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The familiar image of a Byzantine empress is of a figure elaborately robed, crowned and dripping with jewels, both encrusted on her robes and in the form of necklace or collar, earrings and diadem, adorned in purple and gold, maybe holding a sceptre or some other token of majesty. The derivation of this dress and its relation to a display of imperial majesty and power has been little discussed. The nature of the empress' appearance is rarely treated in iconographic terms but rather as established fact. Rome and Byzantium were societies which relegated women to a secondary role. However, the empress, as consort of the emperor, was still a woman in a powerful position, and her images, allied to his, presented the public face of imperial power. The extensive use of the imagery of Good Fortune has been noted and the same widespread use was true of tyches, particularly in official art.
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