Diocletian's reforms
The empire is split for administration and the emperor becomes a remote sacred figure.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 21 years
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
From 284 CE Diocletian divides the empire between four rulers, doubles the number of provinces, separates civil and military commands, attempts to fix prices by edict, and replaces the fiction of the first citizen with open autocracy and elaborate court ceremonial. He also launches the last and most severe persecution of Christians. He then does something no Roman emperor had done: he abdicates, and retires to grow cabbages in Split.