232 The Imperial Government
Theselocaldetailsaresignificantonlyasillustrationsofmytheme,which
isthecomplexity,andtheinterest,ofthepoliticalrelationswhichwerecre-
atedwhenakingdomortetrarchyordynasteiafunctionedasanelementin
awiderempire.Firstly,torepeat,theRomanEmpireitselfwasacomplex
organisationintermsofideology,constitution,andpoliticalstructure.Ina
generalsense,itisnotmisleadingtodescribeitsimplyasamonarchy.But
it was a monarchy which, as seen from the centre,was defined in relation
totheinstitutionsoftheRomanstate,theres publica:theSenate,certainly,
but not only the Senate. In formal terms, the sovereign bodyof the early
EmpirewastheRomanpeople.AstheTabulaSiarensisshows,theproperde-
scriptionofthelegionswhichwerelostunderVarusina.d.9was‘‘anarmy
oftheRomanpeople.’’^13 Seenfromtheprovincesandthedependentking-
doms,however,theEmpirewasindeed,toaverylargeextent,personified
by the emperor himself. If we needed any proof of that, it is provided by
thecitycoinagesoftheearlyEmpire,whichgiveaveryprominentplaceto
thenameandimageoftheemperor,andofmembersof hisfamily.Inthis
respect, as in so manyothers, the appearance of the first volume ofRoman
Provincial Coinage,coveringtheperiod44b.c.toa.d.69,isalandmarkinthe
historyofoursubject.^14 Inactualpractice,moreover,sofaraskingdomswere
concerned,relationstotheemperorinpersonwereveryimportant:forin-
stanceintheeducationofroyalchildrenatRome,ofwhichSuetoniusalso
speaks,^15 orinpersonalappearancesbykingsatRomebeforetheemperor,
or(occasionally)evenbeforetheSenate,^16 orinformalbestowalsofadia-
dembytheemperorinperson.MuchofthefuturehistoryoftheEmpireis
summedupinthesceneatRhodesin30b.c.,whenHerodappearedbefore
Octavianwithouthisdiadem,arguedthathispreviousloyaltytoAntonius
shouldbetakenasasignofhisfutureloyaltytothenewemperor,andwas
13.AE1984,no.508;J.GonzálezFernández,Bronces jurídicos romanos de Andalucía(1990),
no.11,fr.1,lines14–15(M.H.Crawford,ed.,Roman StatutesI[1996],no.37,lines14–15
onp.515):‘‘[T]hefraudulentdisasterinflictedonanarmyoftheRomanpeoplehasbeen
avenged’’(vindicata frau[dulenta clade] exercitus p. R.).SeeF.Millar,‘‘ImperialIdeologyinthe
TabulaSiarensis,’’inJ.GonzálezandJ.Arce,eds.,EstudiossobrelaTabulaSiarensis(1988),11–18
(Millar[n.3],chap.15,350–59).
14.A.Burnett,A.Amandry,andP.Ripollès,Roman Provincial CoinageI:From the Death
of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44bc–ad69)(1992).
- Suetonius,Div. Aug. 48: ‘‘And he raised and educated the sons of many of them
togetherwithhisown.’’See,e.g.,D.Braund,Rome and the Friendly King: The Characterof the
Client Kingship(1984),chap.1. - SeeF.Millar,‘‘Emperors,FrontiersandForeignRelations,31bctoad378,’’Britannia
13(1982):1–23,onp.4(chapter9inthisvolume).