FILE: 29_Diocletian and the Tetrarchs.jpg

TITLE: SCULPTURE - Diocletian and the Tetrarchs - ROMAN

DESCRIPTION: SCULPTURE - made of porphyry, a purple stone from Egypt reserved for imperial use - 284-305 CE. VENICE. Abstracted figures. Geometric shapes. Disregard for human proportion. Emphasis on message or idea. Diocletian a good emperor. Revised taxes, fixed stuff, good organizer, bureaucrat. Not blood thirsty. Created Co-Emperor to rule western part of Empire. Each co-emperor needed an assistant. This group of 4 bureaucrats = TETRARCHY. The 2 Emperors = Augusti. The 2 assistants = Caesari. Diocletian retired and went home to Dalmatia (now Yugoslavia) where he built a palace (see next slide).