From Rags to Royalty and Back: How the Son of a Former Slave Became the Emperor of Rome

The future Emperor Diocletian, originally named Diocles, grew up in Dalmatia in the territory of modern Montenegro and came from humble origins. It is believed that his father was a freedman, likely a scribe. Upon reaching the necessary age, Diocles joined the military as a common soldier and climbed to the upper echelons of the military hierarchy by the age of forty. Diocletian became the last in the line of “soldier-emperors” during the crisis of the 3rd century. In 284 AD, Emperor Numerian died under mysterious circumstances on his return from a Persian campaign. The military arrested Numerian’s father-in-law, the suspect in his death, Praetorian Prefect Arrius Aper, and elected Diocles, who was then leading the protector corps (elite officers serving as the emperor’s bodyguards and a pool for high military positions), as the new emperor. <a href="https://medium.com/@ancient.rome/from-rags-to-royalty-and-back-how-the-son-of-a-former-slave-became-the-emperor-of-rome-3a45eef3bbdc">Click Here</a>