ROME 250—WEEK TWO: THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS AND HIS PROGRAM OF VISUAL AND LITERARY PROPAGANDA.

OCTAVIAN--AUGUSTUS (GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR OCTAVIANUS) (63 BC—14 AD)

--great-nephew of Julius Caesar on his mother’s side [Caesar’s sister Julia is Octavian’s grandmother, later adopted by Caesar. When Caesar is deified this makes Augustus the son of a god: DIVI CAESAR FILIUS.

--ruled from 31 BC to 14 AD [45 years]

--receives title of AUGUSTUS from Senate in 27 BC [from augere: “to grow,” indicating prosperity and growth].

--receives title of PATER PATRIAE, Father of the Nation, in 2 BC

RISE TO POWER:

--ASSASSINATION OF CAESAR (dictator for life) assassinated by Marcus Janius BRUTUS and Gaius CASSIUS Longinus and other senators on the Ides of March (March 15, 44 BC) before the statue of POMPEY THE GREAT in the Curia Pompeia. 13 years of civil war would ensue.

--Caesar’s good things:, reforms grain supply, establishes colonies in and outside of Italy to resettle soldiers, extended citizenship to Cisalpine Gaul, clemency, munificence, public building projects, creates modern calendar (derived from Egyptian calendar).

--Caesar’s primary mistake: overt disdain for senators and the traditional trappings of the RES PUBLICA, open aspirations to absolute power, involvement with Cleopatra. (fear of his aspiration to become a new King)

--SECOND TRIUMVIRATE: Octavian, Marc Antony, Marcus Lepidus.

--43 BC Octavian elected Consul at 19 years of age: declares Caesar’s murderers to be outlaws and raises an army to avenge father. RES GESTAE: “At the age of 19 I obtained an army at my personal expense through which I restored the RES PUBLICA, which was oppressed by the domination of a faction to liberty.”

--42 BC defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Battle of Philippi in Macedonia: end Republican hopes.

--SECOND TRIUMVIRATE (rule by three) Triumvirs take military command of Empire: Lepidus=Africa; Antony=East; Octavian West.

--CIVIL WAR (32-31 BC) between Octavian and Marc Antony.

--Octavian: identified with Western Empire (especially Italy and Rome) versus Marc Antony: living in Egypt with Cleopatra, identified with Eastern potentates.

--31 BC BATTLE OF ACTIUM (Western Greece): naval victory of Octavian over Marc Anony with assistance of his best general, Agrippa (later builder of Pantheon); last battle of the period of the Civil Wars since the early 1^st Century BC

--PRINCIPATUS (or Principate) 31 BC – 14 AD:

--Augustus avoided hated titles of Dictator or Rex (King) and takes the title of PRINCEPS = “first citizen, first among equals” of the allegedly “restored republic” (res publica restituita). This is really a fiction, an effort to disguise his real power, which combines power of various offices voted to him by the Senate. See paragragh number 34 of Res Gestae and note Augustus’s rhetoric that he ruled because he was invested with auctoritas (authority) by the Roman Senate and People but that he never usurped potestas (power).

--POLICY OF RENOVATION AND INNOVATION:

Augustus overall was extremely popular because created and ruled over a period of peace and prosperity after a century of disasters under the late Republic. Italian economy dominated empire; trade encouraged through establishment of the first stable imperial coinage. Panem et circenses: distribution of money and bread [Egypt] and games for the people. Fair taxation (paid tax collectors), colonization in the provinces—shift of excess population removes a major source of social tensions. Succeeding where Caesar had failed, Augustus astutely constructs a program of political and cultural renewal and innovation that causes Rome to emerge as not only the undisputed leader in the Mediterranean, but the model by which subsequent periods in Roman and Italian history are measured.

1) POLITICS:

--renovation: retains and restores traditional Republican political offices as part of his professed plan to restore the republic.

--innovation: acquires (usually by vote of the Senate) an entire set of new, largely unprecedented powers which give him virtual control of political and military situation at home and abroad.

