The Dominate was the 'despotic' latter phase of government in the ancient Roman Empire from the conclusion of the Third Century Crisis of 235–284 until the formal date of the collapse of the Western Empire in AD 476. It followed the period known as the Principate. In the Eastern half of the Empire, and especially from the time of Justinian I, the system of the Dominate evolved into Byzantine absolutism. The word is derived from the Latin dominus, meaning lord or master, as an owner versus… (More on Dominate)