It worked for a short while until Constantine the Great united the empire once again under his leadership. Thus were all the great traditions of Greek and Roman culture swept aside in favour of Eastern absolutism. The following year, Diocletian promoted Maximian to be his equal, so both men held the title of Augustus and ruled the split Roman Empire side-by-side. At the first excuse he made war on Licinius and defeated his rival outright. Where did outside … Where the system might have gone wrong was that the other three men might have posed a serious threat to Diocletian’s total power. Having fought for so many years to achieve his ambition of one-man rule. Diocletian had built what has been described as, if not a new house for the empire, at least an emergency shelter. Whichever was the case, Constantine issued at Nicomedia in 313 an edict proclaiming full toleration for all religions. Tetrarchy refers to the establishment by the Roman Emperor Diocletian of a 4-part division of the empire. In 293 each of them was given a Caesar as a right-hand man, Galerius in the east and in the west Constantius Chlorus, who ran Gaul and Britain and was the father of the future Constantine the Great. Taxes went up, people prospered and Christians were persecuted as a subversive foreign sect. The Empire would be split into 4 parts (picture below) There would be 4 emperors- 2 Augustus and 2 Caesars. To maintain control and stability. Constantine’s vision before battle with Maxentius at the Gates of Rome, by. If you look at a map of Europe you can now see how Rome had a man capable of making all important decisions in four stategically important areas which enabled him to travel rapidly to any trouble spot in his territory. Submit your answer. The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. © Copyright 2021 History Today Ltd. Company no. He said an emotional farewell to his soldiers and formally divested himself of his imperial purple cloak in an abdication ceremony at Nicomedia and Maximian reluctantly resigned the same day in Milan. Diocletian split … . Licinius then agreed to renounce his traditional right to name his successor, thus leaving the twin empires to Constantine and his descendants. Because there was only one top job: the emperor. Gravity Why did Diocletian divide the Roman Empire? It was far too large to be ruled by just one person, so one of the first actions taken by the new emperor was to split the empire into two parts. Then he began to call it New Rome. Galerius, who succeeded Diocletian as augustus in 305, continued the persecution until 311. Diocletian chose the city of Nicomedia (modern day's Izmit, Turkey) to be the capital of his Eastern Roman Empire, whereas Maximian picked Milan to be the capital of his Western Roman Empire. He routed the army of Maxentius who, with many of his soldiers, was drowned in the River Tiber. It was made by a man who was not even a Roman, a man who, in that pedigree-conscious empire, had origins which were veiled in obscurity. The following year, Diocletian promoted Maximian to be his equal, so both men held the title of Augustus and ruled the split Roman Empire side-by-side. One day he thought he had the answer – he would change the capital to a place which was the centre of the eastern trade and beyond the reach of barbarians. The Huns. All his youth had been spent reading Homer and Plato, a task far removed from stemming the barbarian hordes who were massing on the Empire’s Western boundaries ready for a great assault. 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