In Rome: TRIBUNICIA POTESTAS: (Tribune’s powers); power to call Assemblies of People to vote new laws; able to veto decisions of consuls; personal immunity from any harm or legal action.

In Empire at large: IMPERIUM PROCONSULARE MAIUS ET INFINITUM = power of imperium or power of life and death held by military commander or Proconsul (governor) in provinces under his control; Augustus’s imperium (though carefully disguised) is maius (greater) and infinitum (without limits, over all the provinces of the Roman Empire).

2) ARMY:

--renovation: removes control of army from hands of a few individuals (the powerful generals) and in theory gives it back to the State, thus partly restoring it to the situation before the rise of the powerful generals such as Marius and Sulla 70 years prior.

--innovation: provides permanent treasure for payment of soldiers, financed largely with his own money, institutes reforms to make military service more attractive, cuts sized of army to make it more controllable

3) LAW:

--renovation: restores and reinforces the rule of law (including respect of private property rights)

--innovation: in contrast to the Republican period, appeals may now be made to the emperor, who in certain cases assumes the role of judge and jury tax collection, and the provisioning of the armies. Equestrians were prominent in these prefectures and thus supported Augustus.

4) RELIGION:

--renovation: revives moribund religious practices and encourages and legislates return to traditional Roman values (MORES MAIORUM), restores 82 temples

--innovation: with office of PONTIFEX MAXIMUS (chief priest) and emperor joined in one person Augustus exerts unprecedented control over Roman religious life and enacts social morality.

5) --ELEMENTS IN AUGUSTAN VISUAL AND LITERARY PROGRAM:

--renovation: restores and rebuilds over 80 temples in the city of Rome and effects numerous repairs and improvements to the urban infrastructure (aqueducts, sewers, roads, etc.).

--innovation: under the Augustan building program, many buildings (some by Augustus himself others through private initiative) new in terms of type, design and building material (e.g., vastly increased use of marble [Suetonius: “I found Rome built of bricks; I leave her clothed in marble”]) are erected throughout the city (Forum of Augustus, Ara Pacis [Altar of Peace], Temple of Apollo on the Palatine, etc.) Marked by a remarkably cohesive “ideology” that stresses fertility, abundance, renewal and strength. Major themes:

1) PIETAS

2) UNION OF RES PRIVATA AND RES PUBLICA

3) PAX ROMANA THROUGH MILITARY STRENGTH AND VICTORY (Family History and National History), (Divi Caesar Filius + Pater Patriae])

4) GOLDEN AGE—AUREA AETAS--SAECULUM AUREUM (PROSPERITY AND ABUNDANCE)

5) COSMIC ORDER GUARANTEED BY DIVINE WILL (PAX DEORUM)—ROMANS LOOK AT THEIR EMPIRE FILLED WITH A SENSE OF MISSION.

5) A CLASSICIZING TENDENCY

1) THE FORUM AS SHOW PLACE OF THE GENS IULIA –Transfomation of Forum Romanum is a remarkable example of the way Octavian after his victory slowly took visual possession of the city through his restoration and building projects. In August of 29 he celebrated a magnificent triple triumph (Illyrium, Egypt, Actium). As part of the triumph he dedicated the Temple of Divus Iulius in the Forum (which he had planned as early as 42), as well as the new Curia or Senate House. Curia had burned down in 44 BC, restoration had been undertaken by Julius. Augustus places his shield with virtues granted to him by the Senate in the new Curia (called Curia Iulia) as a sign of filial pietas. Prows of Egyptian ships set up on Rostra nearest to temple as well as on columnae rostrata. An equestrian statue of Augustusis placed in center of forum. Senate put up an arch next to temple to Julius Caesar to honor Augustus’ Victory at Actium; in the sides of the arch were kept the Fasti Consulares to indicate Augustus’s protection of the Res publica. Augustus enlarged Basilica Iulia and put porticoes in front of Basilica Aemilia, naming both after his recently deceased nephew-princes Gaius and Lucius. (Augusti Caesaris filius, Divi Julii nepos). Tiberius (Augustus’s stepson and successor) had Temple of Castor and Pollux and Temple of Concord rebuilt in marble at great expense. In the end, what had once been the political center of the old Republic became the showplace of the Julii, where the presence of Republican monuments was now accompanied by the dazzling splendor of the present. A mutually enhancing relationship between the auctoritas of Rome and the auctoritas of its princeps.

