civil war. When the dust settled, Septimius Severus emerged as emperor, establishing the Severan dynasty. Unlike previous emperors, he openly used the army to back his authority, and paid them well to do so. The regime he created is known as the Military Monarchy as a result. The system fell apart in the 230s, giving way to a fifty-year period known as the Military Anarchy or the Crisis of the Third Century, following the assassination of the 28-year-old emperor Severus Alexander (the last emperor of the Severan dynasty), where no fewer than twenty emperors held the reins of power, most for only a few months. The majority of these men were assassinated, or killed in battle, and the empire almost collapsed under the weight of the political upheaval, as well as the growing Persian threat in the east. Under its new Sassanid rulers, Persia had grown into a rival superpower, and the Romans would have to make drastic reforms in order to better prepare their state for a confrontation. These reforms were finally realized late in the century under the reign of Diocletian, one of them being to divide the empire into an eastern and western half, and have a separate ruler for each. Events The Kingdom of Funan reaches its zenith. The Goths move from Gothiscandza to Ukraine, giving birth to the Chernyakhov culture. Menorahs and Ark of the Covenant, wall painting in a Jewish catacomb, Villa Torlonia (Rome), are made. The Coptic period begins. Siddhartha in the Palace, detail of a relief from Nagarjunakonda, Andhra Pradesh, India, is made. Now kept at National Museum, New Delhi. Two statuettes, Jonah Swallowed and Jonah Cast Up, of a group from the eastern Mediterranean, probably Asia Minor, are made. Now kept at The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio. The Magerius Mosaic is made. Now kept at the Sousse Archaeological Museum, Tunisia. Early 3rd century: Burial in catacombs becomes commonplace. 208: the Chinese naval Battle of Red Cliffs occurs. 211–217: Caracalla, Roman Emperor. 212: Constitutio Antoniniana grants citizenship to all free Roman men. 212–217: Baths of Caracalla. 220: The Han Dynasty comes to an end with establishment of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. 220–280: The Three Kingdoms period. 222–235: Alexander Severus, Roman Emperor. 224: Ardashir I of the Sassanid dynasty conquers the Parthian empire at the Battle of Hormozdgan. 230–232: Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands