Published: 2005-12-30

The Legendary Beginnings of Rome in the Ideology and Propaganda of the Rulers of the Roman Empire (from the 1st to 3rd cc. AD)

Agata A. Kluczek

Abstract

In the imperial propaganda in the period from the 1st to 3rd cc. the most extensively used, among the tales about the legendary origins of the Romans and about Rome’s early history, were two thematic threads: one connected with Aeneas’s adventures; and the other concerning the tales about Romulus and Remus, nourished by a she-wolf, and about the deeds of the adult Romulus. The transmission of the historical Roman legend, in the imperial propaganda, took place mainly owing to the iconographic possibilities offered by the space on the reverse of coins. Initially, in the 1 st c. we find mainly a representation of the goddess Roma with a shield on which the she-wolf with the twins were depicted. Of equal importance was, at that time, also an autonomous representation of the she-wolf with the children. In the 2nd c. we come across a greater variety of representations. On the reverse of the imperial coins, we can see also Romulus with a trophy, Mars, Rhea Silvia, Aeneas, and other figures connected with the beginnings of the Roman history. It was particularly in the epoch of the Antonines that such representations connected the Roman past with its contemporary greatness, and showed Rome as an ideal body politic. In spite of the authentic enrichment of the iconographic practice, those issues showed, just as in the 1st c. little variety as regards the inscriptions of the reverse. We would look there in vain for any clear allusions the political events of the time, or to the political situation of the Roman state. In the 3rd c. scenes connected with Aeneas disappeared from the monetary iconography. The most frequent symbolical image is that of the she-wolf nourishing children; sporadically we may find also Romulus with his trophy, or Mars and Rhea Silvia. The ideological message of these coins reflects the political orientation of the authorities responsible for the issues, and also the principal political worries of the epoch. The allusions to the eternity of Rome and to the illustrious ancestors of the Romans could serve the purpose of confirming the legitimacy of the imperial power, and could contribute to its strengthening. In this context, we can see them as connected with the ideas of salus Augusti, aeternitas Augusti, and virtus Augusti.

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Kluczek, A. A. (2005). The Legendary Beginnings of Rome in the Ideology and Propaganda of the Rulers of the Roman Empire (from the 1st to 3rd cc. AD). Wieki Stare I Nowe, 4, 37–56. https://doi.org/10.31261/WSN.2005.05.03

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Vol. 4 (2005)
Published: 2025-08-13


ISSN: 1899-1556
eISSN: 2353-9739

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Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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