Diocletian

1. Diocletian 240-311 AD

2. Who is he? • 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 DEFENDDEFEND • 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. Bring the army under control! • 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. Fun fact…but important •  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. The core four • 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. Constantine 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