Late Roman emperorship in Constantinople
Embodiment and ‘unbodiment’ of Christian virtues
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21298645 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sylvain Destephen (0000-0003-4905-9751, Département d’histoire, Université de Paris Nanterre, 200 avenue de la République, 92000 Nanterre , France, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 115 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 47-68 |
| Publication date | 2022-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Byzantinische Zeitschrift (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-7704 • E-ISSN: 1868-9027 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/bz-2022-0003 |
| OpenAlex | W4223647451 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
The question of the documentary value of the last statues of Late Antiquity has been much debated in many recent publications. This article contributes to this debate and addresses emperors’ statuary and its relation to the development of a Christian theology of the Late Roman emperorship. Traditionally, statues demonstrated the military, legal and economic power of Roman emperors, who were depicted as generals, judges or benefactors. Surprisingly, the Christianisation of imperial power seems to have had a limited influence upon the official iconography of emperors. The religious dimension rarely appeared on statues even though they became rarer in Late Antiquity. Whilst literary sources, especially Christian sources, increasingly mentioned emperors’ personal piety and demonstrative humility, particularly in the monumental context of Constantinople, imperial statues remained faithful to the traditional iconography of power that obliterated physical weakness and embodied autocratic power
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Autocracy · Charisma · Context (archaeology) · Humility · Iconography · Late Antiquity · Literature · Piety · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Theology · Byzantine Studies and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2023 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |