query: who was emperor diocletian?

title: Diocletian

text: Diocletian Diocletian (; ), born Diocles (22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become Roman cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. The title was also claimed by Carus' surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus. Diocletian's reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century.

title: Diocletian

text: Roman emperor to voluntarily abdicate his title. Most in the crowd believed they knew what would follow; Constantine and Maxentius, the only adult sons of reigning emperors, men who had long been preparing to succeed their fathers, would be granted the title of caesar. Constantine had travelled through Palestine at the right hand of Diocletian, and was present at the palace in Nicomedia in 303 and 305. It is likely that Maxentius received the same treatment. In Lactantius' account, when Diocletian announced that he was to resign, the entire crowd turned to face Constantine. It was not to be: Severus

title: Camp of Diocletian

text: network RT claimed that the Camp of Diocletian had been among the areas affected by the ISIL occupation. However, DigitalGlobe satellite imagery from the end of March 2016 showed that there was no visible change to the status of the area. Camp of Diocletian The Camp of Diocletian was a Roman military complex, or "castra", built in the ancient city of Palmyra in the Syrian Desert. The complex was built under the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the late third-century CE and served as the military headquarters for the Legio I "Illyricorum". During the Crisis of the Third Century, Palmyra broke

title: Roman Emperor (Dominate)

text: Roman Emperor (Dominate) The accession on November 20, 284, of Diocletian, the lower-class, Greek-speaking Dalmatian commander of Carus's and Numerian's household cavalry, marked a major departure from traditional Roman constitutional theory regarding the Emperor, who was nominally first among equals during the Principate. Whereas before Emperors had worn only a purple toga and were greeted with deference, Diocletian wore jewelled robes and shoes, and required those who greeted him to kneel and kiss the hem of his robe. In many ways, Diocletian was the first monarchical Emperor, and this is symbolised by the fact that the word "dominus" ("Lord") rapidly

title: Camp of Diocletian

text: Camp of Diocletian The Camp of Diocletian was a Roman military complex, or "castra", built in the ancient city of Palmyra in the Syrian Desert. The complex was built under the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the late third-century CE and served as the military headquarters for the Legio I "Illyricorum". During the Crisis of the Third Century, Palmyra broke away from Rome to form the short-lived Palmyrene Empire. The city was recaptured by Aurelian in 272 and, following another unsuccessful rebellion, it was sacked by the Romans in 273. Following the Roman reconquest, the city was re-fortified with a new

title: Diocletian

text: (303–311), the empire's last, largest, and bloodiest official persecution of Christianity, failed to eliminate Christianity in the empire; indeed, after 324, Christianity became the empire's preferred religion under Constantine. Despite these failures and challenges, Diocletian's reforms fundamentally changed the structure of Roman imperial government and helped stabilize the empire economically and militarily, enabling the empire to remain essentially intact for another 150 years despite being near the brink of collapse in Diocletian's youth. Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the imperial office on 1 May 305, and became the first Roman emperor to abdicate the position voluntarily. He lived out his

title: Roman Emperor (Dominate)

text: him one son (Gratian, whose first wife was Constantia, the daughter of Constantius II), and his second wife Justina (the widow of Magnentius) bore him two children, a daughter (Galla, the second wife of Theodosius I; see below) and a son (Valentinian II). Roman Emperor (Dominate) The accession on November 20, 284, of Diocletian, the lower-class, Greek-speaking Dalmatian commander of Carus's and Numerian's household cavalry, marked a major departure from traditional Roman constitutional theory regarding the Emperor, who was nominally first among equals during the Principate. Whereas before Emperors had worn only a purple toga and were greeted with deference,

title: Probus (emperor)

text: the latter's successor Diocletian (Imp. 284-305) took active measures to undermine its authority, and established the autocratic nature and divine deriviation of the Imperial power. Never again, after Diocletian's reforms, would the Roman senate play an active role in the management of the empire. On the military sphere, Probus' victories continued the succession of martial Illyrian emperors begun by Claudius Gothicus, which restored the military supremacy of Rome after defeats sustained during the crisis of the third century. Attribution: Probus (emperor) Probus (; ; c. 19 August 232 – September/October 282), was Roman Emperor from 276 to 282. Probus was

title: Diocletian

text: Egypt to the lower Danube. It was too much for one person to control, and Diocletian needed a lieutenant. At some time in 285 at Mediolanum (Milan), Diocletian raised his fellow-officer Maximian to the office of caesar, making him co-emperor. The concept of dual rulership was nothing new to the Roman Empire. Augustus, the first Emperor, had nominally shared power with his colleagues, and more formal offices of Co-Emperor had existed from Marcus Aurelius onward. Most recently, Emperor Carus and his sons had ruled together, albeit unsuccessfully. Diocletian was in a less comfortable position than most of his predecessors, as

title: Diocletian

text: He appointed fellow officer Maximian as Augustus, co-emperor, in 286. Diocletian reigned in the Eastern Empire, and Maximian reigned in the Western Empire. Diocletian delegated further on 1 March 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as Caesars, junior co-emperors, under himself and Maximian respectively. Under this 'tetrarchy', or "rule of four", each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. Diocletian secured the empire's borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi during several campaigns between 285 and 299, the Alamanni in 288, and usurpers in Egypt between 297 and 298. Galerius,

title: Diocletian

text: in Persia. Narseh eliminated Bahram III, a young man installed in the wake of Bahram II's death in 293. In early 294, Narseh sent Diocletian the customary package of gifts between the empires, and Diocletian responded with an exchange of ambassadors. Within Persia, however, Narseh was destroying every trace of his immediate predecessors from public monuments. He sought to identify himself with the warlike kings Ardashir (r. 226–41) and Shapur I (r. 241–72), who had defeated and imprisoned Emperor Valerian (r. 253–260) following his failed invasion of the Sasanian Empire. Narseh declared war on Rome in 295 or 296. He

title: Diocletian

text: Senate by retaining Aristobulus as ordinary consul and colleague for 285 (one of the few instances during the Late Empire in which an emperor admitted a "privatus" as his colleague) and by creating senior senators Vettius Aquilinus and Junius Maximus ordinary consuls for the following year – for Maximus, it was his second consulship. Nevertheless, if Diocletian ever did enter Rome shortly after his accession, he did not stay long; he is attested back in the Balkans by 2 November 285, on campaign against the Sarmatians. Diocletian replaced the prefect of Rome with his consular colleague Bassus. Most officials who

title: Diocletian

text: the usurper M. Aurelius Julianus, Carinus' "corrector Venetiae", took control of northern Italy and Pannonia after Diocletian's accession. Julianus minted coins from the mint at Siscia (Sisak, Croatia) declaring himself emperor and promising freedom. It was all good publicity for Diocletian, and it aided in his portrayal of Carinus as a cruel and oppressive tyrant. Julianus' forces were weak, however, and were handily dispersed when Carinus' armies moved from Britain to northern Italy. As leader of the united East, Diocletian was clearly the greater threat. Over the winter of 284–85, Diocletian advanced west across the Balkans. In the spring, some

