This is the History of the World Podcast with me Chris Hasler

And you're listening to volume three, the classical world

episode 48

The Reign of Constantine. So, Last week we introduced the Tetraim, a new system of governing the Roman Empire

that would ensure that there was a much more localized imperial leadership.

The man responsible for localized imperial leadership.

The man responsible for the system was the Roman emperor called Diacletian.

Diacletian would split the Roman Empire into two halves.

He would ask his junior emperor, a man called Maximian, to rule over the Western lands, with his own junior emperor ruling over Gaul and Britannia, whose

name was Constantius Clorus.

Diocletian would concentrate on the lands of the east and he would also have a

junior emperor responsible for the European lands south of the Danube including Greece and his name was Galerius.

This period around the turn of the fourth century was not without rebellions, but it was

comparatively stable when we consider the chaos of the third century as described in the last episode.

Diocletian and Maximian would complete a 20 year term as co-emperors with both Constantius and Galerius

still as their Caesars. The year was three-o-fiveian should retire and their seizures be promoted to be the Augusti or the emperors.

The retirement of an emperor was unprecedented.

Emperor Tiberius had attempted to do it over 250 years earlier, but it was nothing official

and more of a sneak off into the comfort of obscurity whilst Sianus was happy to rule in his absence.

Diocletian's approach to being in charge of the Roman Empire

had similar echoes to the time of Marcus Aurelius

almost 150 years earlier. If you recall in episode 45, we told the story of how

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