#Roman Empress

[injuries-in-dust]

Ancient trans women getting recognised!

[grayjoy15]

Day 6: Berenice of Cilicia, client queen of Roman Judea. During the First Jewish-Roman War, she advocated for the safety of her people, but the violence escalated anyway. She curiously became the mistress of future emperor Titus while he was in Judea quelling the revolt, and may have eventually become his wife had it not been for the Roman stigma against foreign queens.

[dreamconsumer]

Constantine the Great (272-337) and his mother Helena of Constantinople (246/248-330).

[geekynerfherder]

'Eudocia' by Noriyoshi Ohrai.

Cover art for 'SF Adventure', published May 1985 in Japan.

[ancientstuff]

Such an interesting article! It's also really long, but well worth the read.

[jagzii]

"If you’ve read my article on Emperor Nero, you’ve probably heard about Emperor Claudius’s fourth wife, Agrippina. She was one tough lady, and history didn’t paint her kindly because of it. Often depicted as cold, calculating, and downright murderous, Agrippina’s far-reaching involvement in Roman politics was perceived as overtly “masculine” and therefore feared. It’s ironic, therefore, that her predecessor, the subject of today’s article, Empress Messalina, was also considered transgressive due to her overly “feminine” image."

Read the rest here: https://open.substack.com/pub/ananyajagoorie/p/rumour-has-it?r=7dcr2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

[hand-crafted-enriched-memes]

Galla Placidia girl boss edit

[romans-art]

some friends and I have a fancast of Greta Garbo in a 1930s historical epic about the byzantine Empress Irene so ofc I drew it

[meerabanerjee]

The voices (Rhaenyra and Amethyst Empress parallels) got me so good this time fanart was produced 😯

[uncleclaudius]

The statue of Livia, wife of emperor Augustus and mother of emperor Tiberius, portrayed as the goddess Ceres.

[city-of-ladies]

"During the reign of her husband the primary function of an Augusta was the orchestration of ceremonial at the imperial court, a highly stylised and intricate affair given the ceremonial nature of imperial life, which was based primarily around the Great Palace, a huge complex extending from the hippodrome to the sea walls, with its own gardens, sporting grounds, barracks, audience halls and private apartments; the Great Palace was the official residence of the emperor until 1204, though under Alexios Komnenos the imperial family usually occupied the Blachernai Palace in the north-west of the city, while there were other residential palaces in and outside of the capital. Empresses’ public life remained largely separate from that of their husbands, especially prior to the eleventh century, and involved a parallel court revolving around ceremonies involving the wives of court officials. For this reason an empress at court was considered to be essential: Michael II was encouraged to marry by his magnates because an emperor needed a wife and their wives an empress. 

The patriarch Nicholas permitted the third marriage of Leo VI because of the need for an empress in the palace: ‘since there must be a Lady in the Palace to manage ceremonies affecting the wives of your nobles, there is condonation of the third marriage…’ While the empress primarily presided over her own ceremonial sphere, with her own duties and functions, she could be also present at court banquets, audiences and the reception of envoys, as well as taking part in processions and in services in St Sophia and elsewhere in the city; one of her main duties was the reception of the wives of foreign rulers and heads of state. Nor were empresses restricted to the capital: both Martina and Irene Doukaina accompanied their husbands on campaign.

The empress was also in charge of the gynaikonitis, the women’s quarters in the palace, where she had her own staff, primarily though not entirely composed of eunuchs, under the supervision of her own chamberlain; when empresses like Irene, Theodora wife of Theophilos, and Zoe Karbounopsina came to power they often relied on this staff of eunuchs as their chief ministers and even their generals. Theodora the Macedonian was unusual in not appointing a eunuch as her chief minister, perhaps because her age made such gender considerations unnecessary. The ladies of the court were the wives of patricians and other dignitaries: a few ladies, the zostai, were especially appointed and held rank in their own right. The zoste patrikia was at the head of these ladies (she was usually a relative of the empress),and dined with the imperial family."

Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527-1204, Lynda Garland

[grayjoy15]

Day 10: Julia Mamaea, mother of Severus Alexander. After the murder of her sister Soaemias and the emperor Elagabalus, Mamaea was able to win the favor of the Praetorian Guard and establish her own son Alexander as emperor. Mamaea (and her mother) managed the empire on behalf of her son and even accompanied him on campaigns as he grew up. Her influence over Alexander ultimately caused the army to turn on him, and they were both assassinated.

[illustratus]

Queen Zenobia's last look upon Palmyra by Herbert Gustave Schmalz

[flock-of-cassowaries]

Succession hot take of the night:

Roman’s deepest wish is to be accepted even at his smallest and most pathetic; to take off the mask his upbringing and social position have compelled him to wear. That’s why he so enjoys the slime puppy treatment.

Kendall’s greatest drive, on the other hand, is to seek constant adulation from every direction, to shore up the inflated perception of himself that his dad taught him to project. He is seeking reassurance that the mask he wears is who he is.

Just to round things out:

Siobhan wants constant reassurance that she won’t just be cast aside, the way that her dad has cast her aside, and the way her mother has, and her brothers, and whoever she was on the rebound from when she met Thomas the Debatably Broad. (And the way she saw her mother cast aside by her father.)

Meanwhile, Connor is just googling Napoleon cosplay “-dynamite”

[classic-art-favourites]

Isabella of Portugal by Titian, 1548.

[romegreeceart]

Roman denarius depicting Empress Sabina and Venus Genetrix

128-137 CE

silver

Source, National Museum of Finland, Numismatic Collection, FINNA

Creator: Ilari Järvinen, Helsinki

Copyright Notice: Public Domain; CC BY 4.0, Suomen kansallismuseo/FINNA