Icons of Power. The Late Antique Imperial Portrait as Image and Amulet

This paper charts the evidence that the imperial portrait enjoyed a special philosophical, ritual, and legal status that equated representations of the emperor with the person of the emperor. Building from an analysis of the coin ornaments, the author proposes an iconic model of efficacy for the amulet in late antiquity. Reading the prescriptions of the Greek Magical Papyri through the lens of late antique Neoplatonic thought, the icon, understood as a word or an image, can be understood as an essential component in the construction of a talisman.