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Legio III Diocletiana was a comitatensis Roman legion, levied in 296 by Diocletian, from whom the legion took its name.
The aim of this legion was to guard the newly re-organized province of Aegyptus, being based in Alexandria. It was created to support II Traiana Fortis, and therefore it took the numeral III.
During the 4th century, some vexillationes of the III Diocletiana were sent in the south of Egypt, in Thebes and Kom Ombo.
Theodosius I sent soldiers from the north to III Diocletiana in Egypt, and Egyptian soldiers in Macedonia, forming the III Diocletiana Thebaeorum, under the command of the Magister Militum per Thracias (Notitia Dignitatum Orientis, VIII). The shield pattern of III Diocletiana Thebaeorum was a red rose on white field.