501 Teitler Hans Teitler, Utrecht University, Department of History, Kromme Nieuwegracht 66, 3512 HL, Utrecht, The Netherlands. International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Vol. 8, No. 4, Spring 2002, pp. 501–521. Raising on a Shield: Origin and...
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501 Teitler Hans Teitler, Utrecht University, Department of History, Kromme Nieuwegracht 66, 3512 HL, Utrecht, The Netherlands. International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Vol. 8, No. 4, Spring 2002, pp. 501–521. Raising on a Shield: Origin and Afterlife of a Coronation Ceremony HANS TEITLER This article deals with ‘raising on a shield’ both as a historical phenomenon and as subject of artistic representation. Originally Germanic, the ritual is for the first time attested in Tacitus, in a passage about Brinno, the chief of the Cananefates who cooperated with “Claudius” Civilis during the Batavian revolt. Next comes Julian, nicknamed the Apos- tate, who, raised on a shield by his Gallic and Germanic soldiers, was the first Roman emperor to undergo this ritual, witness Ammianus Marcellinus and Libanius. After Julian, the ‘raising on a shield’ soon became part and parcel of the Byzantine coronation cer- emony (literary sources and illustrations in mediaeval manuscripts testify to it
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