Roman_Coins_And_Politics

Roman Coins And Politics During the first and second centuries, the women of the imperial family of the Roman Empire had a difficult role to play. Far beyond being just wives, mothers, daughters or other various relations of the emperor, from a political point of view, they were effective tools in manipulating public opinion and in expressing the policies and the political messages of the Augustus. However, they were just that: tools. For the most part, and there are a few exceptions to this, they had no political power of their own. Because of this, the emperors could control how, and why, the images of these women appeared in the art of the empire. One of the most important forms these images appeared in was in the imperial coinage. This form reached the most people, displayed the message most clearly, and was the least expensive to produce, so the messages and images pressed on them were carefully thought out and were of great importance in presenting the political propaganda of the emperor. Several examples of the roles women played in the coinage can be seen in an Aureus of Nero from 54, a Sestertius of Trajan nero, emperor, coin, trajan, inscription, obverse, children, reverse, political, one, seen, roman, faustina, fact, empire, claudius, women, son, septimius, mother, marriage, important, imperial, funerary, coinage, both, although, younger, title, sister, similar, shows, sestertius, respect, peaceful