In the long history of the Roman Empire, there is no other period for which we know so many names but have so little evidence than the third century A.D. The leaders are collectively called the soldier emperors in reference to the majority's origin in and promotion by the Roman army. Absent for this period are the colorful (and colored) historical views available for other periods. The emperors and their wives, however, lasted long enough to mint coins, make dedications, and have official portraits created. Even less well understood are the soldier empresses, the wives of the soldier emperors. While sculpture experts have evaluated surviving images for their intrinsic value, the social and political implications of such images have not been explored. In this project I reevaluate existing literary, historical and visual evidence to recover the identity of these women. In this liminal period, imperial women, often considered mere figureheads in a rapidly revolving power struggle, wielded considerable power and influence in the political realm.;Each type of evidence has its strength for revealing the role of the empresses; combined, the evidence speaks louder than the individual pieces. Epigraphic remains not only express official titulature, but they can be more confidently connected to a specific time and place than contemporary sculptural remains. Numismatic evidence combines image and title in an official medium. Official imperial portraiture consisted of both the image of the individual together with an inscription used both to identify the depicted person as well as to honor the dedicator. The combination of sculptural, epigraphic and numismatic evidence provides a more complete picture of the social implications of contemporary imagery.;I propose that the wives of the soldier emperors wielded more influence than historians have traditionally suspected. The extant evidence reveals that the emperors continued to manipulate the public persona of their wives in order to create a semblance of harmony within the imperial union, to advertise the longevity of dynasty, and to foster connections with the Roman army. The group of imperial women who ruled Rome during the so-called third century crisis still strove to create the image of perfection in both the civic and military worlds.
展开▼
