Diocletian
Historical Records
Performance Records (Henslowe’s Diary)
F. 10v (Greg I.20)
ye 16 of November 1594 ………. ne Res at deoclesyan ………. liiijs ye 22 of November 1594 ………. Res at deoclesyan ………. xxxxiijs
Theatrical Provenance
Performed as a new play by the Admiral's Men at the Rose on Saturday 16 November 1594. Performed again on Friday 22 November.
Probable Genre(s)
Classical history (?) (Harbage), tragedy (?) (Wiggins).
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
Wiggins suggests a number of possible sources for the plot of the play: "[John] Foxes's account of Diocletian, the most easily accessible in the period", "Richard Reynoldes, A Chronicle of all the noble Emperors of the Romans (written by 1562, printed 1571) and Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History (tr. Meredith Hanmer, 1577, repr. 1585)." It seems likely that the plot may have revolved around the life and career of the soldier-turned-Emperor titular character, although it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty whether it dealt with any particular moment of his biography.
References to the Play
None known; information welcome.
Critical Commentary
Harbage (following Fleay) suggests Thomas Dekker may have been the author of the play. His hypothesis rests on the fact that The Virgin Martyr (1620) by Dekker and Philip Massinger features Diocletian as a character. However, there is no evidence that The Virgin Martyr is a revision of the earlier play.
George Kirkpatrick Hunter (102) argues that the play was presumably a story 'of Christian triumph and pagan wickedness (like Ben Hur and The Sign of the Cross)'.
Jean MacIntyre (102) contends that the play is "likely to have featured 'paynim' characters" probably using the same costumes used by "Persians, Turks, Egyptians, and Arabians" in plays such as the two parts of Tamburlaine and the lost "Tamar Cham".
For What It's Worth
Under construction; information welcome.
Works Cited
Site created and maintained by Domenico Lovascio, University of Genoa; updated 02 July 2015.