Lot o 3 Rare genuine Ancient Roman coins Antoninianus Aurelian Probus Diocletian

Description: Lot of 3 original ancient Roman coins of: Marcus Aurelius Probus, 276-282 ADDiocletian - Roman Emperor : 284-305 A.D.Aurelian, AD 270-275. Many coins still have traces of what sellers call "silvering" on them, however, metallurgical tests show that the "silver" is actually tin in most cases. Measuring 19-24mm. Original patina and tone. Gently cleaned. Rich remains of patina and encrustation. Exactly as pictured. Bidding is for the coins pictured in this listing.Authenticity guaranteed. Probus (/ˈproʊbəs/; Latin: Marcus Aurelius Probus Augustus; c. 19 August 232 – September/October 282), was Roman Emperor from 276 to 282. Probus was an active and successful general as well as a conscientious administrator, and in his reign of six years he secured prosperity for the inner provinces while withstanding repeated inundations of hostile barbarian tribes on almost every sector of the frontier. After repelling the foreign enemies of the empire Probus was forced to handle several internal revolts, but demonstrated leniency and moderation to the vanquished wherever possible. In his reign the facade of the constitutional authority of the Roman Senate was fastidiously maintained, and the conqueror who had carried his arms to victory over the Rhine professed himself dependent on the sanction of the Senate. Upon defeating the Germans Probus re-erected the ancient fortifications of emperor Hadrian between the Rhine and Danube rivers, protecting the Agri Decumates, and exacted from the vanquished a tribute of manpower to resettle depopulated provinces within the empire and provide for adequate defense of the frontiers.[8] Despite his widespread popularity, Probus was killed in a mutiny of the soldiers while in the middle of preparations for the Persian war, which would be carried out under his successor Carus. Probus was born between 230 and 235 (exact date of birth unknown) in Sirmium (modern day Sremska Mitrovica), Pannonia Inferior, the son of Dalmatius According to the Alexandrian Chronicle, he was born sometime in the year 232. Military career Probus entered the army around 250 upon reaching adulthood. He rose rapidly through the ranks, repeatedly earning high military decorations. Appointed as a military tribune by the emperor Valerian, at a very young age, in recognition of his latent ability,[citation needed] he justified the choice by a distinguished victory over the Sarmatians on the Illyrian frontier. During the chaotic years of the reign of Valerian, Illyria was the only province, generaled by such officers as Claudius, Aurelian and Probus, where the barbarians were kept at bay, while Gaul was overrun by the Franks, Rhaetia by the Alemans, Thrace and the Mediterranean by the Goths, and the east by Shapur I. Probus became amongst the highest placed lieutenants of Aurelian, reconquering Egypt from Zenobia in 273 A.D. Emperor Tacitus, upon his accession in 275, appointed Probus supreme chief of the east, granting him extraordinary powers in order to secure a dangerous frontier. Though the details are not specified, he is said to have fought with success on almost every frontier of the empire, before his election as emperor by the troops upon Tacitus' death of old age in 276, in his camp in Asia Minor. Florianus, the half-brother of Tacitus, also proclaimed himself emperor, and took control of Tacitus' army in Asia Minor, but was killed by his own soldiers after an indecisive campaign against Probus in the mountains of Cilicia. In contrast to Florianus, who ignored the wishes of the senate, Probus referred his claim to Rome in a respectful dispatch. The senate enthusiastically ratified his pretensions. Probus next travelled west, defeating the Goths along the lower Danube in 277, and acquiring the title of Gothicus. However, the Goths came to respect his ability and implored a treaty with the empire. In 278, Probus campaigned successfully in Gaul against the Alamanni and Longiones; both tribes had advanced through the Neckar valley and across the Rhine into Roman territory. Meanwhile, his generals defeated the Franks and these operations were directed to clearing Gaul of Germanic invaders (Franks and Burgundians), allowing Probus to adopt the titles of Gothicus Maximus and Germanicus Maximus. Reportedly, 400,000 barbarians were killed during Probus' campaign, and the entire nation of the Lugii were extirpated. After the defeat of the Germanic invaders in Gaul, Probus crossed the Rhine to campaign successfully against the Barbarians in their homeland, forcing them to pay homage. In the aftermath of the campaign, Probus repaired the ancient fortifications erected by Hadrian in the vulnerable space between the Rhine and Danube, in the territory of Swabia. More significantly, Probus, by forcing from the vanquished tribes a tribute of manpower, established the precedent of settling barbarians within the empire as auxiliaries on a large scale. The provinces were depopulated by war, disease and the chaotic administration, heavy taxation, and extensive army recruitment, during the crisis of the Third century, and the barbarian colonies, at least in the short term, helped to restore frontier defense and the practice of agriculture. The army discipline which Aurelian had repaired was cultivated and extended under Probus, who was however more shy in the practice of cruelty. One of his principles was never to allow the soldiers to be idle, and to employ them in time of peace on useful works, such as the planting of vineyards in Gaul, Pannonia and other districts, in order to restart the economy in these devastated lands. In 279–280, Probus was, according to Zosimus, in Raetia, Illyricum and Lycia, where he fought the Vandals. In the same years, Probus' generals defeated the Blemmyes in Egypt. Either then, or during his previous command in Egypt, he ordered the reconstruction of bridges and canals along the Nile, where the production of grain for the Empire was centered. In 280–281, Probus put down three usurpers, Julius Saturninus, Proculus and Bonosus. The extent of these revolts is not clear, but there are clues that they were not just local problems (an inscription with the name of Probus erased has been found as far as Spain). In 281, the emperor was in Rome, where he celebrated his well-deserved triumph. Probus was eager to start his eastern campaign, delayed by the revolts in the west. He left Rome in 282, travelling first towards Sirmium, his birth city. Assassination Different accounts of Probus's death exist. According to Joannes Zonaras, the commander of the Praetorian Guard Marcus Aurelius Carus had been proclaimed, more or less unwillingly, emperor by his troops. Probus sent some troops against the new usurper, but when those troops changed sides and supported Carus, Probus' remaining soldiers assassinated him at Sirmium (September/October 282). According to other sources, however, Probus was killed by disgruntled soldiers, who rebelled against his orders to be employed for civic purposes, like draining marshes. Allegedly, the soldiers were provoked when they overheard him lamenting the necessity of a standing army. Carus was proclaimed emperor after Probus' death and avenged the murder of his predecessor. Legacy According to the favorable treatment of Gibbon (whose account is largely derived from the Augustan History), Probus was the last of the benevolent constitutional emperors of Rome. While his successor Carus (Imp. 281-284) simply disdained to seek the senate's confirmation of his title, the latter's successor Diocletian (Imp. 284-305) took active measures to undermine its authority, and established the autocratic nature and divine derivation of the Imperial power. Never again, after Diocletian's reforms, would the Roman senate play an active role in the management of the empire. On the military sphere, Probus' victories continued the succession of martial Illyrian emperors begun by Claudius Gothicus, which restored the military supremacy of Rome after defeats sustained during the crisis of the third century. Aurelian - Roman Emperor: 270-275 A.D.Husband of SeverinaAurelian (Latin: Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus; 9 September 214 or 215 - September or October 275) was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. Born in humble circumstances, he rose through the military ranks to become emperor. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west, reuniting the Empire in its entirety. He was also responsible for the construction of the Aurelian Walls in Rome, and the abandonment of the province of Dacia. His successes were instrumental in ending the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century, earning him the title Restitutor Orbis or 'Restorer of the World'. Although Domitian was the first emperor who had demanded to be officially hailed as dominus et deus (master and god), these titles never occurred in written form on official documents until the reign of Aurelian.Early life Aurelian was born on 9 September, most likely in 214 AD, although 215 AD is also possible. The ancient sources are not agreed on his place of birth, although he was generally accepted as being a native of Illyricum. Sirmium in Pannonia Inferior (now Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia) is the preferred location, which was created by Aurelian as Emperor when he abandoned the old trans-Danubian territory of Dacia. The academic consensus is that he was of humble birth and that his father was a peasant-farmer who took his Roman nomen from his landlord, a senator of the clan Aurelius. Saunders suggests that his family might in fact have been of Roman settler origin and of much higher social status; however, his suggestion has not been taken up by his more recent academic colleagues such as Southern and Watson. Using the evidence of the ancient sources, it was at one time suggested that Aurelian's mother was a freedwoman of a member of the clan Aurelius and that she herself was a priestess of the Sun-God in her native village. These two propositions, together with the tradition that the clan Aurelius had been entrusted with the maintenance of that deity's cult in Rome, inspired the notion that this could explain the devotion to the sun-god that Aurelian was to manifest as Emperor - see below. However, it seems that this pleasant extrapolation of dubious facts is now generally accepted as being no more than just that.Military career It is commonly accepted that Aurelian probably joined the army in 235 AD at around age twenty. It is also generally assumed that, as a member of the lowest rank of society - albeit a citizen - he would have enlisted in the ranks of the legions. Idiosyncratically, Saunders suggests that his career is more easily understood if it is assumed that his family was of Roman settler origins with a tradition of military service and that he enlisted as an equestrian. This would have opened up for him the tres militia - the three steps of the equestrian military career - one of the routes to higher equestrian office in the Imperial Service. This could be a more expeditious route to senior military and procuratorial offices than that pursued by ex-rankers, although not necessarily less laborious. However, Saunders's conjecture as to Aurelian's early career is not supported by any evidence other than his nomen which could indicate Italian settler ancestry - although even this is contested - and his rise to the highest ranks which is more easily understood if he did not have to start from the bottom. His suggestion has not been taken up by other academic authorities. Whatever his origins, Aurelian certainly must have built up a very solid reputation for military competence during the tumultuous mid-decades of the century. To be sure, the exploits detailed in the Historia Augusta vita Divi Aureliani, while not always impossible, are not supported by any independent evidence and one at least is demonstrably an invention typical of that author. However, he was probably associated with Gallienus's cavalry army and shone as an officer of that corps d'élite because, when he finally emerged in a historically reliable context in the early part of the reign of Claudius II, he seems to have been its commander.Service under Gallienus His successes as a cavalry commander ultimately made him a member of emperor Gallienus' entourage. In 268, Aurelian