Gemini diadematis heres. The Imitation of the Empire as a Tool of Vandal Foreign Policy

In 530, Gelimer began a letter to Justinian with the highly unorthodox formula ‘basileus Gelimer to basileus Justinian’, thereby portraying himself as an equal of the emperor. The Vandal king acted in an intentionally provocative way, but there were illustrious precedents of such behaviour, since Huneric had married a daughter of Valentinian III and his son Hilderic had been depicted as the ‘heir of a double diadem’. The imperial features of Vandal kingship have already been examined by scholars, but up to now little attention has been paid to how this imitatio imperii influenced Vandal foreign relations. In a geopolitical context that was undergoing dramatic changes in a short period of time, the Vandal kings understood the importance of anchoring their power to imperial concepts and titles, thereby gaining a degree of authority that enabled them to negotiate on an equal footing with the Empire and stress their superiority when dealing with neighbouring peoples.