The emperor Diocletian solved the 3rd century crisis (in very interesting but draconian ways that I

The emperor Diocletian solved the 3rd century crisis (in very interesting but draconian ways that I may discuss more in-depth later). He also gave the Roman Empire four emperors. You read that correctly. The “Empire” was split into four quadrants, each ruled by a different man. Technically, there were two “Augustii” who were kind of like senior emperors, and two “Caesars” or junior emperors. When an Augustus died or stepped down, a Caesar would take his place, and a new Caesar would be chosen. And in theory, these four emperors would be ruling one united Roman Empire.As you can guess, it didn’t really work that way. Within their quadrants, each Augustus or Caesar was really a king, with a capital, palace, court of hangers-on, the whole she-bang. Everyone was so grateful to Diocletian for fixing the aforementioned economic crisis, though, that the empire somehow stayed peaceful. Even when he retired to his lavish palace (Diocletian was the first emperor to retire, too) the system stayed intact pretty much out of respect and/or fear of him. The instant Diocletian died, though, it all fell apart. Civil war ensued, and the heir to one of the quadrants won, becoming Constantine I. -- source link

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