Diocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (245–312) was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305. Diocletian brought to an end the “Crisis of the Third Century”. 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”. Diocletian’s reforms helped ensure the survival of the Western Roman Empire for another two hundred years, and the survival of the Eastern Roman Empire for another thousand.