and his cavalry participated in general Claudius' victory over the Goths at the Battle of Naissus. Later that year Gallienus traveled to Italy and fought Aureolus, his former general and now usurper for the throne. Driving Aureolus back into Mediolanum, Gallienus promptly besieged his adversary in the city. However, while the siege was ongoing the Emperor was assassinated. One source says Aurelian, who was present at the siege, participated and supported general Claudius for the purple - which is plausible. Aurelian was married to Ulpia Severina, about whom little is known. Like Aurelian she was from Dacia. They are known to have had a daughter together.Service under Claudius Claudius was acclaimed Emperor by the soldiers outside Mediolanum. The new Emperor immediately ordered the senate to deify Gallienus. Next, he began to distance himself from those responsible for his predecessor's assassination, ordering the execution of those directly involved. Aureolus was still besieged in Mediolanum and sought reconciliation with the new emperor, but Claudius had no sympathy for a potential rival. The emperor had Aureolus killed and one source implicates Aurelian in the deed, perhaps even signing the warrant for his death himself. During the reign of Claudius, Aurelian was promoted rapidly: he was given command of the elite Dalmatian cavalry, and was soon promoted to overall Magister equitum, effectively the head of the army after the Emperor - the Emperor's position before his acclamation. The war against Aureolus and the concentration of forces in Italy allowed the Alamanni to break through the Rhaetian limes along the upper Danube. Marching through Raetia and the Alps unhindered, they entered northern Italy and began pillaging the area. In early 269, emperor Claudius and Aurelian marched north to meet the Alamanni, defeating them decisively at the Battle of Lake Benacus. While still dealing with the defeated enemy, news came from the Balkans reporting large-scale attacks from the Heruli, Goths, Gepids, and Bastarnae. Claudius immediately dispatched Aurelian to the Balkans to contain the invasion as best he could until Claudius could arrive with his main army. The Goths were besieging Thessalonica when they heard of emperor Claudius' approach, causing them to abandon the siege and pillage north-eastern Macedonia. Aurelian intercepted the Goths with his Dalmatian cavalry and defeated them in a series of minor skirmishes, killing as many as three thousand of the enemy. Aurelian continued to harass the enemy, driving them northward into Upper Moesia where emperor Claudius had assembled his main army. The ensuing battle was indecisive: the northward advance of the Goths was halted but Roman losses were heavy. Claudius could not afford another pitched battle, so he instead laid a successful ambush, killing thousands. However, the majority of the Goths escaped and began retreating south the way they had come. For the rest of year, Aurelian harassed the enemy with his Dalmatian cavalry. Now stranded in Roman territory, the Goths' lack of provisions began to take its toll. Aurelian, sensing his enemies' desperation, attacked them with the full force of his cavalry, killing many and driving the remainder westward into Thrace. As winter set in, the Goths retreated into the Haemus Mountains, only to find themselves trapped and surrounded. The harsh conditions now exacerbated their shortage of food. However, the Romans underestimated the Goths and let their guard down, allowing the enemy to break through their lines and escape. Apparently emperor Claudius ignored advice, perhaps from Aurelian, and withheld the cavalry and sent in only the infantry to stop their break-out. The determined Goths killed many of the oncoming infantry and were only prevented from slaughtering them all when Aurelian finally charged in with his Dalmatian cavalry. The Goths still managed to escape and continued their march through Thrace. The Roman army continued to follow the Goths during the spring and summer of 270. Meanwhile, a devastating plague swept through the Balkans, killing many soldiers in both armies. Emperor Claudius fell ill on the march to the battle and returned to his regional headquarters in Sirmium, leaving Aurelian in charge of operations against the Goths. Aurelian used his cavalry to great effect, breaking the Goths into smaller groups which were easier to deal with. By late summer the Goths were defeated: any survivors were stripped of their animals and booty and were levied into the army or settled as farmers in frontier regions. Aurelian had no time to relish his victories; in late August news arrived from Sirmium that emperor Claudius was dead.Opposition to Quintillus When Claudius died, his brother Quintillus seized power with support of the Senate. With an act typical of the Crisis of the Third Century, the army refused to recognize the new Emperor, preferring to support one of its own commanders: Aurelian was proclaimed emperor in September 270 by the legions in Sirmium. Aurelian defeated Quintillus' troops, and was recognized as Emperor by the Senate after Quintillus' death. The claim that Aurelian was chosen by Claudius on his death bed can be dismissed as propaganda; later, probably in 272, Aurelian put his own dies imperii the day of Claudius' death, thus implicitly considering Quintillus a usurper. With his base of power secure, he now turned his attention to Rome's greatest problems - recovering the vast territories lost over the previous two decades, and reforming the res publica.EmperorThe Roman Empire in the 270s In 248, Emperor Philip the Arab had celebrated the millennium of the city of Rome with great and expensive ceremonies and games, and the Empire had given a tremendous proof of self-confidence. In the following years, however, the Empire had to face a huge pressure from external enemies, while, at the same time, dangerous civil wars threatened the empire from within, with usurpers weakening the strength of the state. Also, the economic substrate of the state, agriculture and commerce, suffered from the disruption caused by the instability. On top of this an epidemic swept through the Empire around 250, greatly diminishing manpower both for the army and for agriculture. The end result was that the Empire could not endure the blow of the capture of Emperor Valerian in 260. The eastern provinces found their protectors in the rulers of the city of Palmyra, in Syria, whose autonomy grew until the formation of the Palmyrene Empire, which was more successful against the Persian threat. The western provinces, those facing the limes of the Rhine, seceded to form a third, autonomous state within the territories of the Roman Empire, which is now known as the Gallic Empire. In Rome, the Emperor was occupied with the internal menaces to his power and with the defense of Italia and the Balkans. This was the situation faced by Gallienus and Claudius, and the problems Aurelian had to deal with at the beginning of his rule.Reunification of the empire The first actions of the new Emperor were aimed at strengthening his own position in his territories. Late in 270, Aurelian campaigned in northern Italia against the Vandals, Juthungi, and Sarmatians, expelling them from Roman territory. To celebrate these victories, Aurelian was granted the title of Germanicus Maximus. The authority of the Emperor was challenged by several usurpers - Septimius, Urbanus, Domitianus, and the rebellion of Felicissimus - who tried to exploit the sense of insecurity of the empire and the overwhelming influence of the armies in Roman politics. Aurelian, being an experienced commander, was aware of the importance of the army, and his propaganda, known through his coinage, shows he wanted the support of the legions.Defending Italy Against the Iuthungi The burden of the northern barbarians was not yet over, however. In 271, the Alamanni moved towards Italia, entering the Po plain and sacking the villages; they passed the Po River, occupied Placentia and moved towards Fano. Aurelian, who was in Pannonia to control the Vandals' withdrawal, quickly entered Italia, but his army was defeated in an ambush near Placentia (January 271). When the news of the defeat arrived in Rome, it caused great fear for the arrival of the barbarians. But Aurelian attacked the Alamanni camping near the Metaurus River, defeating them in the Battle of Fano, and forcing them to re-cross the Po river; Aurelian finally routed them at Pavia. For this, he received the title Germanicus Maximus. However, the menace of the Germanic people remained high as perceived by the Romans, so Aurelian resolved to build the walls that became known as the Aurelian Walls around Rome.Defeat of the Goths and abandonment of Dacia The emperor led his legions to the Balkans, where he defeated and routed the Goths beyond the Danube, killing the Gothic leader Cannabaudes, and assuming the title of Gothicus Maximus. However, he decided to abandon the province of Dacia, on the exposed north bank of the Danube, as too difficult and expensive to defend. He reorganized a new province of Dacia south of the Danube, inside the former Moesia, called Dacia Aureliana, with Serdica as the capital.Conquest of the Palmyrene Empire In 272, Aurelian turned his attention to the lost eastern provinces of the empire, the so-called "Palmyrene Empire" ruled by Queen Zenobia from the city of Palmyra. Zenobia had carved out her own empire, encompassing Syria, Palestine, Egypt and large parts of Asia Minor. The Syrian queen cut off Rome's shipments of grain, and in a matter of weeks, the Romans started running low on bread. In the beginning, Aurelian had been recognized as Emperor, while Vaballathus, the son of Zenobia, held the title of rex and imperator ("king" and "supreme military commander"), but Aurelian decided to invade the eastern provinces as soon as he felt his army to be strong enough. Asia Minor was recovered easily; every city but Byzantium and Tyana surrendered to him with little resistance. The fall of Tyana lent itself to a legend: Aurelian to that point had destroyed every city that resisted him, but he spared Tyana after having a vision of the great 1st-century philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, whom he respected greatly, in a dream. Apollonius implored him, stating, "Aurelian, if you desire to rule, abstain from the blood of the innocent! Aurelian, if you will conquer, be merciful!" Whatever the reason, Aurelian spared Tyana. It paid off; many more cities submitted to him upon seeing that the Emperor would not exact revenge upon them. Within six months, his armies stood at the gates of Palmyra, which surrendered when Zenobia tried to flee to the Sassanid Empire. The "Palmyrene Empire" was no more. Eventually Zenobia and her son were captured and made to walk on the streets of Rome in his triumph, the woman in golden chains. With the grain stores once again shipped to Rome, Aurelian's soldiers handed out free bread to the citizens of the city, and the Emperor was hailed a hero by his subjects. After a brief clash with the Persians and another in Egypt against the usurper Firmus, Aurelian was obliged to return to Palmyra in 273 when that city rebelled once more. This time, Aurelian allowed his soldiers to sack the city, and Palmyra never recovered. More honors came his way; he was now known as Parthicus Maximus and Restitutor Orientis ("Restorer of the East"). The rich province of Egypt was also recovered by Aurelian. The Brucheion (Royal Quarter) in Alexandria was burned to the ground. This section of the city once contained the Library of Alexandria, although the extent of the surviving Library in Aurelian's time is uncertain.Conquest of the Gallic Empire In 274, the victorious emperor turned his attention to the west, and the "Gallic Empire" which had already been reduced in size by Claudius II. Aurelian won this campaign largely through diplomacy; the "Gallic Emperor" Tetricus was willing to abandon his throne and allow Gaul and Britain to return to the Empire, but could not openly submit to Aurelian. Instead, the two seem to have conspired so that when the armies met at Châlons-en-Champagne that autumn, Tetricus simply deserted to the Roman camp and Aurelian easily defeated the Gallic army facing him.