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3 - Modelling the Emperor

Representations of Power, Empire, and Dynasty among Eastern Client Kings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2020

By
Julia Wilker
Edited by
Amy Russell  and
Monica Hellström
Amy Russell
Affiliation:
Brown University, Rhode Island
Monica Hellström
Affiliation:
University of Durham
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Summary

This chapter argues that client kings played a significant, even leading role in disseminating the images associated with the princeps and the imperium Romanum at the outskirts of the empire. Dependent rulers faced a unique challenge, as they had to pay homage to the emperor as the superior authority while maintaining and communicating their own royal prestige and local legitimacy. In the context of these intricate dynamics, client kings developed a mode of representation that reflected their authority as well as the superiority of the emperor. To this end, they adopted and adapted models from the centre of the empire for their own purposes, turning modes of imperial representation into a shared idiom of power. However, the hierarchy between emperor and dependent ruler always remained clear and was reinforced through the imperial cult. Instead of undercutting the local legitimacy of client kings, the reverence of an even higher authority, elevated beyond mortality, was used to strengthen the position of dependent rulers whose power relied on the centre’s approval.

Keywords

Client kingsroyal representationimperial cultdynastyimperial portraitnumismatic representation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Social Dynamics of Roman Imperial Imagery , pp. 52 - 75
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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