Emperors and Ancestors: Roman Rulers and the Constraints of Tradition (Oxford Studies in Ancient Culture & Representation)

Emperors and Ancestors is the first systematic analysis of the different ways in which imperial lineage was represented in the various 'media' through which images of emperors could be transmitted. Rather than focusing on individual rulers, Hekster evaluates evidence over an extended period of time and differentiates between various types of sources, such as inscriptions, sculpture, architecture, literary text, and particularly central coinage, whichforms the most convenient source material for a modern reconstruction of Roman representations over a prolonged period of time. Cover 1 Emperors and Ancestors: Roman Rulers and the Constraints of Tradition 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Acknowledgements 10 Contents 14 List of Figures 16 List of Tables 22 Abbreviations 24 Prologue 28 ONE: Introduction to Dynastic Rule 34 Dynastic Emperorship and Succession 35 Roman Ancestry and Historical Precedent 45 Concepts of Kinship 54 Communicating Power and Representing Rule 58 Media and Sources 63 PART ONE: Family Ties 72 TWO: Running in the Family 74 Fathers on Imperial Coins in the Early Empire 76 Innovation and Tradition: Paternal Coins in the Second and Third Centuries 91 Trajan: The Son of Two Fathers 99 Adopting Power 111 Born to Rule 129 Emperors and Their Fathers 140 THREE: Your Mother ́s Son 144 Public Commemoration of Women before the Principate 145 Imperial (Grand)Mothers Under the Julio-Claudians 150 Wives or Mothers? 168 Honour Thy (Grand)Mother: the Severans 176 Emperors and Their Mothers 190 FOUR: We Go Way Back 194 Augustus or Caesar: Julio-Claudian Ancestry 195 Nerva and The Institution of A Domus Divina 211 The Augustan Household in Ancient Literature 216 Non-Imperial Lineage in Imperial Times 224 A Family at the Centre of the World 233 PART TWO: Claiming Kinship 236 FIVE: Some Have Ancestors Thrust Upon Them 238 Invented Ancestry in the Early Empire 239 Divi Marci Antonini Pii Filius 242 The Importance of being Bastards? 251 One or the Many 254 Claudius Gothicus and a Tangled Lineage 258 Invented Ancestry in the late Empire 266 SIX: Sons of Gods and Heroes 272 Founders of Rome: The Julian Gens and Descent From Aeneas 273 Don ́t Mention the Ancestors! Divine Claims in the Early Principate 283 The Emperors ́ Divine Comites 289 Mars Pater? 294 Children of Gods in the Provinces 299 SEVEN: The Tetrarchs 310 Parents without Wives or Mothers 313 Non-Dynastic Succession and Dynastic Rebellion 320 Sons of Gods? 330 Praising the Imperial Family 333 Tetrarchic Innovation and the Constraints of Tradition 344 Conclusions 348 Emperors and their Dates of Rule 358 Gallic Empireh (260–274) 358 Tetrarchic Rulers 358 Imperial Stemmata 360 Bibliographyh 366 Index Locorum 402 Literary Sourcesh 402 Coins 408 Inscriptions and Papyrih 412 General Index 418 "Ancestry played a continuous role in the construction and portrayal of Roman emperorship in the first three centuries AD. Emperors and Ancestors is the first systematic analysis of the different ways in which imperial lineage was represented in the various 'media' through which images of emperors could be transmitted. Looking beyond individual rulers, Hekster evaluates evidence over an extended period of time and differentiates between various types of sources, such as inscriptions, sculpture, architecture, literary text, and particularly central coinage, which forms the most convenient source material for a modern reconstruction of Roman representations over a prolonged period of time. The volume explores how the different media in use sent out different messages. The importance of local notions and traditions in the choice of local representations of imperial ancestry are emphasized, revealing that there was no monopoly on image-forming by the Roman centre and far less interaction between central and local imagery than is commonly held. Imperial ancestry is defined through various parallel developments at Rome and in the provinces. Some messages resonated outside the centre but only when they were made explicit and fitted local practice and the discourse of the medium. The construction of imperial ancestry was constrained by the local expectations of how a ruler should present himself, and standardization over time of the images and languages that could be employed in the 'media' at imperial disposal. Roman emperorship is therefore shown to be a constant process of construction within genres of communication, representation, and public symbolism."--Page 4 de la jaquette This is the first systematic analysis of the different ways in which Roman imperial lineage was represented in the various 'media' through which images of emperors could be transmitted. Rather than focusing on individual rulers of the Roman Empire, it evaluates evidence over an extended period of time and differentiates between various types of sources, such as inscriptions, sculpture, architecture, literary text, and particularly central coinage, which forms the most convenient source material for a modern reconstruction of Roman representations of power over a prolonged period of time