Diocletian

 Diocletian was born into a poor family in Spalatum and was originally called Diocles.  His father was thought to have been a slave before he became the scribe of a wealthy senator.

 He joined the Roman army and throughout the 270’s C.E. was the military commander of the army stationed in Moesia (the modern day Balkans).  In the early 280’s C.E., he was the commander of the Imperial bodyguard under Numerian

 In 284 C.E. Numerian was killed and the soldiers chose Diocles to avenge him, which he did by personally executing Arrius Aper, who had Numerian killed.  The soldiers made Diocles the emperor in that same year.

 Diocles took the name Diocletian and ruled from 284 to 305 C.E.  Diocletian embarked on several campaigns and defeated the German and Sarmatian tribes and went as far as Sryia to defeat the Saracen invaders.  He also established a new form of government called the Tetrachy to govern the empire more efficiently

 The Tetrarchy was literally the rule of four.  Two high ranking officials called Augusti were appointed to the East and West halves of the Roman Empire as the major emperors. They would adopt men of merit as their sons who would be appointed the junior emperors also called Caesars.  The emperors would be succeeded by men of merit who worked their way up.

 Diocletian appointed Maximian as his Caesar and Constantius and Galerius as the rulers of the eastern section of the empire.

 Diocletian prevented an uprising by the governors of the provinces by further dividing them into 100 provinces.  To oversee these small provinces, Diocletian created thirteen dioceses that were ruled by a vicarius, who in turn were controlled by the four praetorian prefects (one for each ruler)

 Diocletian largely expanded the army and had some guard the borders, the limitanei. He also had inland troops who could rush to any part that was in danger, the comitantenses.  In 301, the Edict of Maximum Prices attempted to fix taxes and prices to curd the rapidly growing inflation.

 Diocletian was the last of the Roman emperors to order a large scale persecution of the Christians.  He issued four edicts against Christianity  He promised not to shed blood but he had Christian books and churches burned and he ordered the executions of anyone who did not worship the Roman gods.

 In 304 C.E., Diocletian abdicated the throne after a serious illness.  He died in 311C.E.