Biographies Online

Born of humble parents, Maximian rose in the army, on the basis of his military skill, to become a trusted officer and friend of the emperor Diocletian, who made him caesar in 285 and augustus the following year. Maximian thus became in theory the colleague of Diocletian, but his role was always subordinate. Assigned the government of the West, Maximian failed to suppress revolts in Gaul and Britain; Constantius Chlorus, appointed caesar under Maximian in 293, took charge of these areas while Maximian continued to govern Italy, Spain, and Africa. Although long viewed by Christians as a persecutor of their religion, Maximian seems to have done no more than obediently execute in his part of the empire the first edict of Diocletian, which ordered the burning of the Scriptures and the closing of the churches. On May 1, 305, the same day that Diocletian abdicated at Nicomedia, Maximian abdicated, evidently reluctantly, at Mediolanum. As the new tetrarchy (two augusti with a caesar under each) that succeeded them began to break down, Maximian reclaimed the throne to support his son Maxentius' claim to be caesar. Persuaded to abdicate once more by Diocletian in 308, he lived at the court of Constantine, who had recently married his daughter Fausta. Maximian died, either by murder or by suicide, shortly after the suppression of a revolt raised by him against Constantine.