The Diocletian Persecution
In the ten years after Aurelian’s assassination, five Emperors followed in
quick succession: Tacitus, Probus, Carus, Numerian and Carinus. Of these,
the last four were also murdered in office. In 284, an Illyrian officer named
Diocles emerged to take the purple as sole ruler of Rome. As Emperor, he
changed his name to Diocletian.
Diocletian was a levelheaded and reflective man who possessed a profound
loyalty to the traditions and institutions of the Empire. He clearly saw that
the decades of Emperor-killing could not continue if the Empire was to
survive. Another system was needed to ensure that the whole Empire could
be safely governed without overburdening one man and making him a
vulnerable target for the ambitious. Diocletian would share power in a
divided Empire. During his first nine years the division would be between
two; in 293 Diocletian decided that an imperial college of four (the
Tetrarchy) would instead govern the Empire: two Augusti and two Caesars.
One Augusti would govern the eastern Greek-speaking half of the Empire
(including Illyria), and the other Augusti the western half, including Rome.
Of the two Augustii, the eastern one held pre-eminence. If ever he was to
die or resign the Augusti of the West was required to also resign. Each
Augusti would have under him a Caesar who was his designated successor
with real power. Each of the four rulers would have their own capital –
Nicomedia, Milan, Treves and Sirmium.
Diocletian chose to be Augusti of the more powerful and populous East
and appointed as his Caesar another Illyrian of giant physique named
Galerius. For the western half, Diocletian appointed two further Illyrians,
as Augusti an old comrade-in-arms named Maximian and as his Caesar the
calm and gentle Constantius Chlorus. While Diocletian remained at the
helm, the Tetrarchy governed well, stabilizing the Empire politically,
administratively and economically. It seemed that the great troubles and
dangers were now past and the Empire could emerge from its decline.
Religiously, Diocletian was a syncretist who had some knowledge and
perhaps sympathy for Christianity. His wife and daughter were probably
even catechumens; his entourage comprised many Christians. After the end
of Aurelian’s plans for persecution, the Church remained undisturbed and
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