L’Imperator Caesar Augustus, protecteur et garant de la paix. Variations sur un même thème des discours et pratiques impériales

Abstract

This article looks at the Imperial discourse that gradually emerged from Augustus onwards, right up to the posture of the princes of the 3rd and 4th centuries in the face of barbarian incursions, in order to measure the extent to which the figure of the princeps, the holder of the imperium domi et militiae, was elaborately constructed as both a conqueror at the head of his armies of new territories and a guarantor of peace. The sources used are primarily epigraphic and numismatic, leading on to a approach by the Latin abbreviators and the Historia Augusta, at the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries, depicting an (impossible, utopian?) return to eternal / perpetual peace in a world that was nonetheless under attack from the barbarians, before the traumatic capture of Rome in 410. Words and images work together to identify thepersonaof the prince and the destiny of the vast imperial territory under his control. The good prince can both lead his soldiers to victory and claim a return to peace that benefits everyone.

Keywords

• Roman Empire
• Augustus
• Constantine
• imperial discourse
• imperial titulature
• inscriptions