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Diocletian (Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus) (245-311), was Emperor of Rome from 284-305. He rose to power serving in the military under Emperor Carus, and when Carus and his son died waging war in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor by his legion. Diocletian's reign marked the end of the Crisis of the Third Century which nearly destroyed the Roman Empire.

Persecution of the Christians
Although Christ may not have been the son of God many people in the Roman Empire chose to believe in him, and by the time of Diocletian there were Christians in nearly every major city in the Empire. For centuries Roman governors were perplexed as to how to deal with this new cult and so were given the option by the emperor Trajan to kill them if they refused to denounce Christianity (which many Romans viewed as glorified Jews). Before Diocletian, the crime was of refusing to acknowledge the imperial cult/state religion (Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, etc.), NOT just for being Christian. Even so, the issue of Christianity was not seen as a governor's problem and many governor's didn't seem to care so long as the cultists paid their taxes.

Some time in 299, the haruspices were unable to read horse entrails and blamed the presence of Christianity in the Imperial household, so Diocletian ordered everyone in the Roman army to make animal sacrifices or face discharge. In 302 he traveled to Egypt where he was offended by Manichaean practices, so he burned them all alive with their holy texts, seizing all property belonging to them (quite profitable).