Victory of Propaganda

Description

The success of Septimius Severus’ reign may be attributed to a well-developed system of political institutions accepted by the population. Every sensible statesman would not only have been aware of the importance of propaganda as part of this system, but would also have used it through all means at his disposal. This work deals generally with the methods of disseminating imperial propaganda during the period of the Severan dynasty, and concentrates specifically on the place of the imperial portrait among the various mass-communication media available to the Roman government, and the roles it was meant to play. Understanding the mechanism of Severan imperial propaganda and its nature not only constitutes part of an effort to reconstruct a period not easily studied by means of available sources, but can also help us understand the mechanism of propaganda in general throughout the history of the Roman Empire.