title: Diocletian

text: through Raetia while Maximian progressed from Mainz. Each emperor burned crops and food supplies as he went, destroying the Germans' means of sustenance. The two men added territory to the empire and allowed Maximian to continue preparations against Carausius without further disturbance. On his return to the East, Diocletian managed what was probably another rapid campaign against the resurgent Sarmatians. No details survive, but surviving inscriptions indicate that Diocletian took the title "Sarmaticus Maximus" after 289. In the East, Diocletian engaged in diplomacy with desert tribes in the regions between Rome and Persia. He might have been attempting to persuade

title: Diocletian

text: also claims that he had done the same to Maximian at Sirmium. On 1 May 305, Diocletian called an assembly of his generals, traditional companion troops, and representatives from distant legions. They met at the same hill, out of Nicomedia, where Diocletian had been proclaimed emperor. In front of a statue of Jupiter, his patron deity, Diocletian addressed the crowd. With tears in his eyes, he told them of his weakness, his need for rest, and his will to resign. He declared that he needed to pass the duty of empire on to someone stronger. He thus became the first

title: Diocletian

text: emperor acknowledged by Diocletian: in his coinage (of far better quality than the official one, especially his silver pieces) he extolled the "concord" between him and the central power (PAX AVGGG, "the Peace of the three Augusti", read one bronze piece from 290, displaying, on the other side, Carausius together with Diocletian and Maximian, with the caption CARAVSIVS ET FRATRES SVI, "Carausius & his brothers" ). However, Diocletian could not allow elbow room to a breakaway regional usurper following in Postumus's footprints to enter, solely of his own accord, the imperial college. So Carausius had to go. Spurred by the

title: Diocletian

text: persecution of Christians was repudiated and changed to a policy of toleration and then favoritism. Christianity eventually became the official religion in 380. Constantine would claim to have the same close relationship with the Christian God as Diocletian claimed to have with Jupiter. Most importantly, Diocletian's tax system and administrative reforms lasted, with some modifications, until the advent of the Muslims in the 630s. The combination of state autocracy and state religion was instilled in much of Europe, particularly in the lands which adopted Orthodox Christianity. In addition to his administrative and legal impact on history, the Emperor Diocletian is

title: Diocletian

text: often second only to the emperor himself. Altogether, Diocletian effected a large increase in the number of bureaucrats at the government's command; Lactantius was to claim that there were now more men using tax money than there were paying it. The historian Warren Treadgold estimates that under Diocletian the number of men in the civil service doubled from 15,000 to 30,000. The classicist Roger S. Bagnall estimated that there was one bureaucrat for every 5–10,000 people in Egypt based on 400 or 800 bureaucrats for 4 million inhabitants (no one knows the population of the province in 300 AD; Strabo

title: Diocletian

text: not. Diocletian publicly humiliated Galerius, forcing him to walk for a mile at the head of the Imperial caravan, still clad in the purple robes of the Emperor. Galerius was reinforced, probably in the spring of 298, by a new contingent collected from the empire's Danubian holdings. Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia, leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia. It is unclear if Diocletian was present to assist the campaign; he might have returned to Egypt or Syria. Narseh retreated to Armenia to fight Galerius' force, to Narseh's

title: Diocletian

text: of a senatorial family from Campania, a former consul and proconsul of Africa, chosen by Probus for signal distinction. He was skilled in areas of government where Diocletian presumably had no experience. Diocletian's elevation of Bassus as consul symbolized his rejection of Carinus' government in Rome, his refusal to accept second-tier status to any other emperor, and his willingness to continue the long-standing collaboration between the empire's senatorial and military aristocracies. It also tied his success to that of the Senate, whose support he would need in his advance on Rome. Diocletian was not the only challenger to Carinus' rule;

title: Diocletian

text: gardens. He saw his tetrarchic system fail, torn by the selfish ambitions of his successors. He heard of Maximian's third claim to the throne, his forced suicide, and his "damnatio memoriae". In his own palace, statues and portraits of his former companion emperor were torn down and destroyed. Deep in despair and illness, Diocletian may have committed suicide. He died on 3 December 312. Diocletian saw his work as that of a restorer, a figure of authority whose duty it was to return the empire to peace, to recreate stability and justice where barbarian hordes had destroyed it. He arrogated,

title: Diocletian

text: avoid the possibility of having him striking some sort of deal with Carausius. Maximian realized that he could not immediately suppress the rogue commander, so in 287 he campaigned solely against tribes beyond the Rhine instead. As Carausius was allied to the Franks, Maximian's campaigns could be seen as an effort to deny the separatist emperor in Britain a basis of support on the mainland. The following spring, as Maximian prepared a fleet for an expedition against Carausius, Diocletian returned from the East to meet Maximian. The two emperors agreed on a joint campaign against the Alamanni. Diocletian invaded Germania

title: Diocletian

text: Battle of the Margus began, Carinus' prefect Aristobulus also defected. In the course of the battle, Carinus was killed by his own men. Following Diocletian's victory, both the western and the eastern armies acclaimed him as Emperor. Diocletian exacted an oath of allegiance from the defeated army and departed for Italy. Diocletian may have become involved in battles against the Quadi and Marcomanni immediately after the Battle of the Margus. He eventually made his way to northern Italy and made an imperial government, but it is not known whether he visited the city of Rome at this time. There is

title: Baths of Diocletian

text: Between these two structures, a large "exedra" used to exist as part of the same wall. This is now occupied by Piazza della Repubblica. Baths of Diocletian The Baths of Diocletian (Latin: "Thermae Diocletiani", Italian: "Terme di Diocleziano") were public baths in ancient Rome, in what is now Italy. Named after emperor Diocletian and built from 298 AD to 306 AD, they were the largest of the imperial baths. The project was originally commissioned by Maximian upon his return to Rome in the autumn of 298 and was continued after his and Diocletian's abdication under Constantius, father of Constantine. The

title: Baths of Diocletian

text: Baths of Diocletian The Baths of Diocletian (Latin: "Thermae Diocletiani", Italian: "Terme di Diocleziano") were public baths in ancient Rome, in what is now Italy. Named after emperor Diocletian and built from 298 AD to 306 AD, they were the largest of the imperial baths. The project was originally commissioned by Maximian upon his return to Rome in the autumn of 298 and was continued after his and Diocletian's abdication under Constantius, father of Constantine. The baths occupy the high-ground on the northeast summit of the Viminal, the smallest of the Seven hills of Rome, just inside the Agger of

title: Diocletian

text: among emperor, army, and senate. In its place he established an effectively autocratic structure, a shift later epitomized in the institution's name: it would be called a "consistorium", not a council. Diocletian regulated his court by distinguishing separate departments ("scrinia") for different tasks. From this structure came the offices of different "magistri", like the "magister officiorum" ("Master of Offices"), and associated secretariats. These were men suited to dealing with petitions, requests, correspondence, legal affairs, and foreign embassies. Within his court Diocletian maintained a permanent body of legal advisers, men with significant influence on his re-ordering of juridical affairs. There were

