Dynastic Politics in the Age of Diocletian, AD 284-311

## Examines the Tetrarchy as an experimental military dynasty * Looks at brotherhood, empresses, imperial collegiality, military politics, hereditary succession, and the roles of sons within Roman dynasties * Musters a diverse array of evidence including archaeology, coins, statuary, inscriptions, panegyrics and invective * Engages with Anglo-American, German, French, Italian and Balkan scholarship In AD 293 the Roman world was plunged into a bold new experiment in government. Four soldiers shared the empire between them: two senior emperors, Diocletian and Maximian, and two junior emperors, Constantius and Galerius. This regime, now known as the Tetrarchy, engaged with dynastic power in thoroughly unconventional ways: Diocletian and Maximian presented themselves as brothers despite being unrelated; Diocletian and Galerius repeatedly thwarted the dynastic ambitions of individual Tetrarchs and their sons; the sons themselves were variously hostages, symbols of imperial unity and possibly targets of assassination; and the importance of women to imperial self-representation was much reduced. This is the first book to focus on the Tetrarchy as an imperial dynasty. Examining the dynasty through the lens of Rome’s armies, it presents the Tetrarchic dynasty as a military experiment, created by a network of provincial career soldiers and tailored to the needs of the different regional armies. Mustering a diverse array of evidence, including archaeology, coins, statuary, inscriptions, panegyrics and invective, the author provides bold new interpretations of Tetrarchic dynastic politics, looking at brotherhood, empresses, imperial collegiality, military politics, hereditary succession and the roles of sons within Roman dynasties. List of Figures 8 Preface and Acknowledgements 10 Dramatis Personae 12 Chronology 14 Stemma: The Tetrarchic Dynasty, 284–311 17 Abbreviations 18 Introduction: A Military Regime in the Third Century ad 24 a. The Ancient Sources 30 b. Emperors, Armies and Political Power 41 c. The Tetrarchs as Military Emperors 54 1. Band of Brothers: Diocletian and Maximian, Virtutibus Fratres 61 1.1. The Augustan Fraternity in the Panegyrics 65 1.2. The Augustan Fraternity in Other Media 73 1.3. A Fraternity between Commilitones 82 2. Gang of Four: The Tetrarchy Begins 93 2.1. Dating the Appointments 93 2.2. Wars, Generals and Carausius 95 2.3. Imperial Presence and Regional Military Rebellion 112 2.4. The Tetrarchic Solution 122 3. Diocletian vs Heredity: Succession Events and the Soldiery 138 3.1. The Sons 140 3.2. Lactantius and the Succession of 305 145 3.3. Christianity, Supremacy and Meritocracy 153 3.4. Problems with Lactantius’ Account 156 3.5. The Will of Diocletian 168 3.6. The Failure of Dynasty 171 3.7. A Failed Succession 182 4. A Tale of Two Princes: Constantine and Maxentius before 306 189 4.1. Constantine 190 4.2. Maxentius 203 4.3. Filial Concerns in the West 207 4.4. A Complicated Picture 217 5. Invisible Feminae and Galerian Empresses: The Representation of Imperial Women 220 5.1. Augustae and Diuae in the Later Third Century 221 5.2. The Representation of Women, 284–306 223 5.3. A Case of Deliberate Exclusion? 227 5.4. Tetrarchic Empresses, 307–11 230 Conclusions: Domus Militaris 245 Appendix: Prosopography of the Imperial Women 256 Bibliography 261 Index 291