The Formation And Historical Influence Of The Co-governance System Of The Four Emperors In The Roman Empire

The system of Tetrarchy is a kind of political system implemented by the Roman Empire at the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth century.Its founder is the military emperor Diocletian,who was born at the bottom of the society.Just like the name of the political system,the Roman Empire under the system of Tetrarchy is governed by four emperors,which is a rare phenomenon in the world history.The purpose of this paper is to sort out and analyze the Tetrarchy system,it is to solve its characteristics,causes and influences.Under the system of Tetrarchy,the relationship between the four emperors is not simply parallel,but with complex and rational connotation.First of all,the eastern Augustus was higher than the Western Augustus;second,the two Caesars were included in the corresponding Augustus' family as the heirs;third,the eastern Augustus controlled the appointment and removal of the two Caesars.Therefore,the power of the Empire was concentrated in Augustus of the East,and the four emperors was orderly.Therefore,this paper sums up the characteristics of the system of Tetrarchy into two parts:the regional governance with the East as the core,and the adoption system from the top to the bottom.This is logically related to the traditional system of principate of the Roman Empire,but it is also quite different.The system of Tetrarchy is not only a continuation of the classical Roman civilization,but also the product of the specific crisis of the third century.In the Roman Empire in the third century,the expansion of military forces,the high increase of local centrifugal forces,and the orientalization of the empire made the traditional system of principate impossible to maintain,and at the same time pushed the politics of the Roman Empire to the direction of Tetrarchy.The system of Tetrarchy made contributions to the restoration of order and the improvement of national strength of the Roman Empire,but there are internal hidden dangers that cannot be solved,namely,the contradiction between the East and the west,the contradiction between the new emperor and his predecessor's lineal male descendants.These two contradictions forced the Tetrarchy to collapse,and also promoted the birth of new system and new civilization:Byzantine Empire.From the perspective of the political history of the Roman Empire and the basic characteristics of the Byzantine Empire,this paper defines the period of Tetrarchy as the last historical period of the classical Roman Empire,and the system of Tetrarchy is a temporary system for the transformation from the classical Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire?...