Diocletian

Diocletian , born Diocles , was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. The title was also claimed by Carus other surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus. Diocletians reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century. He appointed fellow officer Maximian as Augustus, coemperor, in 286.

Diocletian was born near Salona in Dalmatia , some time around 244. His parents gave him the Greek name Diocles, or possibly Diocles Valerius. The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes his official birthday,December, as his actual birthdate. Other historians are not so certain. Diocles parents were of low status, and writers critical of him claimed that his father was a scribe or a freedman of the senator Anullinus, or even that Diocles was a freedman himself. The first forty years of his life are mostly obscure. The Byzantine chronicler John Zonaras states that he was Dux Moesiae, a commander of forces on the lower Danube. The oftenunreliable Historia Augusta states that he served in Gaul, but this account is not corroborated by other sources and is ignored by modern historians of the period. The first time Diocletians whereabouts are accurately established, in 282, he was made by the newly Emperor Carus commander of the Protectores domestici, the lite cavalry force directly attac

Source: Wikipedia