The ruler in the 'citizen’s garb' or the image of dynasts in Trajan Decius’s coinage (249–251)

Abstract

The article engages the problems of the promoting of the members of Trajan Decius’s family in the representations featured on medallions and coins (249–251). It focuses on the representations which feature two and three representatives of the dynasty. Such shared representations manifested the stability of the rule of the dynasty, the collaboration of the members of the dynasty and the resulting benefits for the empire and its inhabitants, which is indicated by the following ideas: concordia, pietas, liberalitas, promoted by the mint in Rome. The thing that links the imperial coinage with the provincial one is the representation of rules in togae, seated in sellae curules. Such an image of the members of the dynasty was utilised in the coins from Anazarbus. This is testimony to the significance of the imperial representations in the practical sphere, especially in the rivalry of the provincial elites for position in the region of the empire.