THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER EMPERORS DIOCLETIAN & CONSTANTINE

(Message by Tanny Keng)


Please note that many stretches of the boundaries in the above map are
only approximate. The provincial boundaries within Britain are unknown.
The diocese of Britanniae comprises 4 provinces, Galiae 8, Viennensis 7,
Hispaniae 6, Africa 7, Italia 12, Pannoniae 7, Moesiae 11, Thracia 6, Asiana 9,
Pontica 7 and Oriens 16 for a total of 98 Roman provinces.


1. Roman Empire during the reigns of Emperors Diocletian & Constantine

a) Roman Emperor Diocletian lived from c. 245 to c. 312 A.D. He reigned as Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305 A.D. Diocletian carried out Rome's tenth and last officially sanctioned persecution of Christians in 303 A.D. Constantine (also known as Constantine I or the Great), lived from February 27, 272 to May 22, 337 A.D. He ruled as Emperor from 306 to 337 A.D. After his 'vision' in Gaul in 312 A.D., whereby he is said to have become a Christian, Constantine became the first Roman ruler to favorably treat Christianity.

b) After coming to power, Constantine wanted to build a 'new Rome' somewhere in the east since that was where the Empire's economic life in the fourth century was centered. He eventually selected a spot on the Bosphorus called Byzantium. Although at the time Byzantium was a small village it soon grew much bigger. One of the primary reasons for selecting this location as the new capital was that, like Rome itself, it was seated on seven hills. This made the 'New Rome' a City of Seven Hills just like its predecessor. After several years of construction the city was officially made the capital of the Empire in 330 A.D.

c) Byzantium was renamed Constantinople, in honor of the emperor, after his death. In 337 A.D. Constantine II, at the age of twenty-one, ruled jointly as emperor with his brothers. His reign lasted for only three years.

d) Constantine is best remembered for the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. which, for the first time in the Roman Empire, officially protected Christianity.


The End ...

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