title: Diocletian

text: and its senatorial elite. A new style of ceremony was developed, emphasizing the distinction of the emperor from all other persons. The quasi-republican ideals of Augustus' "primus inter pares" were abandoned for all but the tetrarchs themselves. Diocletian took to wearing a gold crown and jewels, and forbade the use of purple cloth to all but the emperors. His subjects were required to prostrate themselves in his presence ("adoratio"); the most fortunate were allowed the privilege of kissing the hem of his robe ("proskynesis", προσκύνησις). Circuses and basilicas were designed to keep the face of the emperor perpetually in view,

title: Diocletian

text: at the hands of Maxentius. He ordered Maximian, who had attempted to return to power after his retirement, to step down permanently. At Carnuntum people begged Diocletian to return to the throne, to resolve the conflicts that had arisen through Constantine's rise to power and Maxentius' usurpation. Diocletian's reply: "If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn't dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed." He lived on for four more years, spending his days in his palace

title: Diocletian

text: in great part to this day and forms the historic core of Split, the second-largest city of modern Croatia. Maximian retired to villas in Campania or Lucania. Their homes were distant from political life, but Diocletian and Maximian were close enough to remain in regular contact with each other. Galerius assumed the consular "fasces" in 308 with Diocletian as his colleague. In the autumn of 308, Galerius again conferred with Diocletian at Carnuntum (Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria). Diocletian and Maximian were both present on 11 November 308, to see Galerius appoint Licinius to be Augustus in place of Severus, who had died

title: Diocletian

text: ordered all members of the court to perform a sacrifice to purify the palace. The emperors sent letters to the military command, demanding the entire army perform the required sacrifices or face discharge. Diocletian was conservative in matters of religion, a man faithful to the traditional Roman pantheon and understanding of demands for religious purification, but Eusebius, Lactantius and Constantine state that it was Galerius, not Diocletian, who was the prime supporter of the purge, and its greatest beneficiary. Galerius, even more devoted and passionate than Diocletian, saw political advantage in the politics of persecution. He was willing to break

title: Diocletian

text: dispatched to fight the rebel Bagaudae, insurgent peasants of Gaul. Diocletian returned to the East, progressing slowly. By 2 November, he had only reached Civitas Iovia (Botivo, near Ptuj, Slovenia). In the Balkans during the autumn of 285, he encountered a tribe of Sarmatians who demanded assistance. The Sarmatians requested that Diocletian either help them recover their lost lands or grant them pasturage rights within the empire. Diocletian refused and fought a battle with them, but was unable to secure a complete victory. The nomadic pressures of the European Plain remained and could not be solved by a single war;

title: Diocletian

text: a contemporary issue of coins suggestive of an imperial "adventus" (arrival) for the city, but some modern historians state that Diocletian avoided the city, and that he did so on principle, as the city and its Senate were no longer politically relevant to the affairs of the empire and needed to be taught as much. Diocletian dated his reign from his elevation by the army, not the date of his ratification by the Senate, following the practice established by Carus, who had declared the Senate's ratification a useless formality. However, Diocletian was to offer proof of his deference towards the

title: Camp of Diocletian

text: late 3rd century. The "camp" was designed and built between 293 and 305 CE. An inscription discovered at the temple of the standards proclaims: The second name after Diocletian's was erased from the inscription but is probably that of his co-emperor Maximian, who was subjected to "damnatio memoriae" by Constantine I, under which his name was erased from public inscriptions and images of him were destroyed. The other co-emperors mentioned in the inscription are Constantius Chlorus and Galerius. It is not clear whether the term "castra" (conventionally translated as "camp") referred exclusively to the Camp of Diocletian. The wall that

title: Diocletian

text: its infrequent contact with the Imperial office. The choice of Milan over Rome further snubbed the capital's pride. But then it was already a long established practice that Rome itself was only a ceremonial capital, as the actual seat of the Imperial administration was determined by the needs of defense. Long before Diocletian, Gallienus (r. 253–68) had chosen Milan as the seat of his headquarters. If the panegyric detailing the ceremony implied that the true center of the empire was not Rome, but where the emperor sat ("...the capital of the empire appeared to be there, where the two emperors

title: Baths of Diocletian

text: and under control of the emperor. Building took place between the year it was first commissioned and was finished sometime between the abdication of Diocletian in 305 and the death of Constantius in July 306. In the early 5th century, the baths were restored. The baths remained in use until the siege of Rome in 537 when the Ostrogothic king Vitiges cut off the aqueducts. In the 1560s, Pope Pius IV ordered the building of a basilica in some of the remains, to commemorate Christian martyrs who according to legend died during the baths' construction, "Santa Maria degli Angeli e

title: Roman Emperor (Dominate)

text: Carnutum in November 308, whereat Constantine confirmed as "caesar", Maximian deposed, and Licinius appointed "augustus" in his place. Maxentius continued to hold power as a rival Emperor until 312; his father Maximian (the first Emperor to be restored) committed suicide after an attempt to don the purple a third time in 310. "Diocletian"'s wife Prisca bore him a daughter Galeria Valeria, who married "Galerius" (whom Diocletian had adopted and appointed "caesar" on March 1, 293). Galerius's sister gave birth to a son, "Maximinus Daia", and Galerius's daughter by his first wife, Valeria Maximilla, married "Maxentius", son of "Maximian" by his

title: Diocletian

text: Empire, one can track the progress of the imperial retinue through the locations from whence particular rescripts were issued – the presence of the Emperor was what allowed the system to function. Whenever the imperial court would settle in one of the capitals, there was a glut in petitions, as in late 294 in Nicomedia, where Diocletian kept winter quarters. Admittedly, Diocletian's praetorian prefects—Afranius Hannibalianus, Julius Asclepiodotus, and Aurelius Hermogenianus—aided in regulating the flow and presentation of such paperwork, but the deep legalism of Roman culture kept the workload heavy. Emperors in the forty years preceding Diocletian's reign had not

title: Diocletian

text: number of their council members for failing their duties of keeping order in their jurisdiction. As with most emperors, much of Diocletian's daily routine rotated around legal affairs—responding to appeals and petitions, and delivering decisions on disputed matters. Rescripts, authoritative interpretations issued by the emperor in response to demands from disputants in both public and private cases, were a common duty of second- and third-century emperors. Diocletian was awash in paperwork, and was nearly incapable of delegating his duties. It would have been seen as a dereliction of duty to ignore them. In the "nomadic" imperial courts of the later