[citation needed] Tetricus was rewarded for his part in the conspiracy with a high-ranking position in Italy itself. Aurelian returned to Rome and won his last honorific from the Senate - Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World"). This title was first assumed by Aurelian in late summer of 272, and had been carried previously by both Valerian and Gallienus. In four years, Aurelian had secured the frontiers of the Empire and reunified it, effectively giving the Empire a new lease on life that lasted 200 years.Reforms Aurelian was a reformer, and settled many important functions of the imperial apparatus, dealing with the economy and religion. He restored many public buildings, re-organized the management of the food reserves, set fixed prices for the most important goods, and prosecuted misconduct by the public officers.Religious reform Aurelian strengthened the position of the Sun god Sol Invictus as the main divinity of the Roman pantheon. His intention was to give to all the peoples of the Empire, civilian or soldiers, easterners or westerners, a single god they could believe in without betraying their own gods. The center of the cult was a new temple, built in 274 and dedicated on December 25 of that year in the Campus Agrippae in Rome, with great decorations financed by the spoils of the Palmyrene Empire. During his short rule, Aurelian seemed to follow the principle of "one faith, one empire", which would not be made official until the Edict of Thessalonica. He appears with the title deus et dominus natus ("God and born ruler") on some of his coins, a style also later adopted by Diocletian. Lactantius argued that Aurelian would have outlawed all the other gods if he had had enough time. He was recorded by Christian historians as having organized persecutions.Felicissimus' rebellion and coinage reform Aurelian's reign records the only uprising of mint workers. The rationalis Felicissimus, a senior public financial official whose responsibilities included supervision of the mint at Rome, revolted against Aurelian. The revolt seems to have been caused by the fact that the mint workers, and Felicissimus first, were accustomed to stealing the silver for the coins and producing coins of inferior quality. Aurelian wanted to eliminate this, and put Felicissimus on trial. The rationalis incited the mintworkers to revolt: the rebellion spread in the streets, even if it seems that Felicissimus was killed immediately, presumably executed. The Palmyrene rebellion in Egypt had probably reduced the grain supply to Rome, thus disaffecting the population to the emperor. This rebellion also had the support of some senators, probably those who had supported the election of Quintillus, and thus had something to fear from Aurelian. Aurelian ordered the urban cohorts, reinforced by some regular troops of the imperial army, to attack the rebelling mob: the resulting battle, fought on the Caelian hill, marked the end of the revolt, even if at a high price (some sources give the figure, probably exaggerated, of 7,000 casualties). Many of the rebels were executed; also some of the supporting senators were put to death. The mint of Rome was closed temporarily, and the institution of several other mints caused the main mint of the empire to lose its hegemony. His monetary reformation included the introduction of antoniniani containing 5% silver. They bore the mark XXI (or its Greek numerals form KA), which meant that twenty of such coins would contain the same silver quantity of an old silver denarius. Considering that this was an improvement over the previous situation gives an idea of the severity of the economic situation Aurelian faced. The Emperor struggled to introduce the new "good" coin by recalling all the old "bad" coins prior to their introduction.Death In 275, Aurelian marched towards Asia Minor, preparing another campaign against the Sassanids: the deaths of Kings Shapur I (272) and Hormizd I (273) in quick succession, and the rise to power of a weakened ruler (Bahram I), set the possibility to attack the Sassanid Empire. On his way, the Emperor suppressed a revolt in Gaul - possibly against Faustinus, an officer or usurper of Tetricus - and defeated barbarian marauders in Vindelicia (Germany). However, Aurelian never reached Persia, as he was murdered while waiting in Thrace to cross into Asia Minor. As an administrator, Aurelian had been very strict and handed out severe punishments to corrupt officials or soldiers. A secretary of Aurelian (called Eros by Zosimus) had told a lie on a minor issue. In fear of what the Emperor might do, he forged a document listing the names of high officials marked by the emperor for execution and showed it to collaborators. The notarius Mucapor and other high-ranking officers of the Praetorian Guard, fearing punishment from the Emperor, murdered him in September 275, in Caenophrurium, Thrace (modern Turkey). Aurelian's enemies in the Senate briefly succeeded in passing damnatio memoriae on the Emperor, but this was reversed before the end of the year and Aurelian, like his predecessor Claudius II, was deified as Divus Aurelianus. There is substantial evidence that Aurelian's wife Ulpia Severina, who had been declared Augusta in 274, may have ruled the Empire by her own power for some time after his death. The sources indicate that there was an interregnum between Aurelian's death and the election of Marcus Claudius Tacitus as his successor. Additionally, some of Ulpia's coins appear to have been minted after Aurelian's death.Legacy Aurelian's short reign reunited a fragmented Empire while saving Rome from barbarian invasions that had reached Italy itself. His death prevented a full restoration of political stability and a lasting dynasty that could end the cycle of assassination of emperors and civil war that marked this period. Even so, he brought the Empire through a very critical period in its history, and without Aurelian it never would have survived the invasions and fragmentation of the decade in which he reigned. Much hard fighting remained for his successors before the Empire finally regained the initiative against the Persians and the northern barbarian peoples, and it would be another twenty years or more before Diocletian fully restored stability and ended the Crisis of the third century. However, after that the Western half of the Empire would survive another two hundred years, while the East would last another millennium, and for that Aurelian must be allowed much of the credit. The city of Orléans in France is named after Aurelian. Originally named Cenabum, Aurelian rebuilt and named it Aurelianum or Aureliana Civitas ("city of Aurelian", cité d'Aurélien), which evolved into Orléans. The city of New Orleans (in French, La Nouvelle-Orléans), in Louisiana, United States is named after the commune of Orléans, and therefore by extension, Aurelian. Diocletian (Latin:Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus; c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was aRoman Emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in theRoman province of Dalmatia , Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the EmperorCarus . After the deaths of Carus and his sonNumerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed Emperor. The title was also claimed by Carus' other surviving son,Carinus , but Diocletian defeated him in theBattle of the Margus . Diocletian's reign stabilized the Empire and marks the end of theCrisis of the Third Century . He appointed fellow officer Maximian Augustus his senior co-emperor in 285. Diocletian delegated further on 1 March 293, appointingGalerius andConstantius asCaesars , junior co-emperors. Under this "Tetrarchy", or "rule of four", each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the Empire. Diocletian secured the Empire's borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He defeated theSarmatians andCarpi during several campaigns between 285 and 299, theAlamanni in 288, and usurpers inEgypt between 297 and 298. Galerius, aided by Diocletian, campaigned successfully againstSassanid Persia , the Empire's traditional enemy. In 299 he sacked their capital,Ctesiphon . Diocletian led the subsequent negotiations and achieved a lasting and favorable peace. Diocletian separated and enlarged the Empire's civil and military services and reorganized the Empire's provincial divisions, establishing the largest and mostbureaucratic government in the history of the Empire. He established new administrative centers inNicomedia ,Mediolanum ,Antioch , andTrier , closer to the Empire's frontiers than the traditional capital at Rome had been. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism , he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the Empire's masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies and architecture. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, and construction projects increased the state's expenditures and necessitated a comprehensive tax reform. From at least 297 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, and levied at generally higher rates. Not all of Diocletian's plans were successful: the Edict on Maximum Prices (301), his attempt to curb inflation viaprice controls , was counterproductive and quickly ignored. Although effective while he ruled, Diocletian's Tetrarchic system collapsed after his abdication under the competing dynastic claims ofMaxentius andConstantine , sons of Maximian and Constantius respectively. TheDiocletianic Persecution (303–11), the Empire's last, largest, and bloodiest official persecution ofChristianity , did not destroy the Empire's Christian community; indeed, after 324 Christianity became the empire's preferred religion under its first Christian emperor,Constantine . In spite of his failures, Diocletian's reforms fundamentally changed the structure of Roman imperial government and helped stabilize the Empire economically and militarily, enabling the Empire to remain essentially intact for another hundred years despite being near the brink of collapse in Diocletian's youth. Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the imperial office on 1 May 305, and became the only Roman emperor to voluntarily abdicate the position. He lived out his retirement inhis palace on the Dalmatian coast, tending to his vegetable gardens. His palace eventually became the core of the modern-day city ofSplit . Early life Diocletian was probably born nearSalona inDalmatia (Solin in modern Croatia ), some time around 244. His parents named him Diocles, or possibly Diocles Valerius. The modern historianTimothy Barnes takes his official birthday, 22 December, as his actual birthdate. Other historians are not so certain. Diocles' parents were of low status, and writers critical of him claimed that his father was a scribe or afreedman of the senator Anullinus, or even that Diocles was a freedman himself. The first forty years of his life are mostly obscure. TheByzantine chroniclerJoannes Zonaras states that he was Dux Moesiae , a commander of forces on the lowerDanube . The often-unreliable Historia Augusta states that he served in Gaul, but this account is not corroborated by other sources and is ignored by modern historians of the period. Death of Numerian Emperor Carus ' death left his unpopular sons Numerian and Carinus as the new Augusti. Carinus quickly made his way to Rome from Gaul and arrived by January 284. Numerian lingered in the east. The Roman withdrawal from Persia was orderly and unopposed. TheSassanid kingBahram II could not field an army against them as he was still struggling to establish his authority. By March 284, Numerian had only reached Emesa (Homs) inSyria ; by November, only Asia Minor. In Emesa he was apparently still alive and in good health: he issued the only extantrescript in his name there, but after he left the city, his staff, including the prefectAper , reported that he suffered from an inflammation of the eyes. He traveled in a closed Coach from then on. When the army reached Bithynia , some of the soldiers smelled an odor emanating from the Coach. They opened its curtains and inside they found Numerian dead. Aper officially broke the news inNicomedia (İzmit) in November. Numerianus' generals and tribunes called a council for the succession, and chose Diocles as Emperor, in spite of Aper's attempts to garner support. On 20 November 284, the army of the east gathered on a hill 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) outside Nicomedia. The army unanimously saluted Diocles as their