The Emperor Feels: The Human Dimension of Constantine in the Official Speech about the Augustus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/etfii.35.2022.31904Keywords:
Constantine; Late Roman Empire Law; Panegyrici Latini; humanitasAbstract
There is no doubt that Constantine was essential in the official representation of who holds the imperial power in the Later Roman Empire. It has been written and analysed a lot about the way of the public construction of his figure was executed, especially through official instruments as encomiastic literature, inscriptions, coins, statuary, or even legislation. All of them were ideal mechanisms for the transmission of his image, stressing on the possession of attributes and abilities that legitimized him and showed him equipped with virtues usually valued in the Roman emperor. For this purpose not only were used certain epithets in order to describe his figure. In this sense the way in which the emperor’s human face and feelings were highlighted also participated of this intention and it can be singularly observed in two of the official channels used: panegyrici and imperial constitutions.
Downloads
References
Arce, Javier: «Sub eculeo incurvus: tortura y pena de muerte en la sociedad tardorromana», en De Constantino a Carlomagno. Disidentes, heterodoxos, marginados, Lomas Salmonte, Francisco Javier, Devís Márquez, Federico (eds.), Cádiz, Universidad de Cádiz, 1992, pp. 107-119.
Barnes, Timothy David: «Oppressor, Persecutor, Usurper: the Meaning of Tyrannus in the Fourth Century», en Bonamente, Giorgio & Mayer, Marc (coords.): Historiae Augustae Colloquium Barcinonense, Bari, Edipuglia, 1996, pp. 55-65.
Bennett, Julian: Trajan. Optimus Princeps. A Life and Times, London-New York, Routledge, 2001.
Betjes, Sven & Heijnen, Sam: «The Usurping princeps: Maxentius’ images and its Constantinian legacy», Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology, 5/3 (2018), pp. 5-19.
Bird, H.W.: «The Historia Augusta on Constantine’s Lineage», Arctos. Acta Philologica Fennica, 31 (1997), pp. 9-17.
Blanch Nougués, Juan Manuel: «Acerca de las obligationes praediorum en la Tabula de Veleia», Revista General de Derecho Romano, 25 (2015), https://www.iustel.com//v2/revistas/detalle_revista.asp?id=11&numero=25
Cañizar Palacios, José Luis: «In oculis lenitatis. Amable y complaciente: la bondad de carácter en la representación oficial de Constantino», Aevum, 95/1 (2021), pp. 181-198
Cañizar Palacios, José Luis: «El uso propagandístico del hostis publicus en el Codex Theodosianus», Latomus, 65/1 (2006), pp. 130-146.
Chastagnol, André: «Le formulaire de l’epigraphie latine officielle dans l’Antiquité Tardive», en Donati, Angela (ed.): La terza età dell’epigrafia, Faenza, Fratelli Lega, 1988, pp. 11-65.
Cicala, Valeria: «Optimus princeps rerum humanarum: ideología imperiale ed ottica cristiana nella propaganda politica costantiniana», RSA, 16 (1986), pp. 183-187.
Corcoran, Simon: «Maxentius: a Roman emperor in Rome», Antiquité Tardive, 25 (2017), pp. 59-74.
Corcoran, Simon: «Hidden from the History: the legislation of Licinius», en Harries, Jill & Wood, Ian (eds.): The Theodosian Code. Studies in the Imperial Law of Late Antiquity, London, Duckworth, 1993, pp. 97-120.
Cullhed, Mats: Conservator Urbis Suae: Studies in the Politics and Propaganda of the Emperor Maxentius, Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Instituteti Rom 8.20, Stockholm/Jonsered, Paul Äströms Förlag, 1994.
Depeyrot, Georges: Optimo principi: iconographie, monnaie et propagande sous Trajan, vols. I-III, Wetteren, Moneta, 2007.
Di Maio, Michael Jr., Zeuge, Jörn & Zotov, Natalia: «Ambiguitas Constantiniana. The Caeleste Signum Dei of Constantine the Great», Byzantion, 58/2 (1988), pp. 333-360.
Dillon, John Noël: The Justice of Constantine. Law, Communication, and Control, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 2012.
Drijvers, Jan Willem: «Flavia Maxima Fausta: Some Remarks», Historia, 41/4 (1992), pp. 500-506.
Drost, Vincent: Le monnayage de Maxence (306-312 après J.-C.), Zürich, Societé Suisse de Numismatiche, 2013.
Frare, Margherita: L’humanitas romana. Vessillo del potere imperiale, Padova, Progetto Libreria, 2013.
García Ruiz, María del Pilar: «Rethinking the political role of Pliny’s Panegyricus in the Paneyrici Latini», Arethusa, 46/2 (2013), pp. 195-216.
González Fernández, Julián (coord.): Trajano, óptimo príncipe. De Itálica a la corte de los Césares, Sevilla, Fundación el Monte, 2003.