title: Diocletian

text: assume power spread through the city. On 13 December, it appeared that he had finally died. The city was sent into a mourning from which it recovered after public declarations that Diocletian was still alive. When Diocletian reappeared in public on 1 March 305, he was emaciated and barely recognizable. Galerius arrived in the city later in March. According to Lactantius, he came armed with plans to reconstitute the tetrarchy, force Diocletian to step down, and fill the Imperial office with men compliant to his will. Through coercion and threats, he eventually convinced Diocletian to comply with his plan. Lactantius

title: Roman emperor

text: dominate (from the Latin for "lord".) Reaching back to the oldest traditions of job-sharing in the republic, however, Diocletian established at the top of this new structure the Tetrarchy ("rule of four") in an attempt to provide for smoother succession and greater continuity of government. Under the Tetrarchy, Diocletian set in place a system of co-emperors, styled "Augustus", and junior emperors, styled "Caesar". When a co-emperor retired (as Diocletian and his co-emperor Maximian did in 305) or died, a junior "Caesar" would succeed him and the co-emperors would appoint new Caesars as needed. The four members of the Imperial college

title: Diocletian

text: crisis, on 1 April 286, Maximian took up the title of Augustus. His appointment is unusual in that it was impossible for Diocletian to have been present to witness the event. It has even been suggested that Maximian usurped the title and was only later recognized by Diocletian in hopes of avoiding civil war. This suggestion is unpopular, as it is clear that Diocletian meant for Maximian to act with a certain amount of independence. It may be posited, however, that Diocletian felt the need to bind Maximian closer to him, by making him his empowered associate, in order to

title: Diocletian

text: considered to be the founder of the city of Split in modern-day Croatia. The city itself grew around the heavily fortified Diocletian's Palace the emperor had built in anticipation of his retirement. The "Era of Martyrs" (Latin: "anno martyrum" or AM), also known as the "Diocletian era" (Latin: "anno Diocletiani"), is a method of numbering years used by the Church of Alexandria beginning in the 4th century "anno Domini" and by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from the 5th century to the present. In this system of counting, the beginning of Diocletian's reign in 284 was used as the

title: Diocletian

text: met"), it simply echoed what had already been stated by the historian Herodian in the early third century: "Rome is where the emperor is". During the meeting, decisions on matters of politics and war were probably made in secret. The Augusti would not meet again until 303. Some time after his return, and before 293, Diocletian transferred command of the war against Carausius from Maximian to Flavius Constantius, a former Governor of Dalmatia and a man of military experience stretching back to Aurelian's campaigns against Zenobia (272–73). He was Maximian's praetorian prefect in Gaul, and the husband to Maximian's daughter,

title: Diocletian

text: he had a daughter, Valeria, but no sons. His co-ruler had to be from outside his family, raising the question of trust. Some historians state that Diocletian adopted Maximian as his "filius Augusti", his "Augustan son", upon his appointment to the throne, following the precedent of some previous Emperors. This argument has not been universally accepted. The relationship between Diocletian and Maximian was quickly couched in religious terms. Around 287 Diocletian assumed the title "Iovius", and Maximian assumed the title "Herculius". The titles were probably meant to convey certain characteristics of their associated leaders. Diocletian, in Jovian style, would take

title: Diocletian

text: of civil war, savage despotism, and imperial collapse. In those inscriptions that bear their names, Diocletian and his companions are referred to as "restorers of the whole world", men who succeeded in "defeating the nations of the barbarians, and confirming the tranquility of their world". Diocletian was written up as the "founder of eternal peace". The theme of restoration was conjoined to an emphasis on the uniqueness and accomplishments of the tetrarchs themselves. The cities where emperors lived frequently in this period—Milan, Trier, Arles, Sirmium, Serdica, Thessaloniki, Nicomedia and Antioch—were treated as alternate imperial seats, to the exclusion of Rome

title: Diocletian

text: some provinces took appellant cases from their neighbors. It soon became impossible to avoid taking some cases to the emperor for arbitration and judgment. Diocletian's reign marks the end of the classical period of Roman law. Where Diocletian's system of rescripts shows an adherence to classical tradition, Constantine's law is full of Greek and eastern influences. It is archaeologically difficult to distinguish Diocletian's fortifications from those of his successors and predecessors. The Devil's Dykes, for example, the Danubian earthworks traditionally attributed to Diocletian, cannot even be securely dated to a particular century. The most that can be said about built

title: Diocletian

text: 50% were with the emperor(s) in his or their "comitatus", with the praetorian prefects, or with the grain supply officials in the capital (later, the capitals, Rome and Constantinople), Alexandria, and Carthage and officials from the central offices located in the provinces. To avoid the possibility of local usurpations, to facilitate a more efficient collection of taxes and supplies, and to ease the enforcement of the law, Diocletian doubled the number of provinces from fifty to almost one hundred. The provinces were grouped into twelve dioceses, each governed by an appointed official called a "vicarius", or "deputy of the praetorian

title: Diocletian

text: Maximian did not apply the later persecutionary edicts, and left the Christians of the West unharmed. Galerius rescinded the edict in 311, announcing that the persecution had failed to bring Christians back to traditional religion. The temporary apostasy of some Christians, and the surrendering of scriptures, during the persecution played a major role in the subsequent Donatist controversy. Within twenty-five years of the persecution's inauguration, the Christian Emperor Constantine would rule the empire alone. He would reverse the consequences of the edicts, and return all confiscated property to Christians. Under Constantine's rule, Christianity would become the empire's preferred religion. Diocletian

title: Diocletian

text: epoch, making Diocletian's first year in power into the Year 1 of that calendar. Western Christians were aware of this count but did not use it; Dionysius Exiguus replaced the anno Diocletiani era with his anno Domini era because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The anno Domini era became dominant in the Latin West but was not used in the Greek East until modern times. Chapters from "The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XII: The Crisis of Empire" are marked with a "(CAH)". Diocletian Diocletian (; ), born Diocles (22 December 244

title: Diocletian

text: had served under Carinus, however, retained their offices under Diocletian. In an act of "clementia" denoted by the epitomator Aurelius Victor as unusual, Diocletian did not kill or depose Carinus' traitorous praetorian prefect and consul Ti. Claudius Aurelius Aristobulus, but confirmed him in both roles. He later gave him the proconsulate of Africa and the post of urban prefect for 295. The other figures who retained their offices might have also betrayed Carinus. The assassinations of Aurelian and Probus demonstrated that sole rulership was dangerous to the stability of the empire. Conflict boiled in every province, from Gaul to Syria,

title: Diocletian

text: that the deacon Romanus of Caesarea have his tongue removed for defying the order of the courts and interrupting official sacrifices. Romanus was then sent to prison, where he was executed on 17 November 303. Diocletian believed that Romanus of Caesarea was arrogant, and he left the city for Nicomedia in the winter, accompanied by Galerius. According to Lactantius, Diocletian and Galerius entered into an argument over imperial policy towards Christians while wintering at Nicomedia in 302. Diocletian argued that forbidding Christians from the bureaucracy and military would be sufficient to appease the gods, but Galerius pushed for extermination. The

