Titles of the emperors of the late Roman Empire (late III–mid V centuries)

Abstract

In recent years, a number of researchers have paid increased attention to the phenomena directly related to the sociocultural mode of ruling. However, in the domestic historiography only the Middle Ages (e.g. Boitsov, Polskaya, Voskoboynikov, Khachaturyan) are closely studied in this aspect, while antiquity remains without researchers’ attention, although it is the basis of the formation of medieval monarchies. Moreover, modern historians developing the concept of «Late Antiquity» originally focused their attention on the cultural, religious and social spheres of Late Antique society, while they were little interested in the political and institutional history of the Late Roman Empire, and accordingly there was a lack of research on these issues. Consideration of the titles of the Roman emperor allows us to bridge the mentioned gaps observed in historiography.Based on the analysis of a set of numismatic and epigraphic sources dating from the 3rd to 5th centuries, the author shows changes in the titles of Roman emperors during this period. In particular, a conclusion is made about the gradual disappearance of the title imperator, which already under the heirs of Constantine almost ceased to be used. At the same time the main title becomes dominus noster, which was gradually included in the official name since the emperors of the III c. There is also a gradual disappearance of victory acclamations, epithets pius felix invictus, references to republican posts, and the title Caesar. However, we observe the appearance of the word victor et triumphator and the addition of the epithets semper or perpetuus to the title augustus.These changes in the titles are explained by the shift in emphasis from the exaltation of the emperor’s personality with the help of specific epithets to emphasizing the impersonal and absolute character of imperial power, expressed in the theatrical rituals of Late Antiquity.

Keywords

• late antiquity
• titles of roman emperors
• late roman empire
• representation of power
• political imagology
• titulature