1. 240-311 AD

2. Comes from a poor family Has a wife and kid who are Christian Builds his power through the military Military commander in Moesia When he comes to power the Roman empire is in turmoil Remember the roman empire was going through emperors pretty quick

3. Too feel safe they would invest money into the army too feel less vulnerable Its also key to remember that at this time the generals of any army were being pushed to become the next emperors by their troops Civil wars due to this He is first appointed as “count of domestics” And also was the imperial bodyguard Awkward…what do we learn that bodyguards do in the past lecture?

4. When the emperor Carus dies his successor was Numerian (son) But wait…Numerian mysteriously dies and who comes into power…? But remember the empire was split in half Carinus (the other son of Carus) rules the other half of the roman empire But fear not he dies in a battle This leaves the entire empire under the rule of Diocletian

5. First Diocletian needs to do is… GET THE ARMY UNDER CONTROL DEFEND DEFEND DEFEND How was he going to bring the empire under control? By all means necessary, doesn’t matter what it takes he will bring the empire under his control for the sake of the Roman Empire

6. divided the roughly fifty existing provinces into approximately one hundred. The provinces also were apportioned among twelve "dioceses," each under a "vicar," and later also among four "prefectures," each under a "praetorian prefect.“ As a result, the imperial bureaucracy became increasingly bloated. He institutionalized the policy of separating civil and military careers He divided the army itself into so-called "border troops," actually an ineffective citizen militia, and "palace troops," the real field army, which often was led by the emperor in person.

7. Access to him became restricted he now was addressed not as First Citizen (Princeps) or the soldierly general (Imperator) He wanted the people to call him… Lord and Master (Dominus Noster) Those in audience were required to prostrate themselves on the ground before him Why is this a bad thing? Think about the rising religious faith

8. Instead of ruling the entire himself which was getting very hard to do…sound familiar? He introduces a new way Divide the land into four and assign each area to a military leader He hand picks Named his lieutenant Maximianus “Caesar” (identified with Hercules) He is assigned the western half of the empire

9. Maximianus gets promoted to the rank of “Augusts” known as the senior emperor in 286 He appoints two new rulers Constantius – Faul and Britain in the west Galerius- Balkans in the east Diocletian did retire around 305 He had ruled for over twenty years

10. Emperor 306-337 AD

11. He is well known for being the first emperor to convert to Christianity Dream tells him to draw a sign that would protect his people While praying he sees a sign in the sky which was a cross with the words “in this sign thou shalt conquer” So he converts to Christianity and wins the battle against the Western Roman Empire under the control of Maxientius He now rules both east and west The fourth ruler Licinius signs a treaty that allowed the people to openly practice Christianity as a religion