Propaganda was alive and well in Late Antique Rome. In a city struggling to maintain its significance, the use of small portable objects - coins, contorniates, diptychs, and calendars - was essential in the manipulation of social memory. In the fifth century, the Western Empire suffered several setbacks. It is in this period that the emperors refrained from campaigning, the city of Rome was sacked by the Visigoths and the Vandals, and the provinces of Britannia, Gallia, Hispania, and Africa were lost. From the emperor to the lowliest local official, messages of effective governing, military prowess, the changing religious climate, and classical Roman virtues were disseminated throughout the city. These messages, meant to convince the people at Rome of its stability, were unable, in the end, to prevent its demise.
Dawson, Sarah,
"Social Memory in Fifth Century Rome"
(2010).
Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z05M63ZW