title: Diocletian

text: forts became part of a new defensive line called the "Ripa Sarmatica". In 295 and 296 Diocletian campaigned in the region again, and won a victory over the Carpi in the summer of 296. Later during both 299 and 302, as Diocletian was then residing in the East, it was Galerius' turn to campaign victoriously on the Danube. By the end of his reign, Diocletian had secured the entire length of the Danube, provided it with forts, bridgeheads, highways, and walled towns, and sent fifteen or more legions to patrol the region; an inscription at Sexaginta Prista on the Lower

title: Diocletian

text: was demonized by his Christian successors: Lactantius intimated that Diocletian's ascendancy heralded the apocalypse, and in Serbian mythology, Diocletian is remembered as Dukljan, the adversary of God. Diocletian entered the city of Rome in the early winter of 303. On 20 November, he celebrated, with Maximian, the twentieth anniversary of his reign ("vicennalia"), the tenth anniversary of the tetrarchy ("decennalia"), and a triumph for the war with Persia. Diocletian soon grew impatient with the city, as the Romans acted towards him with what Edward Gibbon, following Lactantius, calls "licentious familiarity". The Roman people did not give enough deference to his

title: Diocletian

text: two men sought the advice of the oracle of Apollo at Didyma. The oracle responded that the impious on Earth hindered Apollo's ability to provide advice. Rhetorically Eusebius records the Oracle as saying "The just on Earth..." These impious, Diocletian was informed by members of the court, could only refer to the Christians of the empire. At the behest of his court, Diocletian acceded to demands for universal persecution. On 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly built church at Nicomedia be razed. He demanded that its scriptures be burned, and seized its precious stores for the treasury. The

title: Diocletian

text: Egyptian administrative practices much closer to Roman standards. Diocletian travelled south along the Nile the following summer, where he visited Oxyrhynchus and Elephantine. In Nubia, he made peace with the Nobatae and Blemmyes tribes. Under the terms of the peace treaty Rome's borders moved north to Philae and the two tribes received an annual gold stipend. Diocletian left Africa quickly after the treaty, moving from Upper Egypt in September 298 to Syria in February 299. He met with Galerius in Mesopotamia. In 294, Narseh, a son of Shapur who had been passed over for the Sassanid succession, came to power

title: Diocletian window

text: Diocletian window Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths ("thermae") of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some classical revivalist architects in more modern times. Diocletian windows are large segmental arched windows (or other openings) which are usually divided into three lights (window compartments) by two vertical mullions. The central compartment is often wider than the two side lights on either side of it. Diocletian windows are named after the windows found in the Thermae (Baths) of Diocletian (AD 302) in Rome. (The Thermae is now

title: Roman emperor

text: meaning "Pious and Blest"; and Invictus meaning "undefeated". The use of "princeps" and "dominus" broadly symbolise the differences in the empire's government, giving rise to the era designations "Principate" and "Dominate". In 293, following the Crisis of the Third Century which had severely damaged Imperial administration, Emperor Diocletian enacted sweeping reforms that washed away many of the vestiges and façades of republicanism which had characterized the Augustan order in favor of a more frank autocracy. As a result, historians distinguish the Augustan period as the principate and the period from Diocletian to the 7th-century reforms of Emperor Heraclius as the

title: Diocletian Lewis

text: was the brother of jurist and politician Loran L. Lewis. Diocletian Lewis Diocletian Lewis (March 3, 1823 – May 21, 1886), commonly known as Dr. Dio Lewis, was a prominent temperance leader and physical culture advocate who practiced homeopathy and was the inventor of the beanbag. He was born on a farm near Auburn, New York. He left school at 12 to work in a cotton factory. He later worked at a hoe, axe and scythe factory and went back to attending school. He started teaching school at 15. At 18, he organized a school in Lower Sandusky, Ohio (now

title: Roman Emperor (Dominate)

text: replaced "princeps" as the favoured word for referring to the Emperor. In short, the Dominate represents a time when the emperors unabashedly showcased their status and authority compared to the earlier Principate. The Dominate also featured a shift in the Empire's "center of gravity" from the west to the east, particularly after the establishment of Constantinople; neither Diocletian nor his co-Emperor Maximian spent much time in Rome after 286, establishing their Imperial capitals at Nicomedia and Mediolanum (modern Milan), respectively. The Tetrarchy was a system established by Diocletian to facilitate effective government of the Empire. After acceding to power in

title: Diocletian Lewis

text: Diocletian Lewis Diocletian Lewis (March 3, 1823 – May 21, 1886), commonly known as Dr. Dio Lewis, was a prominent temperance leader and physical culture advocate who practiced homeopathy and was the inventor of the beanbag. He was born on a farm near Auburn, New York. He left school at 12 to work in a cotton factory. He later worked at a hoe, axe and scythe factory and went back to attending school. He started teaching school at 15. At 18, he organized a school in Lower Sandusky, Ohio (now Fremont). He extended the curriculum to include algebra, geometry, Greek

title: Diocletian

text: Constantius' son Constantine appearing as a rival claimant. Diocletian spent the spring of 293 travelling with Galerius from Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia) to Byzantium (Istanbul, Turkey). Diocletian then returned to Sirmium, where he would remain for the following winter and spring. He campaigned against the Sarmatians again in 294, probably in the autumn, and won a victory against them. The Sarmatians' defeat kept them from the Danube provinces for a long time. Meanwhile, Diocletian built forts north of the Danube, at Aquincum (Budapest, Hungary), Bononia (Vidin, Bulgaria), Ulcisia Vetera, Castra Florentium, Intercisa (Dunaújváros, Hungary), and Onagrinum (Begeč, Serbia). The new

title: Diocletian

text: aided by Diocletian, campaigned successfully against Sassanid Persia, the empire's traditional enemy. In 299 he sacked their capital, Ctesiphon. Diocletian led the subsequent negotiations and achieved a lasting and favourable peace. Diocletian separated and enlarged the empire's civil and military services and reorganized the empire's provincial divisions, establishing the largest and most bureaucratic government in the history of the empire. He established new administrative centres in Nicomedia, Mediolanum, Sirmium, and Trevorum, closer to the empire's frontiers than the traditional capital at Rome. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the empire's masses with

title: Diocletian window

text: the English Palladian style, and by his followers. Diocletian windows continued to be used occasionally in large public buildings in the various devolutions of neoclassical architecture including the Beaux Arts movement (1880–1920). Diocletian window Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths ("thermae") of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some classical revivalist architects in more modern times. Diocletian windows are large segmental arched windows (or other openings) which are usually divided into three lights (window compartments) by two vertical mullions. The central compartment is often wider

