this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026
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Explanation: In an era before mass communication or mass literacy, with the Roman Empire ruling over innumerable peoples with their own customs and cultural outlooks, coinage and symbolism were a major conduit of Imperial propaganda. After all, who doesn't use money? For that reason, after major events, Romans would mint new coins to celebrate achievements and spread awareness of the GLORY of ROME. Here is the coinage minted by the Emperor Vespasian after the First Jewish-Roman War.
Traditional Roman portraiture, especially republican portraiture, highly valued a 'warts and all' vision of subjects over idealism, even for the highest ranked officials, so Emperor Vespasian there is depicted with all of his chonky glory. If you meet the Emperor on the street, it would be nice to at least recognize the man, not some abstract idea of his office!
On the face, there is the long list of abbreviated imperial titles which granted the Emperor his (theoretical) legal right to do basically whatever he wanted. On the reverse is written "IVDEA CAPTA" - "Judea conquered" and "SC" - "[issued by] Decree of the Senate"
Here you can see that after generations of having their throats cut, emperors began to evolve protective tissues. /s
You should see him inflate his neck pouch to frighten off predators