Imperial ideals in the Roman West

the long version

"This book examines the figure of the Roman emperor as a unifying symbol for the Western Empire. It documents an extensive correspondence between the ideals cited in honorific inscriptions for the emperor erected across the Western Empire and those advertised on imperial coins minted at Rome. This reveals that the dissemination of specific imperial ideals was more pervasive than previously thought, and indicates a high degree of ideological unification amongst the aristocracies of the Western provinces. The widespread circulation of a particular set of imperial ideals, and the particular form of ideological unification that this brought about, not only reinforced the power of the Roman imperial state, but also increased the authority of local aristocrats, thereby facilitating a general convergence of social power that defined the High Roman Empire"-- "The Roman empire, like all empires, may be seen as a particular configuration of power. Controlled by an interlinked set of central institutions and layered aristocracies, this configuration of power reached its widest extent, deepest penetration, and greatest stability between the late first century BC and early third century AD. One feature of this 250-year period that distinguishes it from the previous two and a half centuries, when the Roman state was creating its overseas empire, was the existence of a single, empire-wide ruler, the emperor, who functioned in part as a unifying symbol for the far-flung territories and widely scattered inhabitants of the Roman world. There were no symbols of comparable resonance under the Republic"--