Maximinus Daza

Maximinus Daza (c. 270-313 CE) was a Roman emperor of the late Tetrarchy who, as Caesar and then Augustus in the East, governed Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor before being defeated by Licinius and dying at Tarsus in 313. A committed promoter of the traditional pagan cults, he became known in Christian memory as the last major persecutor of Christians: after Galerius issued the Edict of Toleration in 311, Maximinus renewed persecution in his eastern territories, reorganizing the pagan priesthood in imitation of the church. Eusebius of Caesarea preserves his rescript to the citizens of Tyre defending pagan worship, and records his eventual edict restoring Christian freedoms shortly before his death. He had no notable documented interactions with the Jewish or Greek-philosophical traditions.