This chapter explores the diverse ways in which coins serve as ‘monuments in miniature’, commemorating a wide variety of aspects of Roman public life.The first section uses two case studies to exemplify the different types of interactions of individuals, families, and the state seen through the coins.The first looks at the coinage produced over three generations by the Marcii Philippi; the second looks at the diversity of commemorative strategies used within the divisive years 56-55 BCE.The second section looks at how the Romans conceived of their empire as proof of divine favor.This type of ideology is evident in their foundation legends, how Rome is personified, the importance of priesthoods to individual and family status, and how military victories are themselves the subject of religious thanksgiving.

This chapter looks at “new men” who created ruling dynasties, beginning with the foundation legends of the Piasts of Poland and Premyslids of Bohemia and moving on to Adam of Dryburgh ’s portrayal of the roots of the major dynasties of his own day. Dynasties that came to power through usurpation, such as the Carolingians and Capetians, sought to stress or fabricate biological links with the previous dynasty, just as the marriage of Henry I of England and his queen Edith/Matilda could be seen as uniting the blood of the Wessex and Norman kings. New dynasties often meant exclusion of members of old dynasties, and two notable examples of such excluded dynasts, Charles of Lorraine and Edgar Atheling, are discussed. The most remarkable new dynasties were those that founded new kingdoms, such as the Norman kingdom of Sicily.