Editing Diocletian (section)

=== Retirement and death ===
[[File:Croatia-01239 - The Peristil (9551533404).jpg|thumb|upright|Modern view of the [[Peristyle]] in [[Diocletian's Palace]] ([[Split (city)|Split]], Croatia)]]
Diocletian retired to his homeland, [[Dalmatia (Roman province)|Dalmatia]].{{sfn|Wilkes|1993|p=13}} He moved into the expansive [[Diocletian's Palace]], a heavily fortified compound located by the small town of Spalatum on the shores of the [[Adriatic Sea]], and near the large provincial administrative center of [[Salona]].{{sfn|Wilkes|1993|pp=14–17}} The palace is preserved in great part to this day and forms the historic core of [[Split, Croatia|Split]], modern-day [[Croatia]], where it was designated a [[World Heritage Site]] by [[UNESCO]] in 1979.{{sfn|''Britannica''|2015}}

Maximian retired to villas in [[Campania]] or [[Lucania]]. Their homes were distant from political life, but Diocletian and Maximian were close enough to remain in regular contact with each other.{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1p=27|2a1=Southern|2y=2001|2p=152}} Galerius assumed the consular ''fasces'' in 308 with Diocletian as his colleague. In the autumn of 308, Galerius again conferred with Diocletian at [[Carnuntum]] ([[Petronell-Carnuntum]], [[Austria]]). Diocletian and Maximian were both present on 11 November 308, to see Galerius appoint [[Licinius]] to be Augustus in place of Severus, who had died at the hands of Maxentius. He ordered Maximian, who had attempted to return to power after his retirement, to step down permanently. At Carnuntum people begged Diocletian to return to the throne, to resolve the conflicts that had arisen through Constantine's rise to power and Maxentius's usurpation.{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1pp=31–32|2a1=Lenski|2y=2006|2p=65|3a1=Odahl|3y=2004|3p=90}} Diocletian's reply: "If you could show the [[cabbage]] that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn't dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed."{{sfn|Epit. Caesaribus|loc=39.6}}

Diocletian lived for four more years, spending his days in his palace gardens. He saw his tetrarchic system fail, torn apart by the [[Civil wars of the Tetrarchy|civil wars of his successors]]. He heard of Maximian's third claim to the throne, his forced suicide, and his ''[[damnatio memoriae]]''. In his own palace, statues and portraits of his former companion emperor were torn down and destroyed. After an illness, Diocletian died on 3 December 311 (or 312),{{refn|The range of dates proposed for Diocletian's death have stretched from 311 through to 318. Until recently, the date of 3 December 311 has been favored; the absence of Diocletian on Maxentius's ''AETERNA MEMORIA'' coins could indicate that he was alive through to Maxentius's defeat in October 312. Given that Diocletian had died by the time of Maximin Daia's death in July 313, it has been argued that the correct date of death was 3 December 312.<ref name=DEATH>{{cite journal |last=Nakamura |first=Byron J. |title=When Did Diocletian Die? New Evidence for an Old Problem |journal=[[Classical Philology (journal)|Classical Philology]] |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=283–289 |date=July 2003 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/420722 |doi=10.1086/420722 |jstor=10.1086/420722 |s2cid=161249335 |access-date=20 December 2022 |archive-date=20 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220064921/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/420722 |url-status=live }}</ref>|group="Note"}} with some proposing that he [[suicide|took his own life]] in despair.<ref name="DEATH" />{{sfn|Barnes|1981|p=41}}