Summary
This article seeks to address the question how the Tetrarchic system of four rulers could be presented as legitimate in a society that had never seen this political constellation before. What were the different modes of presenting Tetrarchic rule and how did they help in making the new system acceptable? The article argues that new power structures needed to be formulated in familiar terms, not only for the rulers to legitimate their position, but also for the ruled to understand such new systems. As a result, imperial messages during the Tetrarchic period were strongly influenced by traditional modes of representation from earlier periods. Traditions which were inherent in specific media and locations were determining factors for the way in which a new political system could be presented. The result was a much less coherent ideological Tetrarchic message than is often assumed. The image of group identity was regularly lost in a more complex and messy mode of formulating power. The new and innovative aspects of a collegiate rule by four emperors was less important than linking the power of those rulers to what was traditionally expected of the portrayal of Roman emperorship.
Acknowledgments
This research is part of the NWO-funded project “Constraints and Traditions” (https://www.ru.nl/constraintsandtradition/). The authors are grateful to Nathalie de Haan, Eckhard Meyer-Zwiffelhofer, Neil McLynn and Danielle Slootjes for their comments on earlier drafts and to Cristian Gazdac and Bojan Popović for providing relevant images.
List of Figures
Fig. 1a, 1b: Cast of a porphyry head of a Tetrarch (possibly Galerius, height 34 cm) from Felix Romuliana, with detail of the laureate crown set in with busts (figure 1b). Oxford, Ashmolean Museum. Photo by Sam Heijnen.
Fig. 2: Relief of enthroned Tetrarchs on the Arch of Galerius, Thessaloniki. Public domain.
Fig. 3: South niche of the imperial cult chamber, Luxor. Photo by Olaf Tausch.
Fig. 4a, 4b: Argenteus (3.17 g), Ticinum AD 294, showing Diocletian on the obverse (legend: DIOCLETIANVS AVG), and the four emperors at sacrifice on the reverse (figure 4a; legend: VICTORIA SARMAT): RIC VI Ticinum 12a. Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society.
Fig. 5: Reverse types of Tetrarchic silver after Diocletian’s currency reform based on RIC (n = 292).
Fig. 6a, 6b: Antoninianus (4.12 g), Lugdunum AD 294, showing Maximian on the obverse (legend: IMP MAXIMIANVS AVG), and Diocletian and Maximian sacrificing over a tripod on the reverse (legend: VOTIS X): RIC V Diocletian 467. Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society.
Fig. 7a, 7b: Gold multiple (54.45 g), Trier AD 293–294, showing the busts of Diocletian and Galerius on the obverse (legend: DIOCLETIANVS AVG ET MAXIMIANVS C), and the busts of Maximian and Constantius on the reverse (legend: MAXIMIANVS AVG ET CONSTANTIVS C): RIC VI Treveri 2. Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society.
Fig. 8a: Porphyry statues of the Tetrarchs built into the San Marco, Venice. Public domain.
Fig. 8b-1: Porphyry statues of the Tetrarchs in the Biblioteca Apostolica, Vatican. D-DAI-ROM-5694.
Fig. 8b-2: Porphyry statues of the Tetrarchs in the Biblioteca Apostolica, Vatican. D-DAI-ROM-5695.
Fig. 9: Sandstone pilaster (B) from Felix Romuliana with images of the Tetrarchs. Photo by Bojan Popović.
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