The Roman who Rescued Rome

Diocletian was then the most effective of the Roman Empire and also has the peculiarity of the only emperor who voluntarily abdicated his throne.

Caio Aurelio Valerius Diocletian was probably born in obscure parents in Dalmatia in 245. He had a career in the army under the Aurelian emperors, Probus and Carus, Carus and a campaign with Mesopotamia 283, when he died suddenly. Legend has it that his shop was struck by lightning, but could be interpreted as a murder by mutineers.

Caro had two sons, Carinus and Numeriano, the last of whom was in the country with him, while Carinus stayed home. Numerian was killed in the summer of 284, but his assassins had no idea what to do, claiming that his victim was still alive, but suffers from an eye infection that prevented him from appearing in public. Finally, the corpse rot was to ignore the smell too strong, and senior officers recognized a compromise candidate for the emperor's face to choose Carin.

The choice was made by a middle-class official, Caio Aurelio Valerio Diocle, who took the name Diocletian, usually abbreviated Diocletian. His first act as an emperor was to take his sword and killed the prefect of the Praetor, Flavius Aper, who he accused of killing Numerian.

In 285, the forces of Diocletian and Carino fought in the river Margus in Mesia, now known as Serbia. The battle was in favor of Carinus when some of his troops mutinied and was probably killed by someone on his side. Diocletian was by now indisputably emperor.

Although he was not questioned, Diocletian was smart enough to realize that things were unlikely to go on like this. History has shown that as the emperor had to constantly be on the road the border collapses at one time or another to defend the close relationship between the ruling class of Rome and the inner circle of the emperor. Without this communication, there were many opportunities for the emergence of factions promoting rebellion and civil war. It was impossible to have at the same time a mobile emperor and a stable central authority.

Therefore, Diocletian took steps to delegate his authority through the division of power at the regional level. He married one of his daughters to an officer named Maximian Augustus would follow with the dominance of the western provinces of the empire, but it was clear that Diocletian East, seniority have on him. Two minor emperors, with the rank of Caesar, were also named later, they are Flavio Constancio Gaio and Gaius. Constantius served as a deputy for Maximian and Galerius worked with Diocletian. Young people have also built a family relationship with their leaders by marrying their daughters. This four-way arrangement is known to historians as a tetrarchy.

Diocletian also established new power bases for the Empire, with an objective removed from Rome itself. He settled in Nicomedia in northwestern Turkey and twice visited Rome during his 21 years as governor. Other centers were where the emperor, junior or senior to live, opted for palaces built at Sirmio, Aquileia, and Milan and Trier in Germany.

Diocletian proceeded from the local government in twelve divided dioceses, distributed equally between the two eastern and western halves of the empire. While this allowed the transfer of services to Rome, the administrative burdens for the functioning of the Empire increased and the overall long-term impact of its overall cohesion was also weakened.

Another reform was to create a civil administration that was no longer dominated by the super-rich. This was facilitated by the hyperinflation of the previous realm so that the enormous wealth from those who were more than now is worth much less, and the evaluations of properties that had the structure of previously defined classes make no sense now. As a result, it has been possible for people with relatively modest resources to reach high positions.

Reforms were also made in legal and tax systems, and Diocletian experienced economic stability through an "edict on maximum prices" to establish, even though it was a mistake because it ignores some of the fundamental laws of supply and demand.

Despite his well-deserved reputation for compassion and humanity, Diocletian did not speak of the persecution of Christians. On February 30, a decree was promulgated with the level of the Empire, all Christians ordered the traditional gods to sacrifice themselves, threatened with severe penalties for those who do not obey. However, the tetrarch deferred in its application to the decree, which was no longer applied after about 18 months. In any case, it was very difficult to apply these decrees in a world where he had infiltrated into Christian institutions, such as the army, the imperial court, and higher education.

In the year 305, at the age of 60, he decided to withdraw Diocletian. His plan was to retire at the same time and Maximian would have to leave the young emperor to dress in his shoes, named two new men to Caesar Massimiliano Daia and Severus. Maximiano was not happy with the idea, but he had no choice. At a ceremony on May 1st, the two oldest people emerge.

Diocletian retired to a manor house in his native Dalmatia, where he took advantage of his later years to grow vegetables in his garden, but he had to be called to establish the kingdom of energy balance.

The legacy of Diocletian should have been a degree of stability known for a long time by the empire. But despite the apparent elements of the decentralization agreements in the Tetrarchy still hanging on to each member who has the ultimate decision-making power was a man. Once the man left, the season was again open to ambitious men to get the most energy.

Galley found that he had to succeed in other suitors, in particular, who was Maxence the son of Maximilian does not have the power of Diocletian, who went out of retirement in July 306 to support the request of his son is became emperor after the son of Constance Constantine had proclaimed the death of his father the emperor. Galerius asked Diocletian to come to his aid.

Diocletian begins a conference, was recognized in the Galerium by all parties as an old emperor. However, there was no guarantee that future problems of a similar nature without bloodshed could be avoided, and that was, in fact, in the years that followed the case.

Diocletian passed away at the age of 68 in the year 313.