Emperor Galerius, A Brief History essays

Emperor Galerius, A Brief History essays Emperor Galerius was the ruler of Rome. He was born in 250 and died in 311. He served a military career and is best remembered for issuing edicts ordering tolerance of Christianity. In upper Moesia, near Florentine, there is a small Danube village where Galerius was born. His parents came from an area beyond Danube, and his father was a simple peasant. Galerius was a herdsman before he joined the army. In the army he had a successful career, and rose to become a senior officer during the reign of Diocletian. During this time, Galerius, along with Constantias Cholorus, was chosen to be one of the principal leaders by the Emperor Diocletian. Galerius received the rank of Junior Caesar and that is when he changed his name to Gaius Valerious Maximainus. He ruled over the powerful Balkan Provinces, which were located in the dioceses of Pannonia Moesia and Thraciae, along with the Diocese of Asiana in turkey, which is in Asia Minor. The most important job in this position was of guarding the Danube frontier from any incursions from the Goths, who were pressing to take hold of the Danube frontier regions. In addition, after successfully defending against the Goths, he also fought off the Samaritans and Marcomanni in AD 296-297. He then divided the lands and formed a new Province in the northern half of lower Pannonia, which he named after his wife Valeria. Then, in AD 296, Diocletian called on Galerius to help deal with the Persians' invasion of Syria. In the course of the conflict, Galerius had to cross the Euphrates River, but he suffered defeat and had to withdraw and in doing so, lost control of the province of Mesopotania. Because of his failure, Emperor Diocletian punished Galerius and publicly humiliated him. This humiliation led Galerius to attempt to defeat the Persians for a second time in AD 297. This time, he prepared a much stronger army, and with a plan to attack the Persian forces and take all they had, including th...