Authority: the powerful emperor and the ‘silky puppet’

Lucius Verus tried everything here to put the focus on him as the ‘Conqueror of the Armenians’ and as the victorious one in the long Parthian struggle in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. A common way to express authority for Roman emperors was to write down their titles. We have of course already seen the meaning of ARMENIACVS, but the reverse side shows some of his titles. “TR P IIII” means that Lucius Verus held Tribunicia Potestas for the 4th time, which means he held power of the tribune of the plebs. “IMP II” meant he was Imperator for the second time. In this case, Lucius Verus was able to claim this title after his military success in Armenia. Lastly, “COS II” refers to his second consulship, which he held just before he became co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius. Dietmar Kienast, Römische Kaisertabelle. Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie (Rome 1990) 137 For Lucius, these titles were a way of showing his power and therefore his authority. For historians, titles like these make it possible to date the coins rather precisely, at least to a year and at times even to months. We can thus conclude that this coin was produced between 10 December 163 to 9 Dec 164.

But don’t let these titles deceive you. Lucius Verus wanted to portray himself positively with this kind of ‘ancient propaganda’.We know that Armenia was an important region for the Romans to keep control over. A ‘puppet ruler’ like Sohaemus was therefore crucial to the Roman authorities. His value cannot be underestimated. It remains a pity that we don’t have more information about this figure, but these unknown stories from the edges of the Roman Empire deserve more attention, appreciation and awareness than they get right now..