13/06/2023
There's still a lot we don't know about Diocletian, but one thing is for sure - he was a real trendsetter. He was the main person responsible for the survival of Roman authority when Roman Empire was in shambles. He made a series of economic reforms aimed at undoing the chaos from the previous decades, and he did something no one ever imagined - he split the Empire, because it was simply too big for just one person to rule and have control over the whole Empire. With that, he introduced the world to the era of Tetrarchy - the rule of 4. After he gained back the power he decided to again do something no one before him did and something no one after him in the Empire will do, to abdicate the throne willing. Not by dying, not by being murdered, but to abdicate and retire to the most beautiful place in the world, the place you see on the photo - Split, Croatia.
Here, on this monumental part called Peristyle, he would greet his people who celebrated him as (in his words) the living son of Jupiter, and the people would kneel before him, even lay down completely on the ground kissing the hem of his purple toga (which later became the color of royalty).
