Defeat on Display: The Public Abuse of Usurpers and Rebels in Late Antiquity

Abstract: This paper examines the treatment of deposed emperors, defeated usurpers, and other political malcontents in Late Antiquity. During the period, such individuals, or their corpses, were occasionally displayed before the public in some of the major cities of the Roman Empire. While this phenomenon has attracted comparatively little attention in the historiography, this paper demonstrates that it can tell us much about late antique society. By studying these displays in detail, it explores the traditions and practices from which they emerged, how their nature and functions evolved over time, and the extent to which they affected the empire's inhabitants. Ultimately, the paper argues that their development during the period reflects a more autocratic political culture but one which still valued and solicited popular participation in the legitimization of power.