Today in History: Diocletian

On this day (November 20) in 284 Diocletian was chosen by his legionnaires to become Roman emperor. He transformed the empire, stopping its long collapse, restoring stability, and instituting many needed reforms. Perhaps the most important of these reforms was his understanding that generals kept overthrowing the emperors because they were needed to defend the borders and their troops became too loyal to them. So Diocletian elevated a second man to the imperial office and two junior emperors so that his generals would already have skin in the imperial game. It was a strange idea, but it worked during his lifetime.

Diocletian’s most infamous action was the final substantial persecution of Christians within the empire. Romans, like all ancient and even some modern peoples, believed that success came to a people and victory was awarded them in battles because the gods were happy with them. The unwillingness of Christians to recognize the Roman gods was viewed by many traditionalists as a national security issue. They responded by persecuting the Christians, first with fines, then with imprisonment and finally with death.