Introduction : the Imperial image as gift
Part I. Adventus : the Emperor and the City. 1. The imperial image and the end of exile ; 2. Imperial thanksgiving : the commemoration of the Byzantine restoration of Constantinople ; 3. Imperial instrumentality: the serially struck Palaiologan image
Part II. 'Atoms of Epicurus' : the Imperial Image as a Gift in an Age of Decline. 4. Rhetoric as diplomacy : imperial word, image and presence ; 5. Wearing allegiances and the construction of a visual oikoumene ; Conclusion : the ends of empire.