The Image of the Emperors and Local Notables in the Roman Empire through the Example of Virtues seen in the City Decrees of Northern Italy

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  • 古代ローマ帝国における皇帝像と名望家像 : 北イタリアの都市参事会決議に見られる徳を通して
  • コダイ ローマ テイコク ニ オケル コウテイゾウ ト メイボウカゾウ キタイタリア ノ トシ サンジカイ ケツギ ニ ミラレル トク オ トオシテ

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Abstract

In the Roman Empire, Victoria, Pax and Felicitas were expressed together with the emperor's personal virtues in propaganda as the ideals shown by the emperor. What, then, was the image of an ideal emperor in the local cities where those ideals were shown? In an earlier paper I examined the inscriptions of northern Italy in the first three centuries paying close attention to virtues as shortcuts that express ideal images in a single word and I showed that indulgentia was a virtue peculiar to the emperors as it expressed their financial contributions to local cities (Le virtutes nelle citta di fronte all'opinione pubblica, in M. G. Angeli Bertinelli/A. Donati (eds.), Opinione pubblica e forme di comunicazione a Roma: il linguaggio dell' epigrafia, Atti del Colloquio AIEGL-Borghesi 2007 Faenza 2009, 79-97). Because the word originally denoted parental affection, it may be said that indulgentia expressed an image of the emperor as pater patriae benefiting his subjects and that this was an image of an ideal emperor in local cities. What about the portrayal of an ideal notable ? In this paper I use evidence from the city decrees of northern Italy which mention specific virtues and I clarify the image of an ideal notable. The city decrees under examination are nine in total, including one quotation in a funerary inscription (CIL, V, 532, 875, 961, 2117, 3448, 5127, 8139; IA, 547, 548). As a result of this investigation it became clear that of highest regard were such virtues as concerned voluntary and zealous work for the city, such as cura, diligentia, sollecitudo, industria and studium and virtues such as adfectio, benivolentia or pietas that showed local patriotism as the proper motivation for any contribution to the life of the city; in addition, the contents of the decrees made clear that the contributions to the cities were, directly or indirectly, financial. Depending on the notables for their finances, the cities appealed to local patriotism, thus showing as an ideal a notable who worked eagerly for the city, i.e. one who contributed to it financially. In brief, the image of ideal notables or emperors with regard to the city was expressed in completely different words, even if a financial contribution was demanded from both. On the other hand it is pointed out that in literature, i.e. written works intended for the upper classes, two images of an ideal emperor coexisted-civilis princeps and pater patriae. Because the cooperation of senators and the knights was necessary for the administration of the empire, the emperor used these two images depending on the time and circumstances. However the virtues which would show him lowering himself to the level of his subjects as civilis princeps in literature are not seen in the inscriptions of northern Italy. When a city expressed a financial contribution from the emperor and the notables in totally different words and showed their different social position, it is more than clear that the city was indifferent to the term civilis princeps. The city was interested only in seeing the emperor as a merciful monarch, pragmatically thinking of him as a source of profit.

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