new Augustus, and he accepted the purple imperial vestments. He raised his sword to the light of the sun and swore an oath disclaiming responsibility for Numerian's death. He asserted that Aper had killed Numerian and concealed it. In full view of the army, Diocles drew his sword and killed Aper. According to theHistoria Augusta, he quoted fromVirgil while doing so. Soon after Aper's death, Diocles changed his name to the more Latinate "Diocletianus", in full Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus. Conflict with Carinus After his accession, Diocletian and Lucius Caesonius Bassus were named as consuls and assumed the fasces in place of Carinus and Numerianus. Bassus was a member of asenatorial family fromCampania , a former consul and proconsul of Africa, chosen by Probus for signal distinction. He was skilled in areas of government where Diocletian presumably had no experience. Diocletian's elevation of Bassus as consul symbolized his rejection of Carinus' government in Rome, his refusal to accept second-tier status to any other emperor, and his willingness to continue the long-standing collaboration between the Empire's senatorial and military aristocracies. It also tied his success to that of the Senate, whose support he would need in his advance on Rome. Diocletian was not the only challenger to Carinus' rule: the usurperM. Aurelius Julianus , Carinus' corrector Venetiae, took control of northernItaly andPannonia after Diocletian's accession. Julianus minted coins from the mint at Siscia (Sisak, Croatia) declaring himself as Emperor and promising freedom. It was all good publicity for Diocletian, and it aided in his portrayal of Carinus as a cruel and oppressive tyrant. Julianus' forces were weak, however, and were handily dispersed when Carinus' armies moved from Britain to northern Italy. As leader of the united East, Diocletian was clearly the greater threat. Over the winter of 284–85, Diocletian advanced west across theBalkans . In the spring, some time before the end of May, his armies met Carinus' across the river Margus (Great Morava) inMoesia . In modern accounts, the site has been located between the Mons Aureus (Seone, west ofSmederevo ) andViminacium , near modernBelgrade , Serbia. Despite having the stronger army, Carinus held the weaker position. His rule was unpopular, and it was later alleged that he had mistreated the Senate and seduced his officers' wives. It is possible thatFlavius Constantius , the governor of Dalmatia and Diocletian's associate in the household guard, had already defected to Diocletian in the early spring. When theBattle of the Margus began, Carinus' prefect Aristobulus also defected. In the course of the battle, Carinus was killed by his own men. Following Diocletian's victory, both the western and the eastern armies acclaimed him Augustus. Diocletian exacted an oath of allegiance from the defeated army and departed for Italy. Early rule Diocletian may have become involved in battles against theQuadi andMarcomanni immediately after the Battle of the Margus. He eventually made his way to northern Italy and made an imperial government, but it is not known whether he visited the city of Rome at this time. There is a contemporary issue of coins suggestive of an imperial adventus (arrival) for the city, but some modern historians state that Diocletian avoided the city, and that he did so on principle, as the city and its Senate were no longer politically relevant to the affairs of the Empire and needed to be taught as much. Diocletian dated his reign from his elevation by the army, not the date of his ratification by the Senate, following the practice established by Carus, who had declared the Senate's ratification a useless formality. If Diocletian ever did enter Rome shortly after his accession, he did not stay long; he is attested back in the Balkans by 2 November 285, on campaign against theSarmatians . Diocletian replaced theprefect of Rome with his consular colleague Bassus. Most officials who had served under Carinus, however, retained their offices under Diocletian. In an act of clementia denoted by the epitomatorAurelius Victor as unusual, Diocletian did not kill or depose Carinus' traitorous praetorian prefect and consul Ti. Claudius Aurelius Aristobulus, but confirmed him in both roles. He later gave him the proconsulate of Africa and the rank of urban prefect. The other figures who retained their offices might have also betrayed Carinus. Maximian made co-emperor Maximian's consistent loyalty to Diocletian proved an important component of the Tetrarchy's early successes. The assassinations ofAurelian and Probus demonstrated that sole rulership was dangerous to the stability of the Empire. Conflict boiled in every province, from Gaul to Syria, Egypt to the lower Danube. It was too much for one person to control, and Diocletian needed a lieutenant. At some time in 285 atMediolanum (Milan), Diocletian raised his fellow-officerMaximian to the office ofCaesar , making him co-emperor. The concept of dual rulership was nothing new to the Roman Empire.Augustus , the first Emperor, had nominally shared power with his colleagues, and more formal offices of co-Emperor had existed fromMarcus Aurelius on. Most recently, the emperor Carus and his sons had ruled together, albeit unsuccessfully. Diocletian was in a less comfortable position than most of his predecessors, as he had a daughter, Valeria, but no sons. His co-ruler had to be from outside his family, raising the question of trust. Some historians state that Diocletian adopted Maximian as his filius Augusti, his "Augustan son", upon his appointment to the throne, following the precedent of some previous emperors. This argument has not been universally accepted. The relationship between Diocletian and Maximian was quickly couched in religious terms. Around 287 Diocletian assumed the title Iovius, and Maximian assumed the title Herculius. The titles were probably meant to convey certain characteristics of their associated leaders. Diocletian, inJovian style, would take on the dominating roles of planning and commanding; Maximian, inHerculian mode, would act as Jupiter's heroic subordinate. For all their religious connotations, the emperors were not "gods" in the tradition of theImperial cult —although they may have been hailed as such in Imperialpanegyrics . Instead, they were seen as the gods' representatives, effecting their will on earth. The shift from military acclamation to divine sanctification took the power to appoint emperors away from the army. Religious legitimization elevated Diocletian and Maximian above potential rivals in a way military power and dynastic claims could not. Conflict with Sarmatia and Persia After his acclamation, Maximian was dispatched to fight the rebelBagaudae in Gaul. Diocletian returned to the East, progressing slowly. By 2 November, he had only reached Citivas Iovia (Botivo, near Ptuj ,Slovenia ). In the Balkans during the autumn of 285, he encountered a tribe ofSarmatians who demanded assistance. The Sarmatians requested that Diocletian either help them recover their lost lands or grant them pasturage rights within the Empire. Diocletian refused and fought a battle with them, but was unable to secure a complete victory. The nomadic pressures of theEuropean Plain remained and could not be solved by a single war; soon the Sarmatians would have to be fought again. Diocletian wintered inNicomedia . There may have been a revolt in the eastern provinces at this time, as he brought settlers fromAsia to populate emptied farmlands inThrace . He visitedSyria Palaestina the following spring, His stay in the East saw diplomatic success in the conflict with Persia: in 287,Bahram II granted him precious gifts, declared open friendship with the Empire, and invited Diocletian to visit him. Roman sources insist that the act was entirely voluntary. Around the same time, perhaps in 287, Persia relinquished claims onArmenia and recognized Roman authority over territory to the west and south of the Tigris. The western portion of Armenia was incorporated into the Empire and made a province.Tiridates III ,Arsacid claimant to the Armenian throne and Roman client, had been disinherited and forced to take refuge in the Empire after the Persian conquest of 252-53. In 287, he returned to lay claim to the eastern half of his ancestral domain and encountered no opposition. Bahram II's gifts were widely recognized as symbolic of a victory in the ongoingconflict with Persia , and Diocletian was hailed as the "founder of eternal peace". The events might have represented a formal end to Carus' eastern campaign, which probably ended without an acknowledged peace. At the conclusion of discussions with the Persians, Diocletian re-organized the Mesopotamian frontier and fortified the city ofCircesium (Buseire, Syria) on theEuphrates . Maximian made Augustus Maximian's campaigns were not proceeding as smoothly. The Bagaudae had been easily suppressed, butCarausius , the man he had put in charge of operations against Saxon andFrankish pirates on theSaxon Shore , had begun keeping the goods seized from the pirates for himself. Maximian issued a death-warrant for his larcenous subordinate. Carausius fled the Continent, proclaimed himself Augustus, and agitated Britain and northwestern Gaul into open revolt against Maximian and Diocletian. Spurred by the crisis, on 1 April 286, Maximian took up the title ofAugustus . His appointment is unusual in that it was impossible for Diocletian to have been present to witness the event. It has even been suggested that Maximian usurped the title and was only later recognized by Diocletian in hopes of avoiding civil war. This suggestion is unpopular, as it is clear that Diocletian meant for Maximian to act with a certain amount of independence. Maximian realized that he could not immediately suppress the rogue commander, so in 287 he campaigned solely against tribes beyond theRhine instead. The following spring, as Maximian prepared a fleet for an expedition against Carausius, Diocletian returned from the East to meet Maximian. The two emperors agreed on a joint campaign against theAlamanni . Diocletian invaded Germania through Raetia while Maximian progressed from Mainz. Each emperor burned crops and food supplies as he went, destroying the Germans' means of sustenance. The two men added territory to the Empire and allowed Maximian to continue preparations against Carausius without further disturbance. On his return to the East, Diocletian managed what was probably another rapid campaign against the resurgent Sarmatians. No details survive, but surviving inscriptions indicate that Diocletian took the title Sarmaticus Maximus after 289. In the East, Diocletian engaged in diplomacy with desert tribes in the regions between Rome and Persia. He might have been attempting to persuade them to ally themselves with Rome, thus reviving the old, Rome-friendly,Palmyrene sphere of influence , or simply attempting to reduce the frequency of their incursions. No details survive for these events. Some of the princes of these states were Persian client kings, a disturbing fact in light of increasing tensions with the Sassanids. In the West, Maximian lost the fleet built in 288 and 289, probably in the early spring of 290. Thepanegyrist who refers to the loss suggests that its cause was a storm, but this might simply be the an attempt to conceal an embarrassing military defeat. Diocletian broke off his tour of the Eastern provinces soon thereafter. He returned with haste to the West, reaching Emesa by 10 May 290, and Sirmium on the Danube by 1 July 290. Diocletian met Maximian in Milan in the winter of 290–91, either in late December 290 or January 291. The meeting was undertaken with a sense of solemn pageantry. The Emperors spent most of their time in public appearances. It has been surmised that the ceremonies were arranged to demonstrate Diocletian's continuing support for his faltering colleague. A deputation from the Roman Senate met with the Emperors, renewing its infrequent contact with the Imperial office. The choice of Milan over Rome further snubbed the capital's pride. But then it was already a long established practice that Rome itself was only a ceremonial capital, as the actual seat of the Imperial administration was determined by the needs of defense. Long before Diocletian,Gallienus (r. 253–68) had chosen Milan as the seat of his