Reforms of Diocletian - 1268 Words

Discuss the reforms of Diocletian. What were they, why did he think they were necessary, what impact long and short range. Be sure to include comments regarding dominate, tetrarchy (not year of 4 emperors), edict of Prices (Bailkey Lim) and Xp (Christians). Diocletian affects greatly the modern world. End of antiquity was around 9th century. Diocletian brought an end to the period popularly known to historians as the Crisis of the Third Century (235–284). He established an autocratic government and was responsible for laying the groundwork for the second phase of the Roman Empire, which is known variously as the Dominate (as opposed to the Principate instituted by Augustus), the Tetrarchy, or simply the Later Roman Empire.†¦show more content†¦Considering that during the half-century preceding Diocletian s ascension the empire had been in a nearly constant state of civil war, it is remarkable that the Tetrarchy did not immediately fall apart due to the greed of any of the four emperors. In 305, Diocletian retired and Maximian was persuaded to do the same. The two Caesars became the senior emperors as designed, but when it came time to choose new Caesars, the military and Senate intervened and brought forward their own candidates. In 306, Constantine started a civil war in the west, which he won in 312. He took the eastern half from Licinius by 324 and ruled the entire empire until his death in 337. Power was fractured again under Constantine s sons. Though the throne was nominally unified under, among others, Julian, Valentinian I, and Theodosius I, by 395 the division between the eastern and western halves was permanent. Economic reforms When Diocletian ascended to the throne, the Roman economy was on the verge of dissolution Five decades of civil war. The quickest and easiest solution to this problem was to debase the silver coinage, to print more money, as it were.[7] This resulted in extreme hyperinflation, mass distrust of imperial coinage, and, in some areas, localized regression to a barter economy Further, in 301, Diocletian attempted to curb the rampant inflation with his Edict on Maximum Prices. This edict fixed prices for over a thousand goods, fixed wages, andShow MoreRelatedThe World Of Antiquity, The Roman Empire Essay1678 Words   |  7 Pagesroman emperors come and go-from war, disease, famine, natural causes. At this point, the roman empire is going to collapse. 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In fact, Severus nearly ruined the value of Roman coinage completely. Diocletian attempted to fix this inflation during his reign, reforming the tax system and tried to even out prices and wages. For the time, he manages to stabilize the Roman currency, however it was clear that the Roman Empire was on the downward spiral in