Dioclétien

Dioclétien ( Imperator Caesar Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Pius Felix Inuictus Augustus, Britannicus Maximus, Germanicus Maximus, Persicus Maximus, Sarmaticus Maximus, Armeniacus Maximus, Medicus Maximus, Adiabenicus Maximus, Carpicus Maximus ) (245 - 313) was a Roman Emperor of 284 with 305. He was born in Dalmatie in 245 and died in 313.

Biography

Its childhood and the seizure of power

Born Diocles and it parents slaves, it climbs the levels, became officer and was distinguished under the emperors Probus and Aurélien until becoming Consul. After the murder of the emperor Numérien, the September 11th 284, Dioclétien was marked of this murder with the prefect of the court Arruis Aper. It drew some by charging Arrius Aper and by stabbing it in front of the assistance. Dioclétien was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers of the army of Chalcédoine.

The emperor Carin, the brother of Numérien, disputed this title and put in rout the forces of Dioclétien at the Bataille of Margus in March 285 in Belgium. However, Carin was killed by one of its officers, which ensured the capacity Dioclétien.

Its years with the capacity

Dioclétien immediately had to face several risings within its immense empire. It reformed the government of the Empire immediately and, vis-a-vis serious military and economic problems, it was brought to divide its capacities between the parts Eastern and Western of the Empire. It then called upon an officer of Pannonia, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus, better known under the name of Maximien Hercules. It promoted it with the dignity of César in 285 then with that of Auguste in 286, entrusting the Occident to him, preserving for itself the East.

Eight years later in 293, feeling that the accent was to be put on the civic and military problems and to ensure the defense and the administration of the empire, it reinforced the division of the capacity by naming two " emperors auxiliaires". These two additional collaborators were promoted with the dignity of Césars , placed in lower part of each principal emperor, who reserved the title of Auguste . It is this system which one calls the Tétrarchie.

Dioclétien had adopted one of both césars, Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, better known under the name of Galère; the second, Flavius Valerius Constantius Chlorus more known under the name of Constance Chlorinates, was adopted by Maximien Hercules.

the empire, become a Tétrarchie (or government with four), was divided into 101 provinces gathered in 12 Diocèse S and 4 great areas or prefectures, each one of them being directed by César or a Auguste, assisted of a Préfet of the court:

Dioclétien, the East
Maximien, Italy and Africa,
Galère, it and areas of the Danube,
Constancy, Brittany, Gaulle and Spain.

Each decree was signed jointly by the four sovereigns but the decisions taken by the Majestic ones, highest dignity, and by Dioclétien which preserved supremacy, prevailed.

This division in four of the Roman empire facilitated the maintenance of law and order. Victories gained over the enemies of Rome in Africa and Perse made it possible to extend the borders of the empire which was some thus strengthened. The administrative reorganization allowed a centralization of control, on an equal basis, of all its vast territories, and put an end forever to the preeminence of Italy. But it was of such a confusion that the empire had to six emperors at the same time.

Dioclétien introduced at the court of the Eastern ceremonies and adopted the epithet of Jovius (of Jupiter), while Maximien became Herculius (of Hercules). The reforms undertaken by Dioclétien were rigid and oppressive, in particular in the economic domain with the institution of the dioceses and the edict on the prices (edict of the Maximum in 301) which fixed the maximum cost of the goods and the wages through all the empire. But this edict proved to be inapplicable and was quickly abandoned.

He persecuted the Manichéens in 297 because he was wary of doctrines of origin Persian which developed in his Empire at the time when he was in war against Persians, and the Chrétiens starting from 303, at the instigation of Galère.

He promulgated persecutions against the Christians. These persecutions, called persecutions of Dioclétien, or Great persecution , were most fatal, although very short, and the last under the Roman Empire at the beginning of the 4th century. From February 303 at February 304, four edicts give the legal framework of it. Their consequences were to be shown particularly heavy for the Christians of Africa and one can read there the origins of the schism donatist.

Its resignation and its last years

Dioclétien, patient, Maximien Hercules and abdicated to him together in 305 in favor of their Césars.

Rare fact among the Roman Emperors, Dioclétien was withdrawn before being deposited or dying in station (or to be assassinated, which is not a so rare method to change emperor during the III E century). It spent its last years in a splendid palate, on the Adriatic Sea, close to Salone, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatie. It had been made build this palate that it had devoted to Jupiter and in which figure a sphinx of Dioclétien made bring back Egypt. In the ruins was built the Croatian city of Spalato (Split).

The system of the tétrarchie sank in the wars which followed these abdications.

In 308, Dioclétien agree to leave its palate to take part in the meeting of Carnuntum in Pannonia, with his/her former colleagues Maximien Hercules and Galère. It convainquit Maximien Hercules to abdicate again, to cure confusion. What hardly had effect.

Dioclétien died in its palate in 313.

Successive names

Is born Dioclès
284, reaches the Empire: Imperator Caesar Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus
285, receives the nicknames Germanicus Maximus Sarmaticus Maximus
286, takes the nickname of Jovius: Imperator Caesar Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus Germanicus Maximus Sarmaticus Maximus then in 286 Imperator Caesar Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus Germanicus Maximus Sarmaticus Maximus Jovius
295, receives the nickname of Persicus Maximus
297, receives the nicknames Britannicus Maximus Carpicus Maximus
298, receives the nicknames Armenicus Maximus Medicus Maximus Adiabenicus Maximus
313, titulature with its death: Imperator Caesar Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus Germanicus Maximus VII Sarmaticus Maximus IV Persicus Maximus II Britannicus Maximus Carpicus Maximus Armenicus Maximus Medicus Maximus Adiabenicus Maximus, Pontifex Maximus, Jovius, Tribuniciae Potestatis XXII, Consul X, Imperator XXI, Lord's Prayer Patriae

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