headquarters. If the panegyric detailing the ceremony implied that the true center of the Empire was not Rome, but where the Emperor sat ("...the capital of the Empire appeared to be there, where the two emperors met"), it simply echoed what had already been stated by the historianHerodian in the early third century: "Rome is where the emperor is". During the meeting, decisions on matters of politics and war were probably made in secret. The Augusti would not meet again until 303. Tetrarchy Foundation of the Tetrarchy Triumphal Arch of the Tetrarchy, Sbeitla , Tunisia Some time after his return, and before 293, Diocletian transferred command of the war against Carausius from Maximian toConstantius Chlorus , a former governor of Dalmatia and a man of military experience stretching back toAurelian 's campaigns againstZenobia (272–73). He was Maximian's praetorian prefect in Gaul, and the husband to Maximian's daughter,Theodora . On 1 March 293 at Milan, Maximian gave Constantius the office of Caesar. In the spring of 293, in either Philippopolis (Plovdiv,Bulgaria ) or Sirmium, Diocletian would do the same for Galerius , husband to Diocletian's daughter Valeria, and perhaps Diocletian's praetorian prefect. Constantius was assigned Gaul and Britain. Galerius was assigned Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and responsibility for the eastern borderlands. This arrangement is called the Tetrarchy, from aGreek term meaning "rulership by four". The Tetrarchic Emperors were more or less sovereign in their own lands, and they travelled with their own imperial courts, administrators, secretaries, and armies. They were joined by blood and marriage; Diocletian and Maximian now styled themselves as brothers. The senior co-Emperors formally adopted Galerius and Constantius as sons in 293. These relationships implied a line of succession. Galerius and Constantius would become Augusti after the departure of Diocletian and Maximian. Maximian's sonMaxentius and Constantius' sonConstantine would then become Caesars. In preparation for their future roles, Constantine and Maxentius were taken to Diocletian's court in Nicomedia. Conflict in the Balkans and Egypt Diocletian spent the spring of 293 traveling with Galerius from Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica,Serbia ) toByzantium (Istanbul,Turkey ). Diocletian then returned to Sirmium, where he would remain for the following winter and spring. He campaigned against the Sarmatians again in 294, probably in the autumn, and won a victory against them. The Sarmatians' defeat kept them from the Danube provinces for a long time. Meanwhile, Diocletian built forts north of the Danube, atAquincum (Budapest,Hungary ), Bononia (Vidin, Bulgaria), Ulcisia Vetera, Castra Florentium, Intercisa (Dunaújváros, Hungary), and Onagrinum (Begeč, Serbia). The new forts became part of a new defensive line called the Ripa Sarmatica. In 295 and 296 Diocletian campaigned in the region again, and won a victory over the Carpi in the summer of 296. Afterwards, during 299 and 302, as Diocletian was then residing in the East, it was Galerius' turn to campaign victoriously on the Danube. By the end of his reign, Diocletian had secured the entire length of the Danube, provided it with forts, bridgeheads, highways, and walled towns, and sent fifteen or more legions to patrol the region; an inscription atSexaginta Prista on the Lower Danube extolled restored tranquilitas at the region. The defense came at a heavy cost, but was a significant achievement in an area difficult to defend. Galerius, meanwhile, was engaged during 291–293 in disputes inUpper Egypt , where he suppressed a regional uprising. He would return to Syria in 295 to fight the revanchist Persian Empire. Diocletian's attempts to bring the Egyptian tax system in line with Imperial standards stirred discontent, and a revolt swept the region after Galerius' departure. The usurperL. Domitius Domitianus declared himself Augustus in July or August 297. Much of Egypt, includingAlexandria , recognized his rule. Diocletian moved into Egypt to suppress him, first putting down rebels in theThebaid in the autumn of 297, then moving on to besiege Alexandria. Domitianus died in December 297, by which time Diocletian had secured control of the Egyptian countryside. Alexandria, whose defense was organized under Diocletian's former corrector Aurelius Achilleus , held out until a later date, probably March 298. Bureaucratic affairs were completed during Diocletian's stay: a census took place, and Alexandria, in punishment for its rebellion, lost the ability to mint independently. Diocletian's reforms in the region, combined with those ofSeptimus Severus , brought Egyptian administrative practices much closer to Roman standards. Diocletian travelled south along the Nile the following summer, where he visitedOxyrhynchus andElephantine . In Nubia, he made peace with theNobatae andBlemmyes tribes. Under the terms of the peace treaty Rome's borders moved north toPhilae and the two tribes received an annual gold stipend. Diocletian left Africa quickly after the treaty, moving from Upper Egypt in September 298 to Syria in February 299. He met up with Galerius in Mesopotamia. War with Persia Invasion, counterinvasion In 294, Narseh , a son of Shapur who had been passed over for the Sassanid succession, came to power in Persia. Narseh eliminatedBahram III , a young man installed in the wake of Bahram II's death in 293. In early 294, Narseh sent Diocletian the customary package of gifts between the empires, and Diocletian responded with an exchange of ambassadors. Within Persia, however, Narseh was destroying every trace of his immediate predecessors from public monuments. He sought to identify himself with the warlike kingsArdashir (r. 226–41) andShapur I (r. 241–72), who had sacked Roman Antioch and skinned the EmperorValerian (r. 253–260) to decorate his war temple. Narseh declared war on Rome in 295 or 296. He appears to have first invaded western Armenia, where he seized the lands delivered to Tiridates in the peace of 287. Narseh moved south into Roman Mesopotamia in 297, where he inflicted a severe defeat on Galerius in the region between Carrhae (Harran, Turkey) and Callinicum (Ar-Raqqah, Syria) (and thus, the historianFergus Millar notes, probably somewhere on theBalikh River ). Diocletian may or may not have been present at the battle, but he quickly divested himself of all responsibility. In a public ceremony at Antioch, the official version of events was clear: Galerius was responsible for the defeat; Diocletian was not. Diocletian publicly humiliated Galerius, forcing him to walk for a mile at the head of the Imperial caravan, still clad in the purple robes of the Emperor. Galerius was reinforced, probably in the spring of 298, by a new contingent collected from the Empire's Danubian holdings. Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia, leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia. It is unclear if Diocletian was present to assist the campaign; he might have returned to Egypt or Syria. Narseh retreated to Armenia to fight Galerius' force, to Narseh's disadvantage; the rugged Armenian terrain was favorable to Roman infantry, but not to Sassanid cavalry. In two battles, Galerius won major victories over Narseh. During thesecond encounter , Roman forces seized Narseh's camp, his treasury, his harem, and his wife. Galerius continued moving down the Tigris, and took the Persian capital Ctesiphon before returning to Roman territory along the Euphrates. Peace negotiations Narseh sent an ambassador to Galerius to plead for the return of his wives and children in the course of the war, but Galerius had dismissed him. Serious peace negotiations began in the spring of 299. The magister memoriae (secretary) of Diocletian and Galerius, Sicorius Probus, was sent to Narseh to present terms. The conditions of the resultingPeace of Nisibis were heavy: Armenia returned to Roman domination, with the fort of Ziatha as its border;Caucasian Iberia would pay allegiance to Rome under a Roman appointee; Nisibis, now under Roman rule, would become the sole conduit for trade between Persia and Rome; and Rome would exercise control over the five satrapies between the Tigris and Armenia: Ingilene, Sophanene (Sophene), Arzanene (Aghdznik),Corduene (Carduene), and Zabdicene (near modernHakkâri , Turkey). These regions included the passage of the Tigris through theAnti-Taurus range; theBitlis pass, the quickest southerly route into Persian Armenia; and access to theTur Abdin plateau. A stretch of land containing the later strategic strongholds of Amida (Diyarbakır, Turkey) and Bezabde came under firm Roman military occupation. With these territories, Rome would have an advance station north of Ctesiphon, and would be able to slow any future advance of Persian forces through the region. Many cities east of the Tigris came under Roman control, includingTigranokert ,Saird ,Martyropolis ,Balalesa ,Moxos ,Daudia , and Arzan – though under what status is unclear. At the conclusion of the peace, Tiridates regained both his throne and the entirety of his ancestral claim. Rome secured a wide zone of cultural influence, which led to a wide diffusion ofSyriac Christianity from a center at Nisibis in later decades, and the eventual Christianization of Armenia. Religious persecutions Early persecutions At the conclusion of thePeace of Nisibis , Diocletian and Galerius returned to Syrian Antioch. At some time in 299, the Emperors took part in a ceremony of sacrifice anddivination in an attempt to predict the future. The haruspices were unable to read the entrails of the sacrificed animals and blamed Christians in the Imperial household. The Emperors ordered all members of the court to perform a sacrifice to purify the palace. The Emperors sent letters to the military command, demanding the entire army perform the required sacrifices or face discharge. Diocletian was conservative in matters of religion, a man faithful to the traditional Roman pantheon and understanding of demands for religious purification, butEusebius ,Lactantius andConstantine state that it was Galerius, not Diocletian, who was the prime supporter of the purge, and its greatest beneficiary. Galerius, even more devoted and passionate than Diocletian, saw political advantage in the politics of persecution. He was willing to break with a government policy of inaction on the issue. Antioch was Diocletian's primary residence from 299 to 302, while Galerius swapped places with his Augustus on the Middle and Lower Danube. He visited Egypt once, over the winter of 301–2, and issued a grain dole in Alexandria. Following some public disputes withManicheans , Diocletian ordered that the leading followers ofMani be burnt alive along with their scriptures. In a 31 March 302 rescript from Alexandria, he declared that low-status Manicheans must be executed by the blade, and high-status Manicheans must be sent to work in the quarries of Proconnesus (Marmara Island, Turkey) or the mines of Phaeno in southernPalestine . All Manichean property was to be seized and deposited in the imperial treasury. Diocletian found much to be offended by in Manichean religion: its novelty, its alien origins, the way it corrupted the morals of the Roman race, and its inherent opposition to long-standing religious traditions. Manichaeanism was also supported by Persia at the time, compounding religious dissent with international politics. Excepting Persian support, the reasons he disliked Manichaenism were equally applicable, if not more so, to Christianity, his next target. Great Persecution Diocletian returned to Antioch in the autumn of 302. He ordered that thedeacon Romanus of Caesarea have his tongue removed for defying the order of the courts and interrupting official sacrifices. Romanus was then sent to prison, where he was executed on 17 November 303. Diocletian believed that Romanus of Caesarea was arrogant, and he left the city for Nicomedia in the winter, accompanied by Galerius. According to Lactantius, Diocletian and Galerius entered into an argument over imperial policy towards Christians while wintering at Nicomedia in 302. Diocletian argued that forbidding Christians from the bureaucracy and military would be sufficient to appease the gods, but Galerius pushed for extermination. The two men sought the advice of the oracle ofApollo atDidyma . The oracle responded that the