Imperial Images and Local Power in the Roman Empire

This paper examines the dissemination of visual representations of the Roman emperor, in several media, and argues that the widespread circulation of such images throughout the empire not only intensified the social control of the Roman imperial state, but also reinforced the political power of local aristocrats in provincial communities.  The paper begins with a short overview of the rapid proliferation of imperial images under the first emperor, Augustus, and attempts to measure the spread of these images in the provinces, with a particular focus on coins, statues, and public monuments.  Turning next to a quantitative analysis of the imperial coinage, which has survived in bulk, the paper measures the relative frequency of different visual representations of the emperor, showing that depictions of the emperor as a priest, in the act of sacrifice, were by far the most common.  Drawing on similar representations of the emperor in other media, especially portraiture and relief sculpture, and addressing the varying levels of visual and cultural “literacy” in the Roman empire, the paper then considers how the image of the emperor in the act of sacrifice successfully modeled an ideal of religious authority and civic benefaction for local aristocrats.  Following a short discussion of the mechanics of visual production in the Roman empire, emphasizing that it was precisely these local aristocrats, and not the central state, who were mostly responsible for the replication of imperial imagery in the provinces, the paper concludes with the argument that the large-scale diffusion of imperial images helped to sustain Roman imperial power, by universalizing its most potent symbol, the emperor, while also serving the more particular interests of local aristocrats, the main agents of this diffusion, by naturalizing a political order in which they could represent themselves as intermediaries between their own communities and a distant monarch.