Name:Caius Galerius Valerius Maximianus
Dates: c. A.D. 250-311
Place of Birth: Dacia Ripensis
Occupation:
Roman Emperor
The Roman Emperor Galerius (305-311 A.D.), was born in Dacia Ripensis near Sardica, Illyricum, around A.D. 250. He obtained the title of Caesar on 1 March 293, under Diocletian, whose daughter he married. A pagan, Galerius encouraged Diocletian in the persecution of Christians. On May 1, 305, when Diocletian abdicated, Constantius and Galerius were raised to Augusti, with Severus and Maximinus Daia as Caesars. Galerius and his nephew Daia ruled in the East. Galerius had a distinguished military career, including winning Mesopotamia back for Rome from the Persians, after having suffered an earlier defeat at the hands of the Persians. As he approached death from a painful, incapacitating malodorous disease, he considered the possibility that it was punishment from a Christian god, so he pronounced an edict of tolerance on April 30, 311.
