ALTERNATIVES TO KINSHIP? TETRARCHS AND THE DIFFICULTIES OF REPRESENTING NON-DYNASTIC RULE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14795/j.v1i2.44Keywords:
Roman Emperors, Tetrarchy, Imperial lineage, Dynastic rule, Roman imperial representationAbstract
Throughout Roman history, members of the imperial family featured regularly in central coinage, on reliefs and statues, and in inscriptions – both in Rome and the provinces. Roman emperorship was a de facto dynastic system, which explains the sustained emphasis on imperial fathers, mothers, wives and children. Only very rarely was lineage wholly ignored. This posed major problems for imperial representation under the so-called Tetrachy; an explicitly non-dynastic imperial system, not organised by bloodline but governed through collegiate rule. How could such ‘corporate government’ present itself in a society that was used to dynastic terminology when indicating predecessors and intended successors? This article explores some of the alternative modes through which tetrarchic representation aimed to present non-dynastic rule, and shows how these alternatives proved ultimately unsuccessful. Apparently, the constraints of tradition in imperial imagery were too stringent to overcome.References
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Additional Files
- Fig. 1. Porphyry images of the Tetrarchs, incorporated into the Palazzo Ducale, Venice
- Fig. 2. Marble relief panel, Arch of Galerius, Thessaloniki.
- Fig. 3. Follis, Divus Constantius I, Lyon, 306-307. CNG 84, Lot: 1443.
- Fig. 4. Half argenteus, Fausta, Trier, 307. British Museum, inv. B 498.
- Fig. 5. Antoninianius, Carausius, Diocletian and Maximianus, Colchester (Camulodunum), c. 292-293. Triton VI, lot 1074.
- Fig. 6. Follis, Galeria Valeria, Alexandria, 308-310. CNG 61, Lot: 2062.
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