Late antique origins of the ‘Imperial Feminine’:
Late antique origins of the ‘Imperial Feminine’:

western and eastern empresses compared

Summary/Abstract: This short analysis of the origins of late antique empresses aims to identify specifi c features of imperial power exercised by women. Many wives of emperors found themselves widowed and thus in a position to infl uence the education of their young sons, the ‘child emperors’ of the fi fth century. Contrasting the eastern and western courts at Constantinople and Ravenna, it’s possible to trace patterns of preparation for imperial rule, how daughters of rulers were trained, later celebrated as augoustai, commemorated in statues and on coins. After comparing Pulcheria and Galla Placidia, the surprising career of Verina is contrasted with that of Ariadne, linking all four in the emerging phenomenon of the ‘imperial feminine’.

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