L’incoronazione celeste nel mondo Bizantino

This study deals with the iconographic theme of imperial Byzantine ‘heavenly coronation’, or André Grabar’s couronnement symbolique, with particular attention to fine arts and numismatics. This theme, along with the rituals of imperial investiture, represents the concept of divine kingship in figurative terms, a significant ideological premise for Byzantine theocracy. The book is structured in seven chapters, investigating both the origination and conclusion of the iconographical subject and its political derivations. It attempts to assemble all the known images of the ‘heavenly coronation’ theme and to explain its political and iconographical roots.