Imagines Imperatorum - Images of Power - Roman Portraits on Coins -
First
Century AD
Imperial Portrait types were controlled by the imperial
administration,
aligned to and combined with propaganda messages such as military
victories, or strength of the dynasty. Portraits
were distributed to
the people across the empire using different and parallel news media.
Main
news media were sculpture, paintings, medals,
and coins. Roman coins of
even the most shortlived emperors survived till today, as millions and
millions of coins were issued, and people in ancient times proactively
tried to hide them away due to their intrinsic metal value. Thus coins
are a major source of
information for Roman imperial portraits. Except the most esotheric
usurpators, all Roman Emperors and many of their family members had
coins with their portraits issued.
For a recent example showing the value of Roman coins for
portrait research see for an
article on Geta and Caracalla by clicking on this link.
In
this section we present high quality portrait coins for every Emperor
or family member known to have been shown on Roman coins, with
portraits from the late Roman Republic after the middle of the 1st
century BC to Justinian 1st in the early 6th century AD. Coins were
selected for highest quality representation of each portrait type and
best state of conservation.
All images are copyright protected,
please respect this
copyright ! Any use without written permission is illegal.
Images
are shown here in
reduced resolution
but can be
made available in highest resolution for print publications
(300dpi up to poster size). Also all reverse images are
available.
Please note some exceptional coin images are marked with the
request to contact us to see the full image.
Please
contact Andreas Pangerl at romancoins.info@yahoo.com for details.
Livia
Agrippa
Agrippa, Julia, Caius and Lucius Caesares
Julia and Tiberius
Tiberius and his Son Drusus minor
Drusus minor and his children
Drusus major
Antonia
Antonia and Germanicus
Agrippina major and Germanicus
Agrippina and her older sons Nero and Drusus
Caligula
Caligula and his uncle Claudius
Claudius
Claudius and Messalina
Britannicus and Nero with Agrippina minor
Agrippina minor and Nero
Agrippina minor and Claudius
Agrippina minor
Nero
Clodius Macer and Galba
Galba
Galba and Otho
Otho
Otho and Vitellius
Vitellius
Vitellius' father and Vespasian
Vespasian
Diva Domitilla
Titus
Titus and his daughter Julia
Domitian
Domitian and Domitia
Domitia (who supported the assassination of Domitian) and Nerva
(candidate of the senatorial assassins)
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