| Vendor | |
|---|---|
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C.H.BECK
Anna-Sophia Mäder |
| Original language | |
| German | |
| Categories | |
| Weblink | |
| https://www.chbeck.de/demandt-di … | |
Diocletian - Emperor in Two Eras
A major biography by Alexander Demandt
‘Diocletian, if scrutinised with a critical eye, can be viewed as a magnificent individual, a most sympathetic character, who achieved great things through the conscious application of his intellect. The way in which he created anew the Empire, clearly falling apart at the time, demonstrates his genius as a first-class statesman.’
This quotation by Theodor Mommsen describes a Roman Emperor who by other historians, is seen as a source of barbarism, degeneracy and tyranny, or he even has been described by Eusebius as the scourge of God.
Here is a military man, statesman and persecutor of Christians presented to us by a popular and expert historian.
Diocletian (284-305) is Emperor of two eras, one ending with the extraordinary reformation of rule under the bloody reign of the man known as the ‘barracks emperor’ and the other beginning with Late Antiquity. Accompanied by Alexander Demandt we are led through the period by a real expert shedding light on this ruler who eventually stepped down of his own volition and went to tend his garden. He presents a detailed and accurate picture of the multiple challenges that Diocletian grappled with over more than twenty years, including military issues as much as personal, economic, statutory and religious aspects.