This article is about the tetrarchy created by Diocletian. For the tetrarchy formed from the kingdom of Herod, see Herodian Tetrarchy. For other uses, see Tetrarch (disambiguation).
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Roman imperial dynasties
The Tetrarchy
Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs, two porphyry sculptures looted from the Philadelphion of Constantinople after 1204, now standing at the southwest corner of St Mark's Basilica, Venice
Chronology
Diocletian as Augustus
284–286
— with Maximian as Caesar
285–286
Maximian & Diocletian as Augusti of the West and East
286–305
— with Constantius I & Galerius as Caesares
293–305
Constantius I & Galerius as Augusti of West and East
305–306
— with Severus II & Maximinus II as Caesares
Severus II and Galerius as Augusti of West and East
306–307
— with Maximinus II and Constantine I as Caesares
Maxentius & Maximian as usurpers in Italy and Africa
306–308
Galerius as Augustus
307–308
— with Maximinus II as Caesar
— with Constantine I as self-proclaimed Augustus
Licinius & Galerius as Augusti of West and East
308–311
— with Maximinus II and Constantine I as Caesares
Maxentius as usurper in Rome (and Asia Minor 311–312)
308–312
Licinius I & Maximinus II as Augusti of West and East
311–313
— with Constantine I as self-proclaimed Augustus
Constantine I & Licinius I as Augusti of West and East
313–324
— with Licinius II, Constantine II & Crispus as Caesares
— with Valerius Valens as Augustus of the West
316–317
— with Martinian as Augustus of the West
324
Succession
Preceded by Crisis of the Third Century
Followed by Constantinian dynasty
Politics of ancient Rome
Periods
Roman Kingdom 753–509 BC
Roman Republic 509–27 BC
Roman Empire 27 BC – AD 395
Principate 27 BC – AD 284
Dominate AD 284–641
Western AD 395–476
Eastern AD 395–1453
Timeline
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The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the augusti, and their junior colleagues and designated successors, the caesares.
Initially Diocletian chose Maximian as his caesar in 285, raising him to co-augustus the following year; Maximian was to govern the western provinces and Diocletian would administer the eastern ones. The role of the augustus was likened to Jupiter, while his caesar was akin to Jupiter's son Hercules. Galerius and Constantius were appointed caesares in March 293. Diocletian and Maximian retired on 1 May 305, raising Galerius and Constantius to the rank of augustus. Their places as caesares were in turn taken by Valerius Severus and Maximinus Daza.
The orderly system of two senior and two junior rulers endured until Constantius died in July 306, and his son Constantine was unilaterally acclaimed augustus and caesar by his father's army. Maximian's son Maxentius contested Severus' title, styled himself princeps invictus, and was appointed caesar by his retired father in 306. Severus surrendered to Maximian and Maxentius in 307. Maxentius and Constantine were both recognized as augusti by Maximian that same year. Galerius appointed Licinius augustus for the west in 308 and elevated Maximinus Daza to augustus in 310.
Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 left him in control of the western part of the empire, while Licinius was left in control of the east on the death of Maximinus Daza. Constantine and Licinius jointly recognized their sons – Crispus, Constantine II, and Licinius II – as caesares in March 317. Ultimately the tetrarchic system lasted until c. 324, when mutually destructive civil wars eliminated most of the claimants to power: Licinius resigned as augustus after losing the Battle of Chrysopolis, leaving Constantine in control of the entire empire.
The Constantinian dynasty's emperors retained some aspects of collegiate rule; Constantine appointed his son Constantius II as another caesar in 324, followed by Constans in 333 and his nephew Dalmatius in 335, and the three surviving sons of Constantine in 337 were declared joint augusti together, and the concept of the division of the empire under multiple joint emperors endured until the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. In the Eastern Roman Empire, augusti and caesares continued to be appointed sporadically.
The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors,...
The Herodian tetrarchy was a regional division of a client state of Rome, formed following the death of Herod the Great in 4 BCE. The latter's client...
The civil wars of the Tetrarchy were a series of conflicts between the co-emperors of the Roman Empire, starting from 306 AD with the usurpation of Maxentius...
disintegrations of the Crisis of the Third Century. He introduced the system of the Tetrarchy in 286, with two senior emperors titled Augustus, one in the East and...
Thessalian League for life; a few years later (344 BC), he re-established the tetrarchies (or tetradarchie), installing governors devoted to his interests and...
officer of Illyrian origin who had been one of the four rulers of the Tetrarchy. His mother, Helena, was a Greek woman of low birth, probably from Asia...
wife of Licinius Licinius II Eutropia Nepotianus Other rulers of the tetrarchy were related to the Constantinian dynasty: Maximian: adoptive father and...
descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom of Judea and later the Herodian Tetrarchy as a vassal state of the Roman Empire. The Herodian dynasty began with...
Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the...
to the Herodian dynasty. Herod's death would lead to both the Herodian Tetrarchy where smaller regions ruled by members of his family, as well as direct...
Herod died, the kingdom was divided among his sons into the Herodian Tetrarchy. The Herodian kingdom included the regions of Judea, Samaria, Idumaea...
east), a status which the city maintained during the Tetrarchy system (293–324). The Tetrarchy ended with the Battle of Chrysopolis (Üsküdar) in 324...
the title Caesar), under himself and Maximian respectively. Under the Tetrarchy, or "rule of four", each tetrarch would rule over a quarter-division of...
political and economic shifts. A new form of government was established: the Tetrarchy. The Empire was divided among four emperors, two in the West and two in...
the Battle of Chrysopolis (Üsküdar) in 324 (thus bringing an end to the Tetrarchy system and becoming the sole emperor), Constantine the Great chose the...
Josephus says that Aretas was joined in this war by 'fugitives from the tetrarchy of Phillip', whereas Moses of Chorene says that Aretas was joined by the...
Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Tetrarch, Tetrarchs, or Tetrarchy may refer to: Tetrarchy, the four co-emperors of the Roman Empire instituted by the...
Bank in Jordan and extending onto the West Bank at Qasr al-Yahud. The Tetrarchy of Philip, the son of Herod the Great, included parts of today's Golan...
with a Visigothic force and raids the countryside. The Civil wars of the Tetrarchy, which began in 306, end with Constantine ruling as sole Emperor. July...
the administrative divisions of the empire were undertaken during the Tetrarchy. The first of these was the multiplication of the number of provinces...
structure the Tetrarchy ("rule of four") in an attempt to provide for smoother succession and greater continuity of government. Under the Tetrarchy, Diocletian...
problem by instituting a Tetrarchy, or rule of four, and dividing the empire into eastern and western halves. Although the Tetrarchy system quickly failed...
Parthian Empire Nabatea Iturea Hasmonean dynasty Herodian kingdom Herodian Tetrarchy Roman Empire Roman Syria Judaea Syria-Palaestina Diocese of the East in...
Augusta (Classical Latin: [au̯ˈɡʊsta]; plural Augustae; Greek: αὐγούστα) was a Roman imperial honorific title given to empresses and women of the imperial...
restoration of the State. He ended the Principate and introduced the Tetrarchy which sought to increase state power. The most marked feature was the...
three of his sons and his sister: his son Herod Antipas received the tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea. Other family members of Herod the Great include...
emperor (the Tetrarchy). Confident that he fixed the disorders plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-augustus, and the Tetrarchy eventually collapsed...
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