DIOCLETIAN Caius Valerius Aurelius Diocletianus November 20, - Lot 241

DIOCLETIAN Caius Valerius Aurelius Diocletianus November 20, 284 - May 1, 305 DIOCLETIANVS AVGVSTVS. His head laurel to the right. R/. 5-line legend within a laurel wreath: XX DIOCL ETIAN I AVG SMN. ♦ Cohen 549/120 frs or ; RIC 13 ; Calicó 4593 Aureus struck in Nicomedia in 303 (5.43 g) Rare coin. Very slight scuffing to obverse. Very fine/Superb. Diocletian, born in 245 in Dalmatia (Split), was an Illyrian emperor. After eliminating Aper, prefect of the Praetorium and Numerian's father-in-law and assassin, he assumed the purple on November 20, 284. Fighting first against Carinus, the last son of Carus, he was defeated at Margus the following year. But Carinus was assassinated and Diocletian remained sole Augustus. He elevated Maximian, a compatriot, to the rank of Caesar in November 285, then Augustus on April 1, 286. Diocletian had created a new political regime, the dyarchy. Two emperors shared military and political power, but Maximian remained subordinate to Diocletian. Diocletian placed himself under Jovian protection (from Jupiter), while Maximian was of Herculean essence. Diocletian spent the first ten years of his reign waging war in the East, while Maximian remained in the West. Diocletian was the first emperor of the Lower Empire, as Gibbons puts it, and the founder of the dominion.