The Iconography of Conastantine the Greatʼs Coinage

Abstract

THE PERIOD BETWEEN Diocletian’s accession to power in 284 and the death of Constantine the Great in 337 was marked by a series of fundamental reforms in all areas of social life, on which these two emperors left a major imprint. The tetrarchic system of government, established by Diocletian in 293, inaugurated a new ideological-religious concept of supreme authority, which promoted the idea of an omnipotent ruler rooted in the myth of the domus divina and the rulers of divine origins, whose titular deities were Jupiter and Hercules. This new agenda, which implied the total equality of the tetrarchs, their concord (concordia) and ideal similarity (similitudo), brought about radical changes in the portraiture of this period. The Augusti and Caesars were portrayed as if they were of the same age and had identical facial features and a uniform expression concentrated on specific parts of the face. Their eyes, wide open, under accentuated eyebrows and wrinkled forehead, expressed commanding earnestness, sternness and resolve. The basic features of the new iconography can be observed on coinage as a traditionally powerful propaganda medium, which conveys a message about a charismatic ruler through a combination of imperial portraits, inscriptions and imagery.