title: Baths of Diocletian

text: have also been supplied by the Aqua Antoniniana, which was originally positioned to supply Caracalla's baths in the early 3rd century. The baths were commissioned by Maximian in honor of co-emperor Diocletian in 298 AD, the same year he returned from Africa. Evidence of this can be found in bricks from the main area of the baths, which distinctly show stamps of the Diocletianic period. These, according to the ancient guidebook "Mirabilia Urbis Romae", were known as "Palatium Diocletiani". This evidence shows the effect of the massive project on the brick industry in that all work by them was redirected

title: Emperor

text: the short-lived Severan Dynasty. During the Crisis of the 3rd century, Barracks Emperors succeeded one another at short intervals. Three short lived secessionist attempts had their own emperors: the Gallic Empire, the Britannic Empire, and the Palmyrene Empire though the latter used "rex" more regularly. The Principate (27 BC – 284 AD) period was succeeded by what is known as the Dominate (284 AD – 527 AD), during which Emperor Diocletian tried to put the Empire on a more formal footing. Diocletian sought to address the challenges of the Empire's now vast geography and the instability caused by the informality

title: Diocletian window

text: the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.) The variant name, thermal window, also comes from their association with the Thermae of Diocletian. This type of window was revived and used in Italy in the 16th century, especially by Andrea Palladio. Palladio and others incorporated an elongated Diocletian window in the form of an arched central light flanked by narrower, square-headed apertures. This combination became known as a Palladian, or Venetian, window. The Diocletian window was much used in the early 18th century by the English architect Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, one of the originators of

title: Diocletian (band)

text: Diocletian (band) Diocletian is a New Zealand extreme metal band from Auckland. Formed in 2004, the band splitted in 2015. It lineup then featured Brendan Southwell (also known as Atrociter, Scrondo and B.S.) (guitar, vocals), L. Muir (guitar, vocals, bass), C. Sinclair (drums) and J. Baldwin (guitars). The band's 2015 album, "Gesundrian", was featured as number 15 on Pitchfork's list of "The Best Metal Albums of 2014". Brendan Southwell reactivated the band in 2016 or 2017 with a whole new line-up. In 2018, Diocletian members are B.S. at lead guitar, E. M. at drums, R.W. and (Rigel Walshe from Dawn

title: Diocletian

text: appears to have first invaded western Armenia, where he seized the lands delivered to Tiridates in the peace of 287. Narseh moved south into Roman Mesopotamia in 297, where he inflicted a severe defeat on Galerius in the region between Carrhae (Harran, Turkey) and Callinicum (Raqqa, Syria) (and thus, the historian Fergus Millar notes, probably somewhere on the Balikh River). Diocletian may or may not have been present at the battle, but he quickly divested himself of all responsibility. In a public ceremony at Antioch, the official version of events was clear: Galerius was responsible for the defeat; Diocletian was

title: Diocletian

text: been: Trier sat on the Moselle, a tributary of the Rhine, Sirmium and Serdica were close to the Danube, Thessaloniki was on the route leading eastward, and Nicomedia and Antioch were important points in dealings with Persia. Lactantius criticized Diocletian for an excessive increase in troop sizes, declaring that "each of the four [tetrarchs] strove to have a far larger number of troops than previous emperors had when they were governing the state alone". The fifth-century pagan Zosimus, by contrast, praised Diocletian for keeping troops on the borders, rather than keeping them in the cities, as Constantine was held to

title: Diocletian

text: (Marmara Island, Turkey) or the mines of Phaeno in southern Palestine. All Manichean property was to be seized and deposited in the imperial treasury. Diocletian found much to be offended in Manichean religion: its novelty, its alien origins, the way it corrupted the morals of the Roman race, and its inherent opposition to long-standing religious traditions. Manichaeanism was also supported by Persia at the time, compounding religious dissent with international politics. Excepting Persian support, the reasons he disliked Manichaeanism were at least equally applicable to his next target, Christianity. Diocletian returned to Antioch in the autumn of 302. He ordered

title: Diocletian

text: Diocletian moved into Egypt to suppress him, first putting down rebels in the Thebaid in the autumn of 297, then moving on to besiege Alexandria. Domitianus died in December 297, by which time Diocletian had secured control of the Egyptian countryside. Alexandria, however, whose defense was organized under Domitianus' former "corrector" Aurelius Achilleus, was to hold out until a later date, probably March 298. Bureaucratic affairs were completed during Diocletian's stay: a census took place, and Alexandria, in punishment for its rebellion, lost the ability to mint independently. Diocletian's reforms in the region, combined with those of Septimius Severus, brought

title: Diocletian

text: Soldiers' children were also forcibly enrolled, something that followed spontaneous tendencies among the rank-and-file, but also expressed increasing difficulties in recruitment. The historian A.H.M. Jones observed that "It is perhaps Diocletian's greatest achievement that he reigned twenty-one years and then abdicated voluntarily, and spent the remaining years of his life in peaceful retirement." Diocletian was one of the few emperors of the third and fourth centuries to die naturally, and the first in the history of the empire to retire voluntarily. Once he retired, however, his tetrarchic system collapsed. Without the guiding hand of Diocletian, the empire fell into civil

title: Diocletian

text: and listing all the rescripts that had been issued from the reign of Hadrian (r. 117–38) to the reign of Diocletian. The Codex Gregorianus includes rescripts up to 292, which the Codex Hermogenianus updated with a comprehensive collection of rescripts issued by Diocletian in 293 and 294. Although the very act of codification was a radical innovation, given the precedent-based design of the Roman legal system, the jurists were generally conservative, and constantly looked to past Roman practice and theory for guidance. They were probably given more free rein over their codes than the later compilers of the "Codex Theodosianus"

title: Diocletian

text: with a government policy of inaction on the issue. Antioch was Diocletian's primary residence from 299 to 302, while Galerius swapped places with his Augustus on the Middle and Lower Danube. Diocletian visited Egypt once, over the winter of 301–2, and issued a grain dole in Alexandria. Following some public disputes with Manicheans, Diocletian ordered that the leading followers of Mani be burnt alive along with their scriptures. In a 31 March 302 rescript from Alexandria, he declared that low-status Manicheans must be executed by the blade, and high-status Manicheans must be sent to work in the quarries of Proconnesus

title: Diocletian

text: Diocletian broke off his tour of the Eastern provinces soon thereafter. He returned with haste to the West, reaching Emesa by 10 May 290, and Sirmium on the Danube by 1 July 290. Diocletian met Maximian in Milan in the winter of 290–91, either in late December 290 or January 291. The meeting was undertaken with a sense of solemn pageantry. The emperors spent most of their time in public appearances. It has been surmised that the ceremonies were arranged to demonstrate Diocletian's continuing support for his faltering colleague. A deputation from the Roman Senate met with the emperors, renewing

title: Diocletian

text: soon the Sarmatians would have to be fought again. Diocletian wintered in Nicomedia. There may have been a revolt in the eastern provinces at this time, as he brought settlers from Asia to populate emptied farmlands in Thrace. He visited Syria Palaestina the following spring, His stay in the East saw diplomatic success in the conflict with Persia: in 287, Bahram II granted him precious gifts, declared open friendship with the Empire, and invited Diocletian to visit him. Roman sources insist that the act was entirely voluntary. Around the same time, perhaps in 287, Persia relinquished claims on Armenia and

