Presenting Power to the People: Monetary Iconography of the Late Roman State

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My research project is a quantitative-based investigation of Late Roman base-metal coin propaganda, from the accession of Diocletian (284) to the death of Theodosius II (450). Unlike the more focused distribution of precious metal coinage to civic and military elite audiences, the base-metal coinage was a state-produced medium intended to circulate amongst the wider non-elite residents of the empire. Analysis of this resource enables us to consider what ideological aspects the Late Roman state most wanted to publicise amongst its non-elite citizenry, and how regular exposure to these messages may have affected the wider populace's experience of imperial authority. As such, it offers the opportunity to examine at least one side of the dialogue between the Roman state and the silent majority of its subjects.