ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the trajectory and different interpretations of the medium across celebratory events organized under three female monarchs. The subsequent series of female monarchs, who did not personally participate in military campaigns, leveraged the triumphant celebrations to establish and underscore their legitimacy as rulers and to continue to inscribe Russia in European traditions. Classical architecture represented Russia as an embodiment of the Christian West; non-classical forms, drawn from a variety of sources, represented the fallen Orient. Russia sustained a high level of military engagement following Peter's death. European iconography from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries depicted empresses and queens either as the warrior goddess Minerva, "equipped" with a helmet, spear, and shield; or as Mars's companion Bellona. Examples in paintings, medals, and poems show that a female ruler could wear military attire, but only a man, a military leader, could lead a parade of victorious troops.
