During his extended imperial tours in the second century, the emperor Hadrian and his officials sought to articulate the evolving relationship between Rome's Italian center and its provinces. The most striking product of this initiative was a series of provincial coins that reflected the history of specific provinces and their role in the empire more broadly. Four centuries later, Justinian engaged in a similar project in the prefaces to his new laws, or Novels, by including potted histories of the empire's territories, especially in Asia Minor. Despite the difference in media and the temporal gap between these two initiatives, they represent the same essential project: the Roman government's attempt to communicate its view of the provinces to a broader public. This talk examines the different ways in which Hadrian and Justinian understood the provinces and attempts to link these evolving representations to the realities of empire in the second and sixth centuries.
The webinar will be in English.