impious on Earth hindered Apollo's ability to provide advice. Rhetorically Eusebius records the Oracle as saying "The just on Earth..." These impious, Diocletian was informed by members of the court, could only refer to the Christians of the Empire. At the behest of his court, Diocletian acceded to demands for universal persecution. On 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly built church at Nicomedia be razed. He demanded that its scriptures be burned, and seized its precious stores for the treasury. The next day, Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published. The edict ordered the destruction of Christian scriptures and places of worship across the Empire, and prohibited Christians from assembling for worship. Before the end of February, a fire destroyed part of the Imperial palace. Galerius convinced Diocletian that the culprits were Christians, conspirators who had plotted with theeunuchs of the palace. An investigation was commissioned, but no responsible party was found. Executions followed anyway, and the palace eunuchs Dorotheus andGorgonius were executed. One individual,Peter Cubicularius , was stripped, raised high, and scourged. Salt and vinegar were poured in his wounds, and he wasslowly boiled over an open flame. The executions continued until at least 24 April 303, when six individuals, including the bishop Anthimus , weredecapitated . A second fire occurred sixteen days after the first. Galerius left the city for Rome, declaring Nicomedia unsafe. Diocletian would soon follow. Although further persecutionary edicts followed, compelling the arrest of the Christian clergy and universal acts of sacrifice, the persecutionary edicts were ultimately unsuccessful; most Christians escaped punishment, and pagans too were generally unsympathetic to the persecution. Themartyrs ' sufferings strengthened the resolve of their fellow Christians. Constantius and Maximian did not apply the later persecutionary edicts, and left the Christians of the West unharmed. Galerius rescinded the edict in 311, announcing that the persecution had failed to bring Christians back to traditional religion. The temporary apostasy of some Christians, and the surrendering of scriptures, during the persecution played a major role in the subsequentDonatist controversy. Within twenty-five years of the persecution's inauguration, the Christian Emperor Constantine would rule the empire alone. He would reverse the consequences of the edicts, and return all confiscated property to Christians. Under Constantine's rule, Christianity would become the Empire's preferred religion. Diocletian was demonized by his Christian successors: Lactantius intimated that Diocletian's ascendancy heralded the apocalypse, and inSerbian mythology , Diocletian is remembered asDukljan , theadversary ofGod. Later life Illness and abdication Diocletian entered the city of Rome in the early winter of 303. On 20 November, he celebrated, with Maximian, the twentieth anniversary of his reign (vicennalia), the tenth anniversary of the Tetrarchy (decennalia), and a triumph for the war with Persia. Diocletian soon grew impatient with the city, as the Romans acted towards him with whatEdward Gibbon , followingLactantius , calls "licentious familiarity". The Roman people did not give enough deference to his supreme authority; it expected him to act the part of an aristocratic ruler, not a monarchic one. On 20 December 303, Diocletian cut short his stay in Rome and left for the north. He did not even perform the ceremonies investing him with his ninth consulate; he did them in Ravenna on 1 January 304 instead. There are suggestions in the Panegyrici Latini and Lactantius' account that Diocletian arranged plans for his and Maximian's future retirement of power in Rome. Maximian, according to these accounts, swore to uphold Diocletian's plan in a ceremony in theTemple of Jupiter . From Ravenna, Diocletian left for the Danube. There, possibly in Galerius' company, he took part in a campaign against the Carpi. He contracted a minor illness while on campaign, but his condition quickly worsened and he chose to travel in alitter . In the late summer he left for Nicomedia. On 20 November, he appeared in public to dedicate the opening of the circus beside his palace. He collapsed soon after the ceremonies. Over the winter of 304–5 he kept within his palace at all times. Rumors alleging that Diocletian's death was merely being kept secret until Galerius could come to assume power spread through the city. On 13 December, he seemed to have finally died. The city was sent into a mourning from which it was only retrieved by public declarations of his survival. When Diocletian reappeared in public on 1 March 305, he was emaciated and barely recognizable. Galerius arrived in the city later in March. According to Lactantius, he came armed with plans to reconstitute the Tetrarchy, force Diocletian to step down, and fill the Imperial office with men compliant to his will. Through coercion and threats, he eventually convinced Diocletian to comply with his plan. Lactantius also claims that he had done the same to Maximian at Sirmium. On 1 May 305, Diocletian called an assembly of his generals, traditional companion troops, and representatives from distant legions. They met at the same hill, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) out of Nicomedia, where Diocletian had been proclaimed emperor. In front of a statue of Jupiter, his patron deity, Diocletian addressed the crowd. With tears in his eyes, he told them of his weakness, his need for rest, and his will to resign. He declared that he needed to pass the duty of Empire on to someone stronger. He thus became the first Roman Emperor to voluntarily abdicate his title. Most in the crowd believed they knew what would follow;Constantine and Maxentius, the only adult sons of a reigning Emperor, men who had long been preparing to succeed their fathers, would be granted the title of Caesar. Constantine had traveled through Palestine at the right hand of Diocletian, and was present at the palace in Nicomedia in 303 and 305. It is likely that Maxentius received the same treatment. In Lactantius' account, when Diocletian announced that he was to resign, the entire crowd turned to face Constantine. It was not to be:Severus andMaximin were declared Caesars. Maximin appeared and took Diocletian's robes. On the same day, Severus received his robes from Maximian in Milan. Constantius succeeded Maximian as Augustus of the West, but Constantine and Maxentius were entirely ignored in the transition of power. This did not bode well for the future security of the Tetrarchic system. Retirement and death Diocletian retired to his homeland,Dalmatia . He moved into the expansiveDiocletian's Palace , a heavily fortified compound located by the small town of Spalatum on the shores of theAdriatic Sea , and near the large provincial administrative center ofSalona . The palace is preserved in great part to this day and forms the historic core of the largest city of modernSplit ,Croatia . Maximian retired to villas inCampania orLucania . Their homes were distant from political life, but Diocletian and Maximian were close enough to remain in regular contact with each other. Galerius assumed the consular fasces in 308 with Diocletian as his colleague. In the autumn of 308, Galerius again conferred with Diocletian atCarnuntum (Petronell-Carnuntum,Austria ). Diocletian and Maximian were both present on 11 November 308, to see Galerius appointLicinius to be Augustus in place of Severus, who had died at the hands of Maxentius. He ordered Maximian, who had attempted to return to power after his retirement, to step down permanently. At Carnuntum people begged Diocletian to return to the throne, to resolve the conflicts that had arisen through Constantine's rise to power and Maxentius' usurpation. Diocletian's reply: "If you could show thecabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn't dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed." He lived on for three more years, spending his days in his palace gardens. He saw his Tetrarchic system fail, torn by the selfish ambitions of his successors. He heard of Maximian's third claim to the throne, his forced suicide, his damnatio memoriae . In his own palace, statues and portraits of his former companion emperor were torn down and destroyed. Deep in despair and illness, Diocletian may have committedsuicide . He died on 3 December 311. Reforms Tetrarchic and ideological Modern view of Diocletian's Palace near Salona (in Split , Croatia ) Diocletian saw his work as that of a restorer, a figure of authority whose duty it was to return the empire to peace, to recreate stability and justice where barbarian hordes had destroyed it. He arrogated, regimented and centralized political authority on a massive scale. In his policies, he enforced an Imperial system of values on diverse and often unreceptive provincial audiences. In the Imperial propaganda from the period, recent history was perverted and minimized in the service of the theme of the Tetrarchs as "restorers". Aurelian's achievements were ignored, the revolt of Carausius was backdated to the reign of Gallienus, and it was implied that the Tetrarchs engineered Aurelian's defeat of thePalmyrenes ; the period between Gallienus and Diocletian was effectively erased. The history of the empire before the Tetrarchy was portrayed as a time of civil war, savage despotism, and imperial collapse. In those inscriptions that bear their names, Diocletian and his companions are referred to as "restorers of the whole world", men who succeeded in "defeating the nations of the barbarians, and confirming the tranquility of their world". Diocletian was written up as the "founder of eternal peace". The theme of restoration was conjoined to an emphasis on the uniqueness and accomplishments of the Tetrarchs themselves. The cities where Emperors lived frequently in this period—Milan,Trier ,Arles , Sirmium,Serdica ,Thessaloniki , Nicomedia, andAntioch —were treated as alternate imperial seats, to the exclusion of Rome and its senatorial elite. A new style of ceremony was developed, emphasizing the distinction of the Emperor from all other persons. The quasi-republican ideals of Augustus' primus inter pares were abandoned for all but the Tetrarchs themselves. Diocletian took to wearing a gold crown and jewels, and forbade the use ofpurple cloth to all but the Emperors. His subjects were required to prostrate themselves in his presence (adoratio); the most fortunate were allowed the privilege of kissing the hem of his robe (proskynesis, προσκύνησις). Circuses and basilicas were designed to keep the face of the Emperor perpetually in view, and always in a seat of authority. The emperor became a figure of transcendent authority, a man beyond the grip of the masses. His every appearance was stage-managed. This style of presentation was not new—many of its elements were first seen in the reigns of Aurelian and Severus—but it was only under the Tetrarchs that it was refined into an explicit system. Administrative In keeping with his move from an ideology of republicanism to one of autocracy, Diocletian's council of advisers, his consilium, differed from those of earlier Emperors. He destroyed the Augustan illusion of imperial government as a cooperative affair between Emperor, Army, and Senate. In its place he established an effectively autocratic structure, a shift later epitomized in the institution's name: it would be called a consistorium ("consistory"), not a council. Diocletian regulated his court by distinguishing separate departments (scrina) for different tasks. From this structure came the offices of different magistri, like the Magister officiorum ("Master of offices"), and associated secretariats. These were men suited to dealing with petitions, requests, correspondence, legal affairs, and foreign embassies. Within his court Diocletian maintained a permanent body of legal advisers, men with significant influence on his re-ordering of juridical affairs. There were also two finance ministers, dealing with the separate bodies of the public treasury and the private domains of the Emperor, and the praetorian prefect, the most significant person of the whole. Diocletian's reduction of the Praetorian Guards to the level of a simple city garrison for Rome lessened the military powers of the prefect, but the office