La propagande impériale par les monnaies de Claude à Domitien : quelques aspects d'une évolution
Jacques Alexandropoulos · Pallas · 1994
Data are as yet insufficient towards determining with accuracy the part played by the Domitian years within the framework of numismatic evolution : there lack for the coinage of too many emperors such monographies as that which I. Carradice devoted to Domitian's coinage. A comparison with Claudius' reign, which along with Domitian's stands out as an important stage in the constitution of an imperial coinage, shows that in the days of Domitian coiners had achieved with the concentration in Rome of the coinage of the West, a greater mastery in monetary production and the propagation of the imperial image. The iconography of Domitian draws its inspiration to a large extent from the themes of the Julio-Claudian emperors, although no single model of reference can be defined in preference to another. The originality of the Domitian years, in addition to the themes that are particular to the emperor viz. the Jovian cult and Minerva's protection associated with the imperial image, lies in the multiplication of the various treatment of the same theme rather that in the creation of new themes. Is this enough to make of Domitian's reign a turning point in the evolution of the imperial coinage ?