In 293 the emperor Diocletian instituted the Tetrarchy, the system whereby the unwieldy Roman Empire was divided into two portions, each ruled by a senior and a junior emperor. For such a system to succeed, it was important that the four rulers behave as a united family, an aim achieved in part by inter-marriage. On a more ideological level, the tetrarchs styled themselves as belonging to one of two divine dynasties. Diocletian drew his lineage from Jove, and Maximian from Hercules. Constantine I and his father Constantius Chlorus were both adopted into the dynasty of the Herculii. This cameo makes plain the emperor’s membership in this divine clan by representing him as Hercules wearing the skin of the Nemean lion as a helmet. Constantine stopped using the name Herculii after his adoption of Christianity, so the image is a rare one, although it does appear on two cameos in a private collection (Content Family Collection 139, 140).

- J. Hanson

M. C. Ross, Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, vol. 1, Metalwork, Ceramics, Glass, Glyptics, Painting (Washington, D.C., 1962), 93, no. 110, pl. XLII.

M. Henig, The Content Family Collection of Ancient Cameos (Oxford, England, Houlton, Me., 1990), 78.

A. N. Zadoks-Josephus Jitta, "Imperial Messages in Agate II," Bulletin antieke beschaving: BABesch 41 (1966): 91-104, esp. 97.

Purchased from George Zacos by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, June 1958.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Byzantine Collection, Washington, D.C.