Un model de comunicare politică descendentă: Symmachus, or. II
A model of top-down political communication: Symmachus, Or. II

Summary/Abstract: In recent historiography, numerous studies have underlined the importance of panegyrics for decoding different aspects of the official political discourse. In this article, starting from the concept of top-down political communication, proposed by the French historian Guy Sabbah, we will analyse the structure of the encomiastic discourse held by Symmachus at Augusta Treverorum (Or. II [1st of January 370]), in line with the ideological aspirations of emperor Valentinianus I’s regime. With this methodological approach we can gain a better understanding of the importance of this formal propagandistic milieu in the performance of political communication in Late Antiquity. In this context, Symmachus is one of the most important witnesses for documenting the political relations between the Imperial Court and amplissimus ordo at the end of the 4th century.

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