Emperors Diocletian And Constantine
Emperors Diocletian and Constantine responded to the turmoil in the third century by changing the political and economic landscape in the Roman Empire.
Diocletian took on court ceremonies and other traditions from the Persian Empire and introduced them into his political rule. He started calling himself dominus or “lord” which gave him divine right to the throne. He understood that it was harder to rule such a large empire so he split it into two halves and gave a colleague the western half to rule.
Inflation and weak tax revenues were economic issues that confronted Diocletian and Constantine. They changed the way taxes could be paid by allowing citizens the option to pay with goods or money. Anyone who was involved in producing food was
locked into their profession so that there would always be a constant supply of these goods coming in. Many farmers had been killed by barbarians and their lands were left vacant. These land weren’t producing for the empire any more. Land lords soon started taking these vacant lands and hired people to farm and protect the land. These new sources of goods helped the economy become more stable.
Diocletian and Constantine used some new and old techniques to try and bring the Roman Empire back to its former glory. Some of these tactics worked and were kept by later emperors while others did nothing to help the cause and were discarded.
Diocletian took on court ceremonies and other traditions from the Persian Empire and introduced them into his political rule. He started calling himself dominus or “lord” which gave him divine right to the throne. He understood that it was harder to rule such a large empire so he split it into two halves and gave a colleague the western half to rule.
Inflation and weak tax revenues were economic issues that confronted Diocletian and Constantine. They changed the way taxes could be paid by allowing citizens the option to pay with goods or money. Anyone who was involved in producing food was
locked into their profession so that there would always be a constant supply of these goods coming in. Many farmers had been killed by barbarians and their lands were left vacant. These land weren’t producing for the empire any more. Land lords soon started taking these vacant lands and hired people to farm and protect the land. These new sources of goods helped the economy become more stable.
Diocletian and Constantine used some new and old techniques to try and bring the Roman Empire back to its former glory. Some of these tactics worked and were kept by later emperors while others did nothing to help the cause and were discarded.