Galerius was a soldier in the Roman army, who became a close ally of the Emperor Diocletian, and was raised to be his Caesar during the creation of the Tetrarchy in 293. As part of this arrangement, Galerius was married to Diocletian's daughter, Galeria Valeria. Much of his Caesarship was spent fighting the Sasanian Empire.

In 305, Diocletian retired, and forced Maximian to retire too. This left Galerius as Augustus in the East, and Constantius in the West. Galerius set up two of his supporters, Maximinus Daia and Severus, as Caesars to himself and Constantius. In raising his own people to Caesars, Galerius dangerously frustrated the ambitions of Maxentius and Constantine, the sons of Maximian and Constantius. Galerius was forced to acknowledge Constantine, and Maxentius managed to defeat and kill Severus. With Diocletian's help, Galerius tried to reassert his authority again, by replacing Severus with Licinius, and forcing Maximian back into retirement.

Galerius was later set up as a hate figure by the ultimately victorious Christian writers of the era, such as Lactantius and Eusebius, who portrayed Galerius as a brutal persecutor of Christians. It is also possible that their description of Galerius's eventual death in 311 from some form of necrosis is exaggerated to demonstrate God's wrath.

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