Grünewald, Thomas: «Constantine Maximus Augustus: zur Propaganda des Siegers über Maxentius», Atti dell’Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana, IX Convegno Internazionale, Napoli, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1990, pp. 405-427.
Guthrie, Patrick: «The Execution of Crispus», Phoenix, 20/4 (1966), pp. 325-331.
Humphries, Mark: «From Usurper to Emperor: The Politics of Legitimation in the Age of Constantine», Journal of Late Antiquity, 1/1 (2008), pp. 82-100.
Hunsucker, Raphael G.R.: «Maxentius and the aeternae urbis suae conditores: Rome and Its Founders from Maximian to Constantine (289-313)», en Imagining Emperors in the Later Roman Empire, Burgersdijk, Diederijk W.P., Ross, Alan P. (eds.), Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2018, pp. 83-112.
Kelly, Cristopher: «Pliny and Pacatus. Past and Present in Imperial Panegyric», en Wienand, Johannes (ed.): Contested Monarchy: Integrating the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century AD, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 215-238.
La costruzione del testo giuridico tardoantico. Culture, linguaggi, percorsi argomentativi e stilistici, XXV Convegno Internazionale dell’Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana, Spello 23-25 settembre 2021 https://www.accademia-romanistica-costantiniana.unipg.it/files/programma_xxv_convegno_arc.pdf
Lizzi Testa, Rita: «Costantino come modello nelle fonti legislative», en Bonamente, Giorgio, Lenski, Noël & Lizzi Testa, Rita (coords.): Costantino prima e dopo Costantino (Constantine before and after Constantine), Bari, Edipuglia, 2012, pp. 481-500.
Lo Cascio, Elio: «Alimenta Italiae», en González, Julián (ed.): Trajano emperador de Roma, Roma, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2000, pp. 287-312.
Maranesi, Alessandro: Vincere la memoria, costruire il potere. Costantino, i retori, la lode dell’autorità e l’autorità della lode, Milano, Mimesis, 2016.
Maranesi, Alessandro: «Mapping the Ideology of Reuse: Constantine and the Imitatio Traiani», en Das Zeitalter Diokletians und Konstantins. Bilanz und Perspektiven der Forschung, Internationale Tagung aus Anlass des 80. Geburtstages von Alexander Demandt, 27-28. Oktober 2017, Mainz, https://www.byzanz-mainz.de/fileadmin/WissenschaftsCampus/Veranstaltungen/Wintersemester_2017/Faltblatt_Diokletioan_und_Konstantin.pdf
Martini, Remo: «Sulla costituzione di Costantino in tema di parricidio (CTh. 9,15,11)», Atti dell’Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana, II Convegno Internazionale, Perugia, Librería Universitaria, 1976, pp. 103-117.
Méthy, Nicole: «L’Optimus Princeps: idéal et réalité. Les lettres de Trajan à Pline le Jeune», en Devillers, Olivier (ed.): Autour de Pline le Jeune. En hommage à Nicole Méthy, Bordeaux, Scripta Antiqua 74, 2015, pp. 13-24
Moreno Resano, Esteban: «Las ejecuciones de Crispo, Licinio el Joven y Fausta (año 326 d.C.): nuevas observaciones», Dialogues d’histoire ancienne, 41/1 (2015), pp. 177-200
Moreno Resano, Esteban: «El elogio del emperador Constantino en la literatura cristiana de su época», Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia, 22 (2013), pp. 83-109.
Morton Braund, Susanna: «Praise and Protreptic in Early Imperial Panegyric: Cicero, Seneca and Pliny», en Whitby, Mary (ed.): The Propaganda of Power. The Role of Panegyric in Late Antiquity, Leiden, Mnemosyne, 1998, pp. 53-76.
Neri, Valerio: «L’usurpatore come tiranno nel lessico político della tarda antichità», Usurpationen in der Spätantike: Aktem des Kolloquiums «Staatssreich und Staatlichkeit» 6-10, März 1996, Solothurn/Bern, Paschoud, François & Szidat, Joachim (eds.), Stuttgart, Franz Steiner, 1997, pp. 71-86.
Omissi, Adrastos: Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire. Civil War, Panegyric, and the Construction of the Legitimacy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018.
Palma, Antonio: Humanior Interpretatio: Humanitas nell’interpretazione e nella normazione da Adriano ai Severi, Torino, G. Giappichelli, 1992.
Palomo Pinel, Carmen Macarena: «Personas vulnerables y comprensión del derecho en Roma», en Kunz, Lena & Ferreira Messe, Vivianne (eds.): Rechtssprache und Schwächerenschutz, Baden-Baden, Nomos, 2018, pp. 29-59.
