L’empereur romain aux IIe et IIIe siècles : corps physique et corps symbolique d’après les historiens antiques
Résumé
This paper focuses on the bodies of the emperors of the 2nd and 3rdcenturies (excluding the Tetrarchs), which have not been the subject of a systematicstudy. How can we approach these imperial bodies through the ancient historicalsources? The four main sources are Cassius Dio, Herodian, the scriptor of the socalledHistoria Augusta, and the pseudo-Aurelius Victor. I examine how muchemphasis they place on the physical description of emperors and how they measurethe impact of the body on imperial stature. I then consider the criteria used to assess“corporeality”, a broader notion than that of the body, involving clothing, food,and sexual practices in particular. Finally, I analyze the evolution of the perceptionof imperial bodies: one of the relevant changes between the written sources of thefirst half of the third century and those of the end of the fourth century, is that itbecomes increasingly difficult to get an idea of the real imperial body.