The mausoleum/cathedral is surrounded by its own octagonal colonnade. Tradition holds that during construction, this was a prison for the Christians whose Great Persecution started in 302 ACE. Diocletian retired and moved into his palace 3 years later. He began to use this tomb in 311 -- one of the very few Roman emperors in the 3rd and 4th century to die of natural causes -- and the first ever to retire. While he probably added a century to the lifespan of the Western Roman empire, his contributions allowed the eastern (Byzantine) empire to last a millennium after his entombment here.
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