title: Baths of Diocletian

text: charterhouse. One of the four inscriptions around the main entrance to the Baths of Diocletian reads, translated from Latin, "Our Lords Diocletian and Maximian, the elder and invincible Augusti, fathers of the Emperors and Caesars, our lords Constantius and Maximian and Severus and Maximum, noblest Caesars, dedicated to their beloved Romans these auspicious Baths of Diocletian, which the divine Maximin on his return from Africa ordered to be built and consecrated in the name of his brother Diocletian, having purchased the premises required for so huge and remarkable work and furnishing them with the most sumptuous refinement." Although only fragments

title: Barracks emperor

text: total collapse in 284 when yet another barracks emperor, a cavalry commander named Diocletian, seized power and donned the purple. Diocletian instituted a number of reforms designed to stabilize the empire and the imperial office, including a collegial system of emperors called the Tetrarchy, bringing an end to the Third Century Crisis and inaugurating the Dominate era of Roman history. Although further Emperors would don the purple on the basis of military power (e.g., Constantine I, Valentinian I, and Theodosius I), the phenomenon of the barracks emperors died out, to be replaced in the late imperial era by shadow emperors

title: Roman emperor

text: Senate; an emperor would normally be proclaimed by his troops, or invested with imperial titles by the Senate, or both. The first emperors reigned alone; later emperors would sometimes rule with co-emperors and divide administration of the empire between them. The Romans considered the office of emperor to be distinct from that of a king. The first emperor, Augustus, resolutely refused recognition as a monarch. Although Augustus could claim that his power was authentically republican, his successor, Tiberius, could not convincingly make the same claim. Nonetheless, for the first three hundred years of Roman emperors, from Augustus until Diocletian, efforts

title: Diocletian

text: personal connections, particularly in relatively peaceful regions without a great military presence. On one occasion, Diocletian had to exhort a proconsul of Africa not to fear the consequences of treading on the toes of the local magnates of senatorial rank. If a governor of senatorial rank himself felt these pressures, one can imagine the difficulties faced by a mere "praeses". That accounts for the strained relationship between the central power and local elites: sometime during 303, an attempted military sedition in Seleucia Pieria and Antioch made Diocletian to extract a bloody retribution on both cities by putting to death a

title: Diocletian

text: supreme authority; it expected him to act the part of an aristocratic ruler, not a monarchic one. On 20 December 303, Diocletian cut short his stay in Rome and left for the north. He did not even perform the ceremonies investing him with his ninth consulate; he did them in Ravenna on 1 January 304 instead. There are suggestions in the "Panegyrici Latini" and Lactantius' account that Diocletian arranged plans for his and Maximian's future retirement of power in Rome. Maximian, according to these accounts, swore to uphold Diocletian's plan in a ceremony in the Temple of Jupiter. From Ravenna,

title: Diocletian

text: They were joined by blood and marriage; Diocletian and Maximian now styled themselves as brothers. The senior Co-Emperors formally adopted Galerius and Constantius as sons in 293. These relationships implied a line of succession. Galerius and Constantius would become Augusti after the departure of Diocletian and Maximian. Maximian's son Maxentius and Constantius' son Constantine would then become Caesars. In preparation for their future roles, Constantine and Maxentius were taken to Diocletian's court in Nicomedia. Just before his creation as Caesar, Constantius proceeded to cut Carausius from his base of support in Gaul, recovering Boulogne after a hotly fought siege, a

title: Diocletian

text: next day, Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published. The edict ordered the destruction of Christian scriptures and places of worship across the empire, and prohibited Christians from assembling for worship. Before the end of February, a fire destroyed part of the Imperial palace. Galerius convinced Diocletian that the culprits were Christians, conspirators who had plotted with the eunuchs of the palace. An investigation was commissioned, but no responsible party was found. Executions followed anyway, and the palace eunuchs Dorotheus and Gorgonius were executed. One individual, Peter Cubicularius, was stripped, raised high, and scourged. Salt and vinegar were poured

title: Diocletian (band)

text: of Azazel) at bass. Impurath, from the American act Black Witchery takes lead vocal duty "when avalaible" as C.T.. Diocletian (band) Diocletian is a New Zealand extreme metal band from Auckland. Formed in 2004, the band splitted in 2015. It lineup then featured Brendan Southwell (also known as Atrociter, Scrondo and B.S.) (guitar, vocals), L. Muir (guitar, vocals, bass), C. Sinclair (drums) and J. Baldwin (guitars). The band's 2015 album, "Gesundrian", was featured as number 15 on Pitchfork's list of "The Best Metal Albums of 2014". Brendan Southwell reactivated the band in 2016 or 2017 with a whole new line-up.

title: Roman emperor

text: constitutional position was essentially "pontifex maximus with tribunician power and "imperium" superseding all others") as it was in keeping with the façade of the restored Republic; the Greek word "basileus" ("king") was modified to be synonymous with emperor (and primarily came into favour after the reign of Heraclius) as the Greeks had no republican sensibility and openly viewed the emperor as a monarch. In the era of Diocletian and beyond, "princeps" fell into disuse and was replaced with "dominus" ("lord"); later emperors used the formula "Imperator Caesar NN. Pius Felix (Invictus) Augustus": NN representing the individual's personal name; Pius Felix

title: Diocletian

text: the city council, had been an honor sought by wealthy aristocrats and the middle classes who displayed their wealth by paying for city amenities and public works. Decurions were made liable for any shortfall in the amount of tax collected. Many tried to find ways to escape the obligation. Aurelian's attempt to reform the currency had failed; the denarius was dead. Diocletian restored the three-metal coinage and issued better quality pieces. The new system consisted of five coins: the "aureus"/"solidus", a gold coin weighing, like its predecessors, one-sixtieth of a pound; the "argenteus", a coin weighing one ninety-sixth of a

title: Roman Emperor (Dominate)

text: West, Constantine. Licinius defeated Maximinus Daia in April 313 at Tarsus, and the latter committed suicide shortly thereafter, leaving Licinius and Constantine the only Emperors; they governed the Empire along the usual lines of East and West, respectively, discarded the defunct Tetrarchical system, warred against one another in 316 – 317, and again in 324 – 325. The execution of Licinius in spring 325 left Constantine the first sole Emperor since Diocletian made Maximian his co-Emperor in 286. The Constantinian dynasty properly began with Constantius "Chlorus" ("caesar", 293, "augustus", 305), an experienced Illyrian soldier and general; the Constantiniani were originally

