284 significant person Diocletian
Events
By place
Roman Empire
Emperor Numerian travels through Bithynia (Asia Minor) on his way home to Rome. Suffering from an inflammation of the eyes, he travels in a closed litter in which soldiers find his decaying corpse.
November 20 – The commander of Numerian's domestici (household troops), Diocles, is chosen to be the new emperor. In a military assembly outside Nicomedia (modern İzmit, Turkey), Diocles claims that the praetorian prefect (and rival for the throne) Arrius Aper murdered Numerian, and he personally stabs and kills the prefect on the spot. The new emperor changes his name to the Latinised 'Diocletian'. Building on existing trends, Diocletian presents his rule as that of a god-like dominus or autocrat.
Sabinus Julianus, the praetorian prefect of Emperor Carinus, exploits the instability and usurps the throne in northern Italy.