retained much civil authority. The prefect kept a staff of hundreds and managed affairs in all segments of government: in taxation, administration, jurisprudence, and minor military commands, the praetorian prefect was often second only to the emperor himself. Altogether, Diocletian effected a large increase in the number of bureaucrats at the government's command; Lactantius was to claim that there were now more men using tax money than there were paying it. The historian Warren Treadgold estimates that under Diocletian the number of men in thecivil service doubled from 15,000 to 30,000. The classicistRoger Bagnall estimated that there was one bureaucrat for every 5–10,000 people in Egypt based on 400 or 800 bureaucrats for 4 million inhabitants (no one knows the population of the province in 300 AD; Strabo 300 years earlier put it at 7.5 million, excluding Alexandria). (By comparison, the ratio intwelfth-century China was one bureaucrat for every 15,000 people.) Jones estimated 30,000 bureaucrats for an empire of 50–65 million inhabitants, which works out to approximately 1,667 or 2,167 inhabitants per imperial official as averages empire-wide. The actual numbers of officials and ratios per inhabitant varied, of course, per diocese depending on the number of provinces and population within a diocese. Provincial and diocesan paid officials (there were unpaid supernumeraries) numbered about 13–15,000 based on their staff establishments as set by law. The other 50% were with the emperor(s) in his or their Comitatus, with the praetorian prefects, with the grain supply officials in the capital (later, the capitals, Rome and Constantinople), Alexandria, and Carthage and officials from the central offices located in the provinces. To avoid the possibility of local usurpations, to facilitate a more efficient collection of taxes and supplies, and to ease the enforcement of the law, Diocletian doubled the number ofprovinces from fifty to almost one hundred. The provinces were grouped into twelvedioceses , each governed by an appointed official called a vicarius , or "deputy of the praetorian prefects". Some of the provincial divisions required revision, and were modified either soon after 293 or early in the fourth century. Rome herself (including her environs, as defined by a 100 miles (160 km)-radius perimeter around the City itself) was not under the authority of the praetorian prefect, as she was to be administered by a City Prefect of senatorial rank – the sole prestigious post with actual power reserved exclusively for senators, except for some governors in Italy with the titles of corrector and the proconsuls of Asia and Africa. The dissemination of imperial law to the provinces was facilitated under Diocletian's reign, because Diocletian's reform of the Empire's provincial structure meant that there were now a greater number of governors (praesides) ruling over smaller regions and smaller populations. Diocletian's reforms shifted the governors' main function to that of the presiding official in the lower courts: whereas in the early Empire military and judicial functions were the function of governor, andprocurators had supervised taxation; under the new system vicarii and governors were responsible for justice and taxation, and a new class of duces ("dukes"), acting independently of the civil service, had military command. These dukes sometimes administered two or three of the new provinces created by Diocletian, and had forces ranging from two thousand to more than twenty thousand men. In addition to their roles as judges and tax collectors, governors were expected to maintain the postal service (cursus publicus) and ensure that town councils fulfilled their duties. This curtailment of governors' powers as the Emperors' representatives may have lessened the political dangers of an all-too-powerful class of Imperial delegates, but it also severely limited governors' ability to oppose local landed elites. On one occasion, Diocletian had to exhort a proconsul of Africa not to fear the consequences of treading on the toes of the local magnates of senatorial rank. If a governor of senatorial rank himself felt these pressures, one can imagine the difficulties faced by a mere praeses. Legal As with most Emperors, much of Diocletian's daily routine rotated around legal affairs—responding to appeals and petitions, and delivering decisions on disputed matters. Rescripts, authoritative interpretations issued by the Emperor in response to demands from disputants in both public and private cases, were a common duty of second- and third-century Emperors. Diocletian was awash in paperwork, and was nearly incapable of delegating his duties. It would have been seen as a dereliction of duty to ignore them. Diocletian's praetorian prefects—Afranius Hannibalianus, Julius Asclepiodotus, andAurelius Hermogenianus —aided in regulating the flow and presentation of such paperwork, but the deep legalism of Roman culture kept the workload heavy. Emperors in the forty years preceding Diocletian's reign had not managed these duties so effectively, and their output in attested rescripts is low. Diocletian, by contrast, was prodigious in his affairs: there are around 1,200 rescripts in his name still surviving, and these probably represent only a small portion of the total issue. The sharp increase in the number of edicts and rescripts produced under Diocletian's rule has been read as evidence of an ongoing effort to realign the whole Empire on terms dictated by the imperial center. Under the governance of thejurists Gregorius, Aurelius Arcadius Charisius, and Hermogenianus, the imperial government began issuing official books ofprecedent , collecting and listing all the rescripts that had been issued from the reign ofHadrian (r. 117–38) to the reign of Diocletian. TheCodex Gregorianus includes rescripts up to 292, which theCodex Hermogenianus updated with a comprehensive collection of rescripts issued by Diocletian in 293 and 294. Although the very act of codification was a radical innovation, given the precedent-based design of the Roman legal system, the jurists were generally conservative, and constantly looked to past Roman practice and theory for guidance. They were probably given more free rein over their codes than the later compilers of the Codex Theodosianus (438) and Codex Justinianus (529) would have. Gregorius and Hermogenianus' codices lack the rigid structuring of later codes, and were not published in the name of the emperor, but in the names of their compilers. After Diocletian's reform of the provinces, governors were called iudex, or judge . The governor became responsible for his decisions first to his immediate superiors, as well as to the more distant office of the Emperor. It was most likely at this time that judicial records became verbatim accounts of what was said in trial, making it easier to determine bias or improper conduct on the part of the governor. With these records and the Empire's universal right ofappeal , Imperial authorities probably had a great deal of power to enforce behavior standards for their judges. In spite of Diocletian's attempts at reform, the provincial restructuring was far from clear, especially when citizens appealed the decisions of their governors. Proconsuls, for example, were often both judges of first instance and appeal, and the governors of some provinces took appellant cases from their neighbors. It soon became impossible to avoid taking some cases to the Emperor for arbitration and judgment. Diocletian's reign marks the end of the classical period of Roman law. Where Diocletian's system of rescripts shows an adherence to classical tradition, Constantine's law is full of Greek and eastern influences. Military It is archaeologically difficult to distinguish Diocletian's fortifications from those of his successors and predecessors. The Devil's Dyke, for example, the Danubian earthworks traditionally attributed to Diocletian, cannot even be securely dated to a particular century. The most that can be said about built structures under Diocletian's reign is that he rebuilt and strengthened forts at the Upper Rhine frontier (where he followed the works made underProbus 's reign, both along theLake Constance -Basel as well as along the Rhine–Iller–Danube line), in Egypt, and on the frontier with Persia. Beyond that, much discussion is speculative, and reliant on the broad generalizations of written sources. Diocletian and the Tetrarchs had no consistent plan for frontier advancement, and records of raids and forts built across the frontier are likely to indicate only temporary claims. The Strata Diocletiana , which ran from the Euphrates to Palmyra and northeast Arabia, is the classic Diocletianic frontier system, consisting of an outer road followed by tightly spaced forts followed by further fortifications in the rear. In an attempt to resolve the difficulty and slowness of transmitting orders to the frontier, the new capitals of the Tetrarchic era were all much closer to the Empire's frontiers than Rome had been: Trier sat on the Rhine, Sirmium and Serdica were close to the Danube, Thessaloniki was on the route leading eastward, and Nicomedia and Antioch were important points in dealings with Persia. Lactantius criticized Diocletian for an excessive increase in troop sizes, declaring that "each of the four [Tetrarchs] strove to have a far larger number of troops than previous emperors had when they were governing the state alone". The fifth-century paganZosimus , by contrast, praised Diocletian for keeping troops on the borders, rather than keeping them in the cities, as Constantine was held to have done. Both these views had some truth to them, despite the biases of their authors: Diocletian and the Tetrarchs did greatly expand the army, and the growth was mostly in frontier regions, although it is difficult to establish the precise details of these shifts given the weakness of the sources. The army expanded to about 580,000 men from a 285 strength of 390,000, of which 310,000 men were stationed in the East, most of whom manned the Persian frontier. The navy's forces increased from approximately 45,000 men to approximately 65,000 men. Diocletian's expansion of the army and civil service meant that the Empire's tax burden grew. Since military upkeep took the largest portion of the imperial budget, any reforms here would be especially costly. The proportion of the adult male population, excluding slaves, serving in the army increased from roughly 1 in 25 to 1 in 15, an increase judged excessive by some modern commentators. Official troop allowances were kept to low levels, and the mass of troops often resorted to extortion or the taking of civilian jobs. Arrears became the norm for most troops. Many were even given payment in kind in place of their salaries. Were he unable to pay for his enlarged army, there would likely be civil conflict, potentially open revolt. Diocletian was led to devise a new system of taxation. Economic Taxation In the early Empire (30 BC- AD 235) the Roman government paid for what it needed in gold and silver. The coinage was stable. Requisition, forced purchase, was used to supply armies on the march. During the third century crisis (235–285), the government resorted to requisition rather than payment in debased coinage, since it could never be sure of the value of money. Requisition was nothing more or less than seizure. Diocletian made requisition into tax. He introduced an extensive new tax system based on heads (capita) and land (iuga) and tied to a new, regular census of the Empire's population and wealth. Census officials traveled throughout the Empire, assessed the value of labor and land for each landowner, and joined the landowners' totals together to make city-wide totals of capita and iuga. The iugum was not a consistent measure of land, but varied according to the type of land and crop, and the amount of labor necessary for sustenance. The caput was not consistent either: women, for instance, were often valued at half a caput, and sometimes at other values. Cities provided animals, money, and manpower in proportion to its capita, and grain in proportion to its iuga. Most taxes were due on each year on 1 September, and levied from individual landowners by decuriones (decurions). These decurions, analogous to city councilors, were responsible for paying from their own pocket what they failed to collect. Diocletian's