title: Roman emperor

text: were made to portray the emperors as leaders of a republic. From Diocletian, whose tetrarchic reforms also divided the position into one emperor in the West and one in the East, until the end of the Empire, emperors ruled in an openly monarchic style and did not preserve the nominal principle of a republic, but the contrast with "kings" was maintained: although the imperial succession was generally hereditary, it was only hereditary if there was a suitable candidate acceptable to the army and the bureaucracy, so the principle of automatic inheritance was not adopted. Elements of the Republican institutional framework

title: Roman emperor

text: and constitutional theory. Diocletian, a traditionalist and religious conservative, attempted to secure efficient, stable government and a peaceful succession with the establishment of the Tetrarchy. The empire was divided into East and West, each ruled by an Augustus assisted by a Caesar as emperor-in-waiting. These divisions were further subdivided into new or reformed provinces, administered by a complex, hierarchic bureaucracy of unprecedented size and scope. Diocletian's own court was based at Nicomedia. His co-Augustus, Maximian, was based at Mediolanum (modern Milan). Their courts were peripatetic, and Imperial progressions through the provinces made much use of the impressive, theatrical adventus, or

title: Diocletian

text: regimented and centralized political authority on a massive scale. In his policies, he enforced an Imperial system of values on diverse and often unreceptive provincial audiences. In the Imperial propaganda from the period, recent history was perverted and minimized in the service of the theme of the tetrarchs as "restorers". Aurelian's achievements were ignored, the revolt of Carausius was backdated to the reign of Gallienus, and it was implied that the tetrarchs engineered Aurelian's defeat of the Palmyrenes; the period between Gallienus and Diocletian was effectively erased. The history of the empire before the tetrarchy was portrayed as a time

title: Western Roman Empire

text: word "Caesar"), the German word for emperor. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary, successor of the Austrian Empire, would both fall in the aftermath of the First World War along with the Russian and Ottoman Empires who had both claimed succession from the Eastern Roman Empire. With junior colleagues titled Caesar listed below the reign of each emperor. Maximian was elevated to "caesar" by Diocletian in 285, after Diocletian defeated Carinus. He became Western Emperor in 286, with the establishment of the Tetrarchy. On 1 May 305, both Maximian and Diocletian abdicated, leaving Constantius and Galerius as emperors. Constantius Chlorus was

title: Demiana

text: immediately to Antioch to see Diocletian. He made the sign of the cross in front of the emperor, soldiers, princes and all people, and declared himself a Christian. Diocletian was furious and said, “I have tried to keep our friendship but you insult me in front of all". He ordered Mark to reconsider but Mark refused. The emperor ordered Mark to be beheaded by the sword. The feast day of his martyrdom is commemorated on July 12, Abeeb 5 (Coptic calendar). When Emperor Diocletian learned that it was Mark's daughter, St. Demiana, who had persuaded her father to return to

title: Diocletian

text: wars. Stability emerged after the defeat of Licinius by Constantine in 324. Under the Christian Constantine, Diocletian was maligned. Constantine's rule, however, validated Diocletian's achievements and the autocratic principle he represented: the borders remained secure, in spite of Constantine's large expenditure of forces during his civil wars; the bureaucratic transformation of Roman government was completed; and Constantine took Diocletian's court ceremonies and made them even more extravagant. Constantine ignored those parts of Diocletian's rule that did not suit him. Diocletian's policy of preserving a stable silver coinage was abandoned, and the gold "solidus" became the empire's primary currency instead. Diocletian's

title: Diocletian

text: became the norm for most troops. Many were even given payment in kind in place of their salaries. Were he unable to pay for his enlarged army, there would likely be civil conflict, potentially open revolt. Diocletian was led to devise a new system of taxation. In the early empire (30 BC – AD 235) the Roman government paid for what it needed in gold and silver. The coinage was stable. Requisition, forced purchase, was used to supply armies on the march. During the third century crisis (235–285), the government resorted to requisition rather than payment in debased coinage, since

title: Diocletian

text: practice could be sustained only by requisitioning precious metals from private citizens in exchange for state-minted coin (of a far lower value than the price of the precious metals requisitioned). By 301, however, the system was in trouble, strained by a new bout of inflation. Diocletian therefore issued his "Edict on Coinage", an act re-tariffing all debts so that the "nummus", the most common coin in circulation, would be worth half as much. In the edict, preserved in an inscription from the city of Aphrodisias in Caria (near Geyre, Turkey), it was declared that all debts contracted before 1 September

title: Diocletian

text: it could never be sure of the value of money. Requisition was nothing more or less than seizure. Diocletian made requisition into tax. He introduced an extensive new tax system based on heads ("capita") and land ("iugera") – with one iugerum equal to approximately .65 acres – and tied to a new, regular census of the empire's population and wealth. Census officials traveled throughout the empire, assessed the value of labor and land for each landowner, and joined the landowners' totals together to make citywide totals of "capita" and "iuga". The "iugum" was not a consistent measure of land, but

title: Diocletian

text: Theodora. On 1 March 293 at Milan, Maximian gave Constantius the office of caesar. In the spring of 293, in either Philippopolis (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) or Sirmium, Diocletian would do the same for Galerius, husband to Diocletian's daughter Valeria, and perhaps Diocletian's Praetorian Prefect. Constantius was assigned Gaul and Britain. Galerius was initially assigned Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and responsibility for the eastern borderlands. This arrangement is called the tetrarchy, from a Greek term meaning "rulership by four". The Tetrarchic Emperors were more or less sovereign in their own lands, and they travelled with their own imperial courts, administrators, secretaries, and armies.

title: Diocletian

text: recognized Roman authority over territory to the west and south of the Tigris. The western portion of Armenia was incorporated into the empire and made a province. Tiridates III, Arsacid claimant to the Armenian throne and Roman client, had been disinherited and forced to take refuge in the empire after the Persian conquest of 252–53. In 287, he returned to lay claim to the eastern half of his ancestral domain and encountered no opposition. Bahram II's gifts were widely recognized as symbolic of a victory in the ongoing conflict with Persia, and Diocletian was hailed as the "founder of eternal

title: Diocletian

text: time before the end of May, his armies met Carinus' across the river Margus (Great Morava) in Moesia. In modern accounts, the site has been located between the Mons Aureus (Seone, west of Smederevo) and Viminacium, near modern Belgrade, Serbia. Despite having the stronger, more powerful army, Carinus held the weaker position. His rule was unpopular, and it was later alleged that he had mistreated the Senate and seduced his officers' wives. It is possible that Flavius Constantius, the governor of Dalmatia and Diocletian's associate in the household guard, had already defected to Diocletian in the early spring. When the

title: Diocletian

text: retirement in his palace on the Dalmatian coast, tending to his vegetable gardens. His palace eventually became the core of the modern-day city of Split in Croatia. Diocletian was born near Salona in Dalmatia (Solin in modern Croatia), some time around 244. His parents gave him the Greek name Diocles, or possibly Diocles Valerius. The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes his official birthday, 22 December, as his actual birthdate. Other historians are not so certain. His parents were of low status; Eutropius records "that he is said by most writers to have been the son of a scribe, but by