this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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What's your preferred?
284 AD. The ascension of Diocletian and the shift away from the city of Rome as the center of the Empire. There's still an Empire after that point - but it's only dubiously Roman.
Dominate vs. Principate. Coinage also took a steep nosedive in terms of quality and silver content at this point. I'd argue that Diocletian's argenteii were among the last really "good" coins produced before it all devolved into tiny pieces of copper (nummi). Then again, they were arguably more comemmorative than meant for circulation which is why you'll be fairly hard pressed to come across visibly worn ones.
Things got pretty chaotic in the 300s already. The battle of Adrianople or generally the Gothic War would be a classic choice, and you could even cut it off with Constantine or Valerian if you want to emphasis the transition to Christianity and the accompanying cultural shift.
I don't know why I'm guessing, PugJesus is right here...