AHM Jones, The Later
Diocletian (C. Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus), 284-305 AD
Diocletian’s
Price Edict. The Edict on
Maximum Prices (Latin: Edictum de Pretiis Rerum Venalium,
"Edict Concerning the Sale Price of Goods"; also known as
the Edict on Prices or the Edict of Diocletian) was issued in
301 AD by Diocletian. The document
denounces monopolists and sets maximum prices and wages for all
important articles and services.
The
Edict exists only in fragments found mainly in the eastern part of the empire,
where Diocletian ruled. The reconstructed fragments have been sufficient to
estimate many prices for goods and services for historical economists (although
the Edict attempts to set maximum prices, not fixed ones). It was probably
issued from Antioch or Alexandria and was set up
in inscriptions in Greek and LatinThe
Edict on Maximum Prices is still the longest surviving piece of legislation
from the period of the Tetrarchy. The Edict was criticized by Lactantius, a rhetorician from Nicomedia,
who blamed the emperors for the inflation and told of fighting and bloodshed
that erupted from price tampering. By the end of Diocletian's reign in 305, the
Edict was for all practical purposes ignored. The Roman economy as a whole was not substantively stabilized
until Constantine's coinage reforms in the 310s.
During
the Crisis of the Third Century, Roman coinage had been
greatly debased by the numerous emperors and usurpers who
minted their own coins, using base metals to reduce the underlying
metallic value of coins used to pay soldiers and public officialsEarlier
in his reign, as well as in 301 around the same time as the Edict on Prices,
Diocletian issued Currency Decrees, which attempted to reform the system of
taxation and to stabilize the coinage. It is difficult to know exactly how the
coinage was changed, as the values and even the names of coins are often
unknown or have been lost in the historical record. Although the decree was
nominally successful for a short time after it was imposed, market forces led
to more and more of the decree being disregarded and reinterpreted over time. No
complete copy of the decree has been found. The text has been reconstructed
from fragments of Greek and Latin copies at a number of
different sites, most of them in the eastern provinces of Roman
empire: Phrygia and Caria in Asia Minor,
mainland Greece, Crete, and Cyrenaica.
Although
incomplete, enough of the text is preserved to make the general structure and
contents of the edict clear. All coins in the Decrees and the Edict were valued
according to the denarius, which Diocletian hoped to replace with a new
system based on the silver argenteus and its fractions (although some
modern writers call this the "denarius communis", this phrase is a
modern invention, and is not found in any ancient text).
The argenteus seems to have been set at 100 denarii, the
silver-washed nummus at 25 denarii,
and the bronze radiate at 4 or 5 denarii. The copper laureate was raised from
1 denarius to 2 denarii. The gold aureus was revalued
at at least 1,200 denarii (although one
document calls it a "solidus" it was still heavier than
the solidus introduced by Constantine a few years later). During the previous decades the decreasing
amount of silver in the billon coins had fueled inflation. This
inflation is understood to be the reason the decree was issued. Issues of
economic system feedback were not well understood at the time. The first two-thirds of the Edict doubled the
value of the copper and billon coins, and set the death
penalty for profiteers and speculators, who were blamed for
the inflation and who were compared to the barbarian tribes attacking
the empire. Merchants were forbidden to take their goods elsewhere and charge a
higher price, and transport costs could not be used as an excuse to raise
prices.
Diocletian Moved his headquarters to Nicomedeia in Bithynia, first step toward relocation to Byzantium
He organized the Tetrarchy, four territories or prefectures, the Oriens, Illyricum, Italia, Galliae (all the Gauls) to be administered by four rulers: 2 Augusti; 2 Caesars. The plan was to have 2 senior emperors and 2 junior emperors who would step up when the 2 seniors abdicated. In 305AD after a 20-year reign, Diocletian insisted on a simultaneous abdication of both Augusti.
Galerius and Constantius became Augusti, then Constantine
and Maxentius, However, the sons of the 2 Caesars were passed over in succession,
despite the former’s popularity with his troops. During his suppression of the
revolt of the Picts in
Following his success at the Battle of Mulvian Bridge 312 AD, Constantine assumed command as sole emperor (achieved by 324 AD). With 40,000 men he overcame Maxentius’ forces of 180,000, claimed his victory came “at the sign of the cross.” His triumphal arch inscribed, Instinctu divinitatis, mentis magnitudine, (by the instinct of god and the greatness of mind) represented a tacit recognition of his conversion.
Edict of Toleration 313 AD, restoration of property to Roman
Christians; Edict of Milan 313, universal religious toleration. Christian
clergy became exempt from munera. Dealt with
schisms – Donatists in
Constantine stopped the persecutions, restored Christian property, financially supported African Catholics, exempted clergy from liturgies, but made church bound up in welfare of the state, and insisted on orthodoxy. From the outset Roman secular leaders saw themselves as authorities over the new church
Founded Constantinople; needed to create a capital where churches could be predominant, not the pagan temples of Rome. The fact remains that only 10% of the Mediterranean population is believed to have been Christian at this time.
Sassanid
Queen Zenobia of
Christianity
dediticii