The Nicene Age · AD 313–400 · External witness

Emperor Maximinus Daza

d. AD 313 · Roman Emperor (Caesar 305, Augustus 310–313) · Persecutor · the East (Syria, Egypt)

External witness

Who Emperor Maximinus Daza was

Nephew of Galerius and ruler of the eastern provinces, the most determined persecutor of the church’s final assault — who, even after Galerius’s edict of toleration in 311, renewed the attack in Syria and Egypt, killing the bishops Peter of Alexandria, Lucian of Antioch, Phileas, and Methodius, and sponsoring forged anti-Christian propaganda (the “Acts of Pilate”) for schoolrooms. Defeated by Licinius in 313, he died in flight, and the pact of Milan sealed the toleration he had resisted. The last emperor to shed Christian blood on a great scale in the East.

Also listed in non-christian witnesses and roman emperors.

Common questions

When did Emperor Maximinus Daza die?

Emperor Maximinus Daza is dated d. AD 313 in the archive, which places Emperor Maximinus Daza in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400).

What did Emperor Maximinus Daza write?

Emperor Maximinus Daza has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Rescripts against the Christians (as reported by Eusebius).

Which early sources mention Emperor Maximinus Daza?

Emperor Maximinus Daza is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Emperor Maximinus Daza from?

The archive associates Emperor Maximinus Daza with the East (Syria, Egypt). The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.

Writings (1)

Rescripts against the Christians (as reported by Eusebius)

AD 308–312

The decrees against us were engraved on brazen pillars — a thing never before done.

Earliest witness · Syriac version (St Petersburg codex, dated AD 462) (AD 462)

Read the interlinear source text →

Primary-source mentions (2)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

On the Deaths of the Persecutors 45–49 (the war with Licinius and the wasting death)

c. AD 315

Lactantius · On the Deaths 45 · source text

Ecclesiastical History IX.6, 10

c. AD 325

Maximinus… surpassed in wickedness all that had gone before him… He filled every place with the slaughter of the pious, sparing neither age nor sex; but at last, defeated, he perished miserably.