Book contents
- Imagining the Roman Emperor
- Imagining the Roman Emperor
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface: in omnibus varius – A Multifaceted Emperor
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction An Imagined Emperor
- Chapter 1 A History of the Roman Emperor
- Chapter 2 The Emperor As an Arbiter of Justice
- Chapter 3 The Generosity of the Roman Emperor
- Chapter 4 Wonder Tales
- Chapter 5 Wisdom and Wit: Making Fun of the Emperor
- Chapter 6 Living in an Age of Gold, or the Emperor As a Temporal Figure
- Coda
- References
- Index
Chapter 4 - Wonder Tales
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2023
- Imagining the Roman Emperor
- Imagining the Roman Emperor
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface: in omnibus varius – A Multifaceted Emperor
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction An Imagined Emperor
- Chapter 1 A History of the Roman Emperor
- Chapter 2 The Emperor As an Arbiter of Justice
- Chapter 3 The Generosity of the Roman Emperor
- Chapter 4 Wonder Tales
- Chapter 5 Wisdom and Wit: Making Fun of the Emperor
- Chapter 6 Living in an Age of Gold, or the Emperor As a Temporal Figure
- Coda
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter outlines the emperor as a figure of wonder and monstrosity. The power of the Roman emperor and empire sought the curation of weird and wonderful things from across the empire and beyond. Such wonders and monstrosities were brought to Rome for public display, which coloured how the emperor himself was perceived in literature that ranges from biography and historiography to paradoxography. The emperor as a figure of enormous power and as a monster comes into full focus.
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- Imagining the Roman EmperorPerceptions of Rulers in the High Empire, pp. 131 - 159Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023