reforms also increased the number of financial officials in the provinces: more rationales and magistri privatae are attested under Diocletian's reign than before. These officials managed represented the interests of the fisc, which collected taxes in gold, and the Imperial properties. Fluctuations in the value of the currency made collection of taxes in kind the norm, although these could be converted into coin. Rates shifted to take inflation into account. In 296, Diocletian issued an edict reforming census procedures. This edict introduced a general five-year census for the whole Empire, replacing prior censuses that had operated at different speeds throughout the Empire. The new censuses would keep up with changes in the values of capita and iuga. Italy, which had long been exempt from taxes, was included in the tax system from 290/291 as other provinces. The city of Rome itself and the surroundingSuburbicarian diocese (where Roman senators held the bulk of their landed property), however, remained exempt. Diocletian's edicts emphasized the common liability of all taxpayers. Public records of all taxes were made public. The position of decurion, member of the city council, had been an honor sought by wealthy aristocrats and the middle classes who displayed their wealth by paying for city amenities and public works. Decurions were made liable for any shortfall in the amount of tax collected. Many tried to find ways to escape the obligation. Currency and inflation Aurelian's attempt to reform the currency had failed; the denarius was dead. Diocletian restored the three-metal coinage and issued better quality pieces. The new system consisted of five coins: the aureus/solidus, a gold coin weighing, like its predecessors, one-sixtieth of a pound; the argenteus , a coin weighing one ninety-sixth of a pound and containing ninety-five percent pure silver; the follis , sometimes referred to as the laureatus A, which is a copper coin with added silver struck at the rate of thirty-two to the pound; the radiatus, a small copper coin struck at the rate of 108 to the pound, with no added silver; and a coin known today as the laureatus B, a smaller copper coin struck at the rate of 192 to the pound. Since the nominal values of these new issues were lower than their intrinsic worth as metals, the state was minting these coins at a loss. This practice could be sustained only by requisitioning precious metals from private citizens in exchange for state-minted coin (of a far lower value than the price of the precious metals requisitioned). By 301, however, the system was in trouble, strained by a new bout of inflation. Diocletian therefore issued his Edict on Coinage, an act re-tariffing all debts so that the nummus , the most common coin in circulation, would be worth half as much. In the edict, preserved in an inscription from the city ofAphrodisias inCaria (nearGeyre , Turkey), it was declared that all debts contracted before 1 September 301 must be repaid at the old standards, while all debts contracted after that date would be repaid at the new standards. It appears that the edict was made in an attempt to preserve the current price of gold and to keep the Empire's coinage on silver, Rome's traditional metal currency. This edict risked giving further momentum to inflationary trends, as had happened after Aurelian's currency reforms. The government's response was to issue a price freeze. The Edict on Maximum Prices (Edictum De Pretiis Rerum Venalium) was issued two to three months after the coinage edict, somewhere between 20 November and 10 December 301. The best-preserved Latin inscription surviving from theGreek East ,[ the edict survives in many versions, on materials as varied as wood, papyrus, and stone. In the edict, Diocletian declared that the current pricing crisis resulted from the unchecked greed of merchants, and had resulted in turmoil for the mass of common citizens. The language of the edict calls on the people's memory of their benevolent leaders, and exhorts them to enforce the provisions of the edict, and thereby restore perfection to the world. The edict goes on to list in detail over one thousand goods and accompanying retail prices not to be exceeded. Penalties are laid out for various pricing transgressions. In the most basic terms, the edict was ignorant of the law ofsupply and demand : it ignored the fact that prices might vary from region to region according to product availability, and it ignored the impact of transportation costs in the retail price of goods. In the judgment of the historian David Potter, the edict was "an act of economic lunacy". Inflation, speculation, and monetary instability continued, and a black market arose to trade in goods forced out of official markets. The edict's penalties were applied unevenly across the empire (some scholars believe they were applied only in Diocletian's domains), widely resisted, and eventually dropped, perhaps within a year of the edict's issue. Lactantius has written of the perverse accompaniments to the edict; of goods withdrawn from the market, of brawls over minute variations in price, of the deaths that came when its provisions were enforced. His account may be true, but it seems to modern historians exaggerated and hyperbolic, and the impact of the law is recorded in no other ancient source. Legacy The historianA.H.M. Jones observed that "It is perhaps Diocletian's greatest achievement that he reigned twenty-one years and then abdicated voluntarily, and spent the remaining years of his life in peaceful retirement." Diocletian was one of the few Emperors of the third and fourth centuries to die naturally, and the first in the history of the Empire to retire voluntarily. Once he retired, however, his Tetrarchic system collapsed. Without the guiding hand of Diocletian, the Empire fell into civil wars. Stability emerged after the defeat of Licinius by Constantine in 324. Under the Christian Constantine, Diocletian was maligned. Constantine's rule, however, validated Diocletian's achievements and the autocratic principle he represented: the borders remained secure, in spite of Constantine's large expenditure of forces during his civil wars; the bureaucratic transformation of Roman government was completed; and Constantine took Diocletian's court ceremonies and made them even more extravagant. Constantine ignored those parts of Diocletian's rule that did not suit him. Diocletian's policy of preserving a stable silver coinage was abandoned, and the gold solidus became the Empire's primary currency instead. Diocletian'spersecution of Christians was repudiated and changed to a policy of toleration and then favoritism. Christianity eventually became the official religion in 381. Constantine would claim to have the same close relationship with the Christian God as Diocletian claimed to have with Jupiter. Most importantly, Diocletian's tax system and administrative reforms lasted, with some modifications, until the advent of the Muslims in the 630s. The combination of state autocracy and state religion was instilled in much of Europe, particularly in the lands which adopted Orthodox Christianity. In addition to his administrative and legal impact on history, the Emperor Diocletian is considered to be the founder of the city ofSplit in modern-dayCroatia . The city itself grew around the heavily fortifiedDiocletian's Palace the Emperor had built in anticipation of his retirement. Maximian (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius Augustus; c. 250 – c. July 310) was Roman Emperor from 286 to 305. He was Caesar from 285 to 286, then Augustus from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn. Maximian established his residence at Trier but spent most of his time on campaign. In late 285, he suppressed rebels in Gaul known as the Bagaudae. From 285 to 288, he fought against Germanic tribes along the Rhine frontier. Together with Diocletian, he launched a scorched earth campaign deep into Alamannic territory in 288, temporarily relieving the Rhine provinces from the threat of Germanic invasion. The man he appointed to police the Channel shores, Carausius, rebelled in 286, causing the secession of Britain and northwestern Gaul. Maximian failed to oust Carausius, and his invasion fleet was destroyed by storms in 289 or 290. Maximian's subordinate, Constantius, campaigned against Carausius' successor, Allectus, while Maximian held the Rhine frontier. The rebel leader was ousted in 296, and Maximian moved south to combat piracy near Hispania and Berber incursions in Mauretania. When these campaigns concluded in 298, he departed for Italy, where he lived in comfort until 305. At Diocletian's behest, Maximian abdicated on May 1, 305, gave the Augustan office to Constantius, and retired to southern Italy. In late 306, Maximian took the title of Augustus again and aided his son Maxentius' rebellion in Italy. In April 307, he attempted to depose his son, but failed and fled to the court of Constantius' successor, Constantine (Maximian's step-grandson and son-in-law), in Trier. At the Council of Carnuntum in November 308, Diocletian and his successor, Galerius, forced Maximian to renounce his imperial claim again. In early 310, Maximian attempted to seize Constantine's title while the emperor was on campaign on the Rhine. Few supported him, and he was captured by Constantine in Marseille. Maximian killed himself in mid-310 on Constantine's orders. During Constantine's war with Maxentius, Maximian's image was purged from all public places. However, after Constantine ousted and killed Maxentius, Maximian's image was rehabilitated, and he was deified. In theancient Greek religion , Zeus zews zooss ;Ancient Greek : Ζεύς;Modern Greek : Δίας, Dias) was the "Father of Gods and men" (πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε) who ruled the Olympians ofMount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was thegod of sky andthunder inGreek mythology . HisRoman counterpart isJupiter andEtruscan counterpart isTinia . Zeus was the child ofCronus andRhea , and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was married to Hera, although, at the oracle ofDodona , his consort wasDione : according to the Iliad , he is the father ofAphrodite by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, includingAthena ,Apollo andArtemis ,Hermes ,Persephone (byDemeter ),Dionysus ,Perseus ,Heracles ,Helen of Troy ,Minos , and the Muses (byMnemosyne ); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares ,Hebe andHephaestus . AsWalter Burkert points out in his book, Greek Religion, "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence." For the Greeks, he was theKing of the Gods , who oversaw the universe. AsPausanias observed, "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men". In Hesiod's Theogony Zeus assigns the various gods their roles. In the Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods. His symbols are thethunderbolt ,eagle ,bull , and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of theAncient Near East , such as thescepter . Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty. InRoman mythology , Jupiter or Jove was theking of the gods , and the god ofsky andthunder . He isthe equivalent of Zeus in theGreek pantheon . He was called Iuppiter (or Diespiter) Optimus Maximus ("Father God the Best and Greatest"). As the patron deity ofancient Rome , he ruled over laws and social order. He was the chief god of theCapitoline Triad , with sister/wifeJuno . Jupiter is also the father of the godMars with Juno. Therefore, Jupiter is the grandfather ofRomulus and Remus , the legendary founders of Rome. Jupiter was venerated inancient Roman religion , and is still venerated inRoman Neopaganism . He is a son ofSaturn , along with brothersNeptune andPluto . He is also the brother/husband ofCeres (daughter of Saturn and mother ofProserpina ), brother of Veritas (daughter of Saturn), and father ofMercury . Please make your payments on time. Payment methods for USA buyers:< PAYPAL Payment methods for International buyers - including Canada: PAYPAL contact us for more info. Payments must be received within 7 days from the end of auction (14 days for international). 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Denomination: Antoninianus

Historical Period: Roman: Imperial (27 BC-476 AD)

Composition: Bronze

Year: 305 AD

Era: Ancient

Ruler: Probus

Date: 270AD