"margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diocletian
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· Established the autocratic rule by emperors which characterised
the Later Empire.
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· Established the tetrarchy (rule by four). In 285 He appointed his
fellow general Maximian as co-emperor. Diocletian was in charge of
the East and Maximian was in charge of the West. In 393 the two men
became senior emperors (Augusti) with the appointment of two junior
emperors (Caesars): Constantius Chlorus and Galerius
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· Subdivided the empire into four major administrative units
(praetorian prefectures) under the charge of one of the four
emperors: Galliae (Gaul, Britain and Hispania) headed by
Constantius Chlorus, Italia et Africa (Italy and north-eastern
Africa) headed by Maximian, Illyricum (the Balkan Peninsula except
for Thrace (in eastern Bulgaria) and Oriens (East, Thrace, the
Roman territories in Asia, Egypt and eastern Libya) headed by
Diocletian.
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· Created four new imperial capitals: Nicomedia (in north-western
Turkey), Milan (in northern Italy), Sirmium (in Serbia) and Augusta
Trevorum (Triers in south-western Germany).
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· Doubled the number of provinces of the empire to over 100 to
weaken the power of the provincial governors.
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· Grouped the provinces into 12 dioceses headed by a vicarius, an
official who was the deputy of the praetorian prefect, the highest
official at Diocletian's court. This gave the emperor a more direct
and tighter control over the empire,
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· Reduced the role of the governors to mainly acting as judges in
the lower courts.
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· Tax collection was conducted by both the vicarius and the
governor (previously only the governor did this).
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· Separated civil and military power (both had previously been held
by the governors) by creating duces, who were independent of the
civil service and the military commanders in two or three of the
new provinces.
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· Doubled the size of the imperial bureaucracy was doubled.
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· Reformed the coin system. The new coins were the aureus/solidus
(gold), argenteus (silver), follis (coper with some added silver)
and radiatus (copper). These coins were of higher quality than
previous ones. The reform was an attempt to stem runaway
inflation.
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· When the monetary reform failed to stem inflation, Diocletian
issued the Edict of Maximum Prices, but it proved
unenforceable.
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"margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Constantine I
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· Ended Diocletian's tetrarchy when he became sole emperor.
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· Continued the autocratic style of rule of Diocletian
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· Retained the administrative reforms of Diocletian: the doubled
number the provinces, the dioceses, the vicarii (plural of
vicarious), the doubled size of the bureaucracy, and the separation
between civil and military power.
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· Revived the status and administrative role of the senatorial rank
reversing a pro- equestrian (cavalryman) rank trend in which the
equestrians had come to monopolise the senior offices of state. He
opened up administrative posts to senatorial men and made existing
equestrian office holders senators.
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Thus, the senatorial rank became part of the imperial hierarchy.
Senator were now also allowed to elect two types of officials: the
praetors and the quaestors.
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· Created a new imperial capital, redeveloping the city of
Byzantium and renaming it Constantinople (City of Constantine).
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· Completed the termination of the Great Persecution of the
Christians which had been unleashed by Diocletian with the Edict of
Milan in 313. It reiterated the toleration of the Christians which
had been decreed by the Edict of Toleration by the emperor Galerius
of 311. Constantine was also the first emperor who sponsored
Christianity and introduced laws which favoured the Christians.
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· Dealt with runaway inflation by concentrating of the large-scale
issue of a gold coin, the solidus, and temporality did not issue
new silver coins, which he started to mint late during his reign.
He managed to do so by confiscating the treasuries and statues of
pagan temples to smelt gold and make coins. The confiscations were
also used to finance the development of the new imperial
capital.
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"margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Uncertain
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· A new gold coin was issued, the solidus. It is unclear whether it
was Diocletian or Constantine who introduced this coin.
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· In 4th century, the Roman military was divided into frontier
armies under the command of duces and permanent field armies under
the command of the emperor, or other military officers. The
frontier armies patrolled the borders and dealt with small-scale
raids. The field armies dealt with larger-scale raids and conducted
large-scale attacks across the frontiers; they were later called
ripenses or limitanei. It is not entirely clear who introduced
these reforms and modern historians disagree as to whether it was
Diocletian or Constantine.
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"margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Both
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"margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Besides the autocratic
style of rule and the administrative reforms, both Diocletian and
Constantine:
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· Made the curiales, wealthy local elite people who acted as city
councillors and who collected local taxes, pay for shortfalls in
tax collection out of their own pockets. Since they many curiales
to evade their duties, they were tied to their posts by making them
hereditary. If they fled their cities, they were arrested and
returned to their positions.
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· Promulgated decrees which made people's professions
hereditary.
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· Many coloni (free tenant farmers) fled to the latifundia (large
landed estates) and became tenants of the large landowners who paid
a rent in the form of sharecropping to escape heavy tax collection.
Both Diocletian and Constantine issued decrees which tied them to
their landlords, reducing them to serf-like status. In exchange the
landlords undertook tax collection on their estates. Constantine
issued a degree by which captured escaping coloni could be kept in
chains as if they were slaves. Several subsequent emperors issued
this type of edicts. Many coloni became bagaudae, bandits
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"margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Although temporarily
successful, in long run such authoritarian policies stifled the
very vitality the Late Empire needed to revive its sagging
fortunes.
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