Image and rhetoric. Medallions from the period of the Constantinian dynastyas a propaganda medium

The subject examined in the article is the propaganda programme of emperors, members of the Constantinian dynasty, as documented by inscriptions and iconography of medallions. These the author proposes to analyse in the context of late-antique rhetoric texts (Orationes of Themisthius, Panegyrici Latini) and ideas of Eusebius Pamphilius contained in Vita Constantini. The conclusion furnished by this analysis is that the propaganda content broadcast in the works of rhetoric is closely related to the message communicated by the medallions and is an expression of a coherent ideological programme.