AGM and Presentation by Dr Amelia Brown

The Abbey Museum Friends invite you to their first Presentation of 2026 – When and Why Did Roman Emperors Start Wearing Crowns by Dr. Amelia Brown on Saturday, 7th February at the Abbey Hall.

SYNOPSIS
Crowns of gold, gems and pearls, along with regalia like sceptres, cross-bearing orbs and purple cloaks, are today some of the most recognisable symbols of royalty, or imperial power. Yet the first Roman emperors wore only oak or laurel wreath crowns, and a simple golden signet ring, as befitted their status as citizens, principes and triumphant generals. Even the first Christian emperor, Constantine, was shown on many of his coins wearing only a simple ribbon or diadem headband. As part of the Australian Research Council project ‘Images of Power: Roman Mass Media and Imperial Cult, circa 79 to 450 CE,’ Dr Amelia Brown explores when, how and why Roman emperors, and their high officials, elite subjects or court artists, created distinctive modes of dress, jewelery and even Christian attributes for the emperor’s closet, ceremonial use, and official imperial portraits.

Crowns of gold and gems first imitated vegetal victory wreaths, then gained quasi-divine solar rays, while purple passed from a symbol of Roman citizenship to an imperial prerogative. Armor, cloaks and even the toga were made with more expensive decoration, so the emperor might stand out from the army or the senate. Sceptres and orbs passed into imperial imagery from the attributes of the gods, but also via the powerful legacy of Alexander the Great and Hellenistic kings. Only a limited number of people actually saw the emperor himself, however, to appreciate and respect the status of almost unlimited power which these attributes signalled.

Images both large and small of emperors, empresses and their family circulated widely in the Roman Empire, though, from coins to glass phalerae medallions or military awards, frescoes to busts to life-size statuary standing in temples, basilicas, shops, banks or public offices. Yet how could their imperial subjects ‘see’ that this image was the emperor, and then recognise the new Christian dimension of emperor Constantine, or his dynasty? Portraits from Constantine to Theodosius and beyond show many pre-existing symbols of Roman imperial authority and dress unchanged from Diocletian’s tetrarchy, or even Hadrian, and gradually others newly-Christianised, such as the crown, orb, sceptre, spear or military armor. Crosses, chi-rho’s and other Early Christian symbols previously separated from the imperial office thus became part of the imperial imagery of power all across the Roman empire.

Join Dr Amelia Brown as she unpacks some of the underlying symbolism of the first regalia of the Roman emperors, its significance to a wide range of viewers, and its contexts of display on the emperor’s person and on his portraits. For assuredly these new Roman and Christian attributes of imperial power had enduring political, artistic, and especially religious impact on all later rulers, audiences and portrait makers.

SPEAKER’S BIO
Dr. Amelia R. Brown is an archaeologist, historian and Hellenist. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and a Senior Associate Member of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Her current research project funded for 3 years from the Australian Research Council is ‘Images of Power: Roman Mass Media & Imperial Cults, 69-450 CE.’ She was previously Senior Lecturer in Greek History and Language at the University of Queensland, Australia, and a Hannah Seeger Davis postdoctoral fellow in Hellenic Studies at Princeton. In 2026, she will offer an American School summer seminar on the Chalkidike peninsula.

Her academic teaching and research interests include Ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Mediterranean and maritime history, archaeology, language, literature and art history. She is working on a book on Greek seafaring cults and maritime religion, after a DECRA grant from the Australian Research Council; the publication of the Roman portraits from the Corinth Excavations; and a translation of the Miracles of St. Nicholas of Myra.

She received her PhD in 2008 from the University of California at Berkeley in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, and her AB from Princeton University in 1999, with High Honours in History, Hellenic Studies and Visual Arts. She has published two books and over 20 research articles, and divides her time between Brisbane and the island of Malta, with her husband Graham and two children.

Includes a light afternoon tea. This event will follow the Friends AGM at 1pm.

Time: 2pm – 4pm

Location: The Abbey Hall (located behind the Abbey Museum), 31 The Abbey Place, Caboolture

Tickets: $20 Guest | $10 Friends Member
+ Booking Fee

Terms and Conditions apply – Please read our Terms and Conditions before purchasing tickets.

Dietary Requirements: Vegetarian and Gluten Free options ONLY available.

Accessibility: The Abbey Hall is wheelchair friendly but NOT accessible by mobility scooters or electric wheelchairs. See our Accessibility page for more information.

Health Information: Please stay at home if you are experiencing any cold or flu-like symptoms such as a headache, fever, coughing or a sore throat.