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It is sometimes said that the emperor Diocletian split the Roman Empire into an eastern and a western half. This is wrong. The empire was never split. The terms Eastern Western Empire and Western Roman Empire have been coined by historians. The Romans did not use them. They only had one term: Roman Empire. Moreover, Diocletian created four main administrative subdivisions (not two) when he created what historians have called the tetrarchy (rule by four). These were the four praetorian prefectures.

In 285 Diocletian appointed the fellow general Maximian as co-emperor. Maximian took overall control of the western part of the Roman Empire, while Diocletian took overall control of the eastern part. Then these two men became senior emperors (Augusti) with the creation of two junior emperors (Caesars) who were subordinates of the Augusti in 293. The empire was subdivided into four praetorian provinces, each headed by one of the tetrarchs. The two Caesars were Galerius and Constantius Chorus. Maximian took charge of Italia et Africa (Italy and north-western Africa) and Constantius took charge of Galliae (Gaul, Britannia and Hispania). Both were in the western part of the empire. Diocletian took charge of Oriens (Thracia, the territories in Asia and Egypt) and Galerius took charge of Illyricum (the Balkan Peninsula except for Thracia, in the southeast, next to modern Turkey). Both were in the eastern part of the empire. Diocletian also created four imperial capitals (or better imperial seats), one for each emperor. Diocletian stressed that the four praetorian prefectures were administrative units and that the empire was indivisible.

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No Roman emperor ever split the Roman Empire into a western and an eastern half. The Romans, on various occasions had co-emperorship, with one emperor in charge of the east and one in charge of the west. However, this was a co-emperoship over the same empire, not a split of the empire into two.

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Q: What emperor decided to split the empire into an eastern and western half?
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What was the fate of the Western Roman Empire?

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