ABSTRACT
Large Imperial cameos were a Julio-Claudian phenomenon. But in the fourth century CE, large Imperial cameos returned with Constantine and his successors, exhibiting familiar Imperial iconography and motifs. There are four possible large Imperial cameos from the fourth century: the Belgrade Cameo, the Rothschild Cameo, the Ada Cameo, and the Cameo of the Hague. Some have argued that these fourth-century cameos were reworked first-century originals. Constantine sometimes reused sculpture, not because he was unable to afford the expense of a new commission but because the old sculpture served a specific propagandistic purpose. In the case of the large Imperial cameos, an original or a revised gemstone connected Constantine and his heirs to Augustus and the Golden Age of Rome. These fourth-century cameos served similar purposes as those from the first century, promoting dynasty, family, and victory.
