“Sensory Stimuli And The Construction Of Monarchical Power In Roman Processions”

This workshop will focus on the sensory stimuli associated with the image of the Roman emperor in religious processions. Starting from one of the basic premises of studies on sensoriality – that sensations are one of the factors that construct reality – I will focus on the interaction between sensations and the stimuli that provoked them, especially on the movement of the statues. I propose reading the movement of images from a kinesthetic perspective, which will allow us to see how this movement might provoke a “dissonant sensory experience” (in Emma-Jayne Graham’s words) related to the nature of the emperor’s power. I argue that the resulting ambiguities allow us to delve deeper into the construction of ideas about the power of the emperor.