Diocletian

Srishti Kapur 4.11.12   Word Count: 482 Diocletian Diocletian was a Roman emperor in the late 200s to the early 300s; when he was growing up, the Third Century Crisis was going on and it seemed that the Roman Empire was at the brink of collapse. The emperors directly before Diocletian ruled for very short periods of time, while trying to piece together an empire that was falling apart. I see a great leader as smart, problem solving, and focused on making things better for his or her people. Diocletian fits these criteria because he solves the problems made earlier, he not only cleans up these messes but strengthens the empire as well, and he believed that it was his personal duty to return the empire to peace and to recreate stability and justice.1

Diocletian made great advancements in his reign, because of his many strengths. He ended the Third Century Crisis and he saved the empire from collapsing in numerous other ways—in fact he elongated life span of the empire for basically another century. He stabilized the army, which at that point had too much power and was practically controlling the empire through the weak emperors they put in power. He took care of the threatening outside forces such as the Sasnid Empire. The Sasnid Empire had been feuding with the Romans for a very long time, and he—with his junior co-emperor Galerius—finally established a lasting and favorable peace with them. He reorganized the empire’s provinces, forming the largest and most bureaucratic government in the history of the Empire—a very big success.2 He also ensured a steady supply of workers in every field by making every job hereditary. He was a humble man who came from slave parents3, and he did not use his power to solely to gain glory and wealth, like most of the other emperors of that time. 4

Even though Diocletian was such a great man who did many great things, he, like everyone else, did also have some weaknesses and failures. By the time that Diocletian came to power, the coinage basically had the same value as dirt. So, as an attempt to raise the value of coinage, he pumped more gold and silver into the system, but there simply was not enough of the metals to make a difference. But, despite this failure, he made up a system of taxes and payment to soldiers through kind instead of coinage.5 Also, during his rule he set up a tetrarchic system (rule of four) that was effective while he was in power, but quickly fell apart after he left the throne. He formed the largest anti-Christian movement of the empire titled “Diocletiantic Persecution” which actually did not work.

In conclusion, I find Diocletian to be a great leader who saved the Roman Empire, which was just barely making it by until he came to power, where he fixed and strengthened it.


 * 1) // Wikipedia //, s.v. “Diocletian,” @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian (accessed April 10, 2012).
 * 2) // Wikipedia //, s.v. “Diocletian,” @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian (accessed April 10, 2012).
 * 3) “Diocletian,” Website name, @http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05007b.htm (accessed).
 * 4) // Wikipedia //, s.v. “Diocletian,” @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian (accessed April 10, 2012).
 * 5) “De Emperatoribus Romanis,” An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors, @http://www.roman-emperors.org/dioclet.htm (accessed April 10, 2012).

Bibliography: // Wikipedia //, s.v. “Diocletian,” @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian (accessed April 10, 2012). “Diocletian,” Website name, @http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05007b.htm (accessed). // Wikipedia //, s.v. “Diocletian,” @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian (accessed April 10, 2012). “De Emperatoribus Romanis,” An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors, @http://www.roman-emperors.org/dioclet.htm (accessed April 10, 2012).