This paper provides a brief historical overview of previous research on medieval inaugurations and outlines current trends in the study of this topic. An interest in the history of rituals is on its rise since the second half of the 19th century, but works of art as a relevant source in ritual studies have been used only for the past 30 years. This paper aims to show how a significant number of inaugural elements has simultaneously appeared in the visual representations of Holy Roman and Byzantine emperors. The emperor is the empire’s key figure and the person in which secular and spiritual elements come together in an everlasting attempt to balance out different power groups. To secure power in a society that constantly questions it, the emperor constructs his image in a way that affirms that power. His multi-layered societal function needs to be set against the political and cultural context of each empire if we are to better understand how the inaugural elements transpire into the visual tradition. The Holy Roman Empire was founded on the Carolingian tradition, while Byzantium originated from the Roman heritage enriched by Hellenism, and both empires laid claim to the Roman past. Further understanding of the inaugural depictions requires a comprehension of the inauguration ritual, so the paper summarizes the genesis and some elements of the ceremony and then turns to cultural similarities and political relations between the two empires. An analysis of inaugural representation starts with the notion of the Biblical king as the emperor's spiritual role model and also his visual counterpart. The depictions of the Holy Roman emperors are based on the representations of their Carolingian predecessors together with additional Byzantine influences and their symbolism and aesthetics. This symbolic type of inauguration comes down to the act of being crowned by a divinity. The oldest surviving depictions of Holy Roman imperial inaugurations are those made during the Ottonian period, and which the Salians and Hohenstaufens have adopted and continued to replicate, alongside inventing a different approach to this theme. In the Byzantine Empire, the oldest surviving visual representations of imperial inaugurations were made during the Macedonian dynasty, but it is important to note that the emperors of the later dynasties of Doukai and Komnenoi also resorted to such depictions. The paper additionally studies the Madrid Skylitzes, a richly decorated manuscript that takes a narrative approach to inaugural images. This paper aims to outline the similarities and differences of inaugural representation made roughly at the same time, but against the backdrop of different cultural and political circumstances to comprehend the intricate power relations of a medieval society.