MONETE DEGLI IMPERATORI ROMANI
Sei Cesari, la Propaganda del Potere e l'Iconografia Monetale - ciò che il potere scelse di mostrare e di celare
Marco J. RowenPart of Volume IV (IT) The Roman Coinage Series
What did Roman emperors want the world to see? And what did they deliberately choose to hide? Every denarius that changed hands in the Roman Empire carried a message. A face. A title. A promise of stability or a necessary lie. Roman coins were not mere currency: they were the mass medium of the ancient world, reproduced in millions of specimens, distributed in every province, accepted in every market from Britain to Mesopotamia. But every image is also a choice. And every choice reveals something left unsaid. Monete degli Imperatori Romani is neither a traditional biography nor a numismatic catalogue. It is a way of reading ancient Rome through its most capillary instruments of power: the coins that built, sustained and sometimes saved imperial legitimacy. Through six pivotal emperors, from Augustus to Constantine the Great, the volume shows how monetary iconography was a refined, deliberate and extraordinarily effective propaganda system. A system that still speaks to those who know how to listen. Inside you will discover: - How emperors used aureus, denarius, antoninianus and solidus as tools of legitimacy and political control - Propaganda strategies hidden in imperial iconography: portraits, titles, religious symbols and commemorative architecture - Why stability was proclaimed precisely in moments of acute crisis - The relationship between public image and political reality in six decisive reigns - The architectural and ideological legacy those coins helped build - A reasoned guide for collectors on key coin types Special Italian edition of the Roman Coinage Series. Coins travel. Stone endures. Power selects what it intends to show.