Palomo Pinel, Carmen Macarena: «Subsidios públicos para la protección de la infancia en la etapa de Constantino: ¿efectos paradójicos?», Revista General de Derecho Romano, 28 (2017), https://www.iustel.com/v2/revistas/detalle_revista.asp?id=11&numero=28
Pohlsander, Hans A.: «Crispus, Brilliant Career and Tragic End», Historia, 33/1 (1984), pp. 79-106.
Polacek, Adalbert: «Diritti dell’uomo nell’epoca costantiniana: cenno storico, sociologico e metodologico», Atti dell’Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana, IX Convegno Internazionale, Napoli, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1990, pp. 95-102.
Potter, David: «Constantine and the Gladiators», The Classical Quarterly, 60/2 (2010), pp. 596-606.
Ramskold, Lars: «Constantine’s Vicennalia and the Death of Crispus», Niš & Byzantium, 11 (2010), pp. 409-456.
Rees, Roger: «The Private Lives of Public Figures in Latin Prose Panegyrics», en Whitby, Mary (ed.): The Propaganda of Power. The Role of Panegyric in Late Antiquity, Leiden, Mnemosyne, 1998, pp. 77-101.
Rodgers, Barbara Saylor: «Divine Insinuation in the Panegyrici Latini», Historia, 35/1 (1986), pp. 69-104.
Rodríguez Gervás, Manuel J.: Propaganda política y opinión pública en los panegíricos latinos del Bajo Imperio, Salamanca, Universidad de Salamanca, 1991.
Silli, Paolo: Testi costantiniani nelle fonti letterarie, Materiali per una palingenesi delle costituzioni tardo-imperiali 3, Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana, Milano, A. Giuffré Editore, 1987.
Spagnuolo Vigorita, Tullio: Exsecranda pernicies. Delatori e fisco nell’età di Costantino, Napoli, E. Jovene Editore, 1984.
Tantillo, Ignazio: «Emperors and Tyrants in the Fourth Century. Outlining a New Portrait of the Ruler and of His Role through Images and Words», en García Ruiz, María del Pilar & Quiroga Puertas, Alberto (eds.): Emperor and Emperorship in Late Antiquity: Images and Narratives, Leiden-Boston, Brill 2021, pp. 15-52.
Tantillo, Ignazio: «Humanarum rerum optimus princeps. Osservazioni sul formulario di alcuni miliari costantiniani dell’Italia septentrionale», en Ghilardi, Massimiliano, Porena, Pierfrancesco & Goddard, Cristophe J. (eds.): Les cités de l’Italie tardo-antique (IV-VIe siècle). Institutions, économie, société, culture et religion, Rome, Collection de l’École Française de Rome 369, 2006, pp. 269-280.
Tellegen-Couperus, Olga: «Roman Law and Rhetoric», Revue belge de philologie et d’histoire, 84/1 (2006), pp. 59-75.
Trillmich, Walter: «El Optimus Princeps retratado por Plinio y el retrato de Trajano», en González, Julián (ed.): Trajano. Emperador de Roma, Roma, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2000, pp. 491-507.
Varner, Eric R.: «Maxentius, Constantine, and Hadrian: Images and the Expropriation of Imperial Identity», en Birk, Stine, Myrup Kristensen, Troels & Poulsen, Birte (eds.): Using Images in Late Antiquity, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2014, pp. 48-77.
Verdugo Santos, Javier: «Felicior si Augusto et Traino melior. De Trajano a Teodosio, la continuidad del prestigio de la dinastía Ulpia-Aelia», Onoba, 6 (2018), pp. 125-146.
Veyne, Paul: «Les alimenta de Trajan», Actes du Colloque International Les empereurs romains d’Espagne, Madrid-Italica 31 mars-6 avril 1964, Paris, CNRE, 1965, pp. 163-179.
Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew: «The Emperor and his Virtues», Historia, 33/1 (1981), pp. 298-323
Wardman, Alan E.: «Usurpers and Internal Conflicts in the Fourth Century A.D.», Historia, 33/2 (1984), pp. 220-237.
Ware, Catherine (ed., trans.), A Literary Commentary on Panegyrici Latini VI(7). An Oration Delivered before the Emperor Constantine in Trier, ca. AD 310, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Ware, Catherine: «The Severitas of Constantine: Imperial Virtues in Panegyrici Latini 7(6) y 6 (7)», Journal of Late Antiquity, 7/1 (2014), pp. 86-109.
Waters, Kenneth Hugh: «The reign of Trajan and its place in contemporary scholarship (1960-1972)», ANRW II.2, Berlin-New York, De Gruyter, 1975, pp. 381-431.
Woods, David: «On the Death of the Empress Fausta», Greece and Rome, 45/1 (1998), pp. 70-86.
Zalewski, Bartosz: «Humanitas and Severitas. On possible impact of Christianity on Roman Criminal Law in 4th Century», Studia Prawnicze Kul, 80/4 (2019), pp. 249-272.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
