RESEARCH HISTORY

The Cercadilla Palace was built in Cordoba during the reign of Maximianus Herculius, emperor during the 3rd century AD who, together with Diocletian, Constantinus, Chlorus and Galerius, formed what is known as the first tetrarchy, a government of four that for a time guaranteed the integrity of the immense territory that comprised the Roman empire. 

The Romans conquered Corduba in the year 206 AD and the Roman Empire spread out through all the Mediterranean Sea but it went through a period of crisis. Before that, the emperor Aurelian in the year 274 AD tried to put an end to the separatists and restore the unity of the empire, then Diocletian tried to decentralize the Empire with the establishment of the Tetrarchy. Nevertheless, Gothic people penetrated and invaded Greece, establishing a kingdom in the Northeast. 

The main causes of the crisis where the weakness of the different emperors, the difficulty in collecting taxes and the pressure of the Barbarians. Rome went through a demographic crisis that forced the state and the landowners to ensure the permanence of the peasants in the fields. The small owners due to high taxes and debts were forced to hand over their properties in exchange for the protection of the landlords. Furthermore, inflation skyrocketed, trade came to a standstill and provinces became isolated from one another.

 

The Tetrarchs. Porphyry scuplture, looted from the Great Palace of Constantinople in 1204 and currently housed in the Treasury of Saint Mark. Source: Wikipedia.