Roman Empire Diocletian 284-308AD Bronze

A spellbinding chronicle of the decline and collapse of one of the Ancient world’s great superpowers, we are delighted to present to you the ‘Diocletian 284-305AD Bronze Coin’.

Of humble origin, Diocletian was born in Dalmatia in the Balkans around 244AD – during what would become known as the Crisis of the 3rd Century. Diocletian set upon a military career, and proved himself an able soldier. He rose through the ranks, and, after being a commander on the River Danube, he was part of Emperor Carus’ imperial bodyguard during the campaign against Persia in 283AD.

Carus died during that campaign, and his sons Numerian and Carinus were declared co-rulers in his place. Following Numerian’s assassination, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor by the troops. Numerian’s brother Carinus was killed soon after at the Battle of Margus, leaving Diocletian as sole ruler.

Well over twenty emperors ruled Rome in the 50 years before Diocletian’s accession. Diocletian knew that the fate of the Roman Empire – and, indeed, his own fate – lay in radical reform. This led him to make what turned out to be the key reform in saving the empire from collapse – the division of rule between multiple emperors.

Diocletian understood that the empire was too big for one man to rule. Raids from Barbaric tribes in the north, invasions from Persia in the east, the potential of the old Gallic Empire once again asserting independence – and the hazard of internal usurpers – there were too many threats for a single ruler to deal with. Diocletian’s first step was to appoint his loyal general Maximian to rule the western half of the empire, whilst he took the east.

The decision to split the empire proved successful. Between 285AD and 290AD, Diocletian was free to take on barbarians on the Danube and the Persians in the east, whilst Maximian dealt with tribes in Gaul and barbarians on the Rhine. Although the experiment was not a complete success – the rebel Carausius seized control of Britain, proclaiming himself emperor – Diocletian was right in believing that the division of imperial responsibility was essential.

In 293AD, Diocletian took the system to a new level, when Constantius and Galerius were appointed as ‘junior’ emperors in the west and east respectively. Meaning ‘rule of four’, the ‘Tetrarchy’ was instrumental in maintaining the integrity of the empire. Between Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius and Constantius, the breakaway empire in Britain was brought to heel, the barbarian threat was negated and the Persians defeated. Although the Tetrarchy would last only a few decades, before Constantine the Great became sole master of the Roman world, it was crucial in delivering stability to the empire at a point of great vulnerability.

Remembered for a raft of domestic reforms, including taxation, currency and provincial governance, the reign of Diocletian is also notable for the Great Persecution – the Empire’s last, largest and bloodiest campaign against the Christians. Inspired by Galerius, Diocletian’s increasingly vicious attacks against the Christians were ineffective. Indeed, it probably only served to stiffen the resolve of the adherents to the burgeoning sect, and by 324AD, Constantine the Great had enshrined Christianity as the preferred religion of the empire.

Although Diocletian, like Galerius, was savaged by Christian historians, his achievements were too great for his reputation to be blackened entirely by his conduct during the Great Persecution. From a point of near total collapse, the Roman Empire had been revived by Diocletian, who, somewhat astonishingly in the context of Ancient Roman history, willingly stepped aside as Roman Emperor in 305AD and lived out his days as a private citizen.