Abstract
The article examines the role of Emperor’s images in the cities of the Late Roman Empire. Based on the narrative tradition, legislative texts and panegyrics, the frequency of placement of imperial statues in the city space, as well as the practice of interaction with them by subjects, is analyzed. It is concluded that the statues were located everywhere in the Empire in the most crowded and signifi cant places, and their frequency and monumentality created a feeling of the “eternal presence” of the emperor, which provided the appearance of legitimacy of the established order. Information from both Christian and pagan authors, together with legislative data, confi rms that the practice of worshiping imperial images was preserved, since the statues of the ruler and the real ruling person were practically identifi ed. Imperial statues found themselves embedded in the daily rituals of the city’s inhabitants. They sanctioned the power of offi cials, performed a supervisory function, they were worshiped, presented petitions, and sought refuge with them. During periods of unrest and rebellion, imperial statues were attacked, thereby subjects opposed the government, symbolically challenging the legitimacy of emperor; accordingly, the statues were protected by law, and not only of the ruling emperors. The special attitude towards the statues of the emperor did not disappear after his death, and the practices associated with their veneration continued later. Thus, what mattered was not the specifi c ruler endowed with power, but the abstract power as such, contained in the fi gure of the emperor.
Keywords
Late Roman Empire, representation of power, emperors, potestary imagology.
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