Diocletian

(noun)

Roman emperor from 284 to 305 CE. Established the Tetrarchy and instituted economic and tax reforms to stabilize the Roman Empire.

Related Terms

Examples of Diocletian in the following topics:

  • Diocletian's Palace

    • Diocletian then retired to his boyhood palace in Dalmatia.
    • Diocletian's palace was built as a fortress, demonstrating that despite Diocletian's success as emperor, he still required security living in a hostile Roman environment.
    • Diocletian's Palace.
    • Diocletian's Palace.
    • Evaluate the significance of Diocletian's Palace and its contribution to Roman architecture.

  • Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

    • Diocletian was Roman emperor from 284 to 305 CE.
    • Diocletian's reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century.
    • Diocletian further secured the empire's borders and purged it of all threats to his power.
    • When in 305 the 20-year term of Diocletian and Maximian ended, both abdicated.
    • This map shows the four zones of influence under Diocletian's Tetrarchy

  • Imperial Sculpture under the Tetrarchy

    • Emperor Diocletian institutionalized the Tetrarchy, a co-rule that re-established stability in the empire for the period of Diocletian's reign.
    • Diocletian , a military general from the cavalry, was declared emperor by his legion in 284 CE.
    • Diocletian achieved stability by establishing the Tetrarchy, Greek for "rule by four."
    • Galerius served in the Tetrarchy from 293 to 311 CE, beginning his career as the Caesar of the West (293-305) under Diocletian and eventually rising to Augustus of the West (305-311) after Diocletian's retirement.
    • During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sassanid (Neo-Persian) Empire, sacking their capital in 299.

  • The Rise of Christianity

    • Though the early Christians were persecuted under emperors such as Nero and Diocletian, the religion continued to thrive and grow, eventually becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine.
    • The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, which lasted from AD 302-311.
    • In 303, the Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices.
    • During the Great Persecution, Diocletian ordered Christian buildings and the homes of Christians torn down and their sacred books collected and burned during the Great Persecution.
    • The Diocletianic persecution was ultimately unsuccessful.

  • The Eastern Roman Empire, Constantine the Great, and Byzantium

    • His more immediate political legacy was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletian's tetrarchy (government where power is divided among four individuals) with the principle of dynastic succession.
    • Constantine built upon the administrative reforms introduced by Diocletian.
    • Throughout his rule, Constantine supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (e.g. exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the Diocletianic persecution.

  • Crises of the Roman Empire

    • Later, Aurelian (270–275) reunited the empire; the Crisis ended with the ascension and reforms of Diocletian in 284.
    • These continuing problems would be radically addressed by Diocletian, allowing the Empire to continue to survive in the West for over a century and in the East for over a millennium.

  • Constantine

    • Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian and Galerius.
    • One of his major political legacy, aside from moving the capital of the Empire to Constantinople, was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletian's tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession.

  • The Theme System

    • They were established in the mid-7th century in the aftermath of the Slavic invasion of the Balkans and Muslim conquests of parts of Byzantine territory, and replaced the earlier provincial system established by Diocletian and Constantine the Great.
    • Thus the division set up by Diocletian between civil governors (praesides) and military commanders (duces) was abolished, and the Empire returned to a system much more similar to that of the Republic or the Principate, where provincial governors had also commanded the armies in their area.

  • Architecture under Constantine

    • Diocletian and his co-emperor Maximian abdicated power on 1 May 305 CE.
    • Unfortunately for Diocletian's legacy and the stability created by the Tetrarchy, a power struggle between the two heirs erupted a year after the former Augustus's abdication.

  • Sculpture during the Decline of the Roman Empire

    • This process continued until the reign of Diocletian, beginning in 284 CE.