2) --FORUM OF CAESAR AND FORUM OF AUGUSTUS: Augustus also completed Caesar’s forum, inaugurated by Caesar in 46BC although not completed. It contained a temple to Venus Genetrix (Goddess of the Julian family) with an equestrian statue of Caesar in middle of square

Both Caesar’s forum and Augustus’s consist of a rectangular space surrounded on 3 sides by colonnaded porticoes, with open space, and temple in rear (apses) Venus Genetrix in Caesar’s temple, Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger) in Augustus’s forum. Venus was the Aenean parent of both the Gens Iulia and the Romans, and Mars was the Romulean parent of the two. Mars guaranteed virtus, and Venus fertility and prosperity. Family History and National History are merged.

FORUM OF AUGUSTUS: An example of how Augustus sought to drawn legitimacy from Rome’s past history. Following the example of Caesar, Augustus lays out his own forum (built at no expense to the state, on private property with spoils of war). The temple is dedicated to Mars Ultor (Mars, the Avenger) in accordance with a vow made before the Battle of Philippi (42 BC) in which Brutus and Cassius were killed, but not completed until 2 BC (inside were kept Julius Caesar’s sword and the legionary standards lost to the Parthians in 53 BC and later restored by Augustus in 20 BC—symbols of Augustan military prowess or virtus). This temple became the holy shrine associated with military functions: departures of provincial governors and return of victorious generals to lay down spoils of war and make dedication to Mars Ultor; senate meetings concerning military affairs took place here; barbarian princes swore their allegiance to Rome here. Thus the temple took over certain distinctions that had previously been reserved for the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter. Augustus’s new forum became the showplace of Rome’s “foreign policy,” of everything associated with virtus and military glory. North exedra, statue of Aeneas leading father Anchises and son Ascanius out of Troy (pietas), and opposite a warlike and triumphant Romulus (virtus). Summi viri (great men): ranging from Aeneas and Ascanius and the other kings of Alba Longa to the important members of the Julian clan in the Early Republic and down to the present. Pediment: Mars, Venus, Romulus, Tiber on one side / Fortuna, Roma, Palatine on the other. In Temple itself we have statues to Mars, Venus, and Divine Julius. Augustan propaganda stresses the duality of Rome’s foundation by Aeneas and Romulus, and their divine links with Mars and Venus, foundress of the Julian gens.Since Augustus’s project was supposedly one of “restoration,” wherever possible he evoked Rome’s forefathers. Thus the Empire under Augustus was the logical and destined development in Rome’s history. Augustus himself presided over the whole space in a bronze quadriga (chariot drawn by four horses) in middle of forum with the inscription Pater Patriae below.

3) THE AUGUSTAN PRESENCE IN THE CAMPUS MARTIUS:

MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS: SLIDES: An early structure (dedicated in 28 BC) begun even before Augustus had gained sole power. Octavian had illegally made public Marc Antony’s will in which Antony expressed the wish to be buried beside Cleopatra in Alexandria, a desire which was fatal to his reputation in Rome; Aug. and his followers cited it as proof that Antony was planning to move the capital from Rome to Alexandria and create a Hellenistic kingdom. Augustus had Antony buried in Alexandria while his own tomb was going up in Rome.

--But the Mausoleum was also a demonstration of its patron’s great power. It was larger than any such structure in Rome and was likened to the tomb of the Carian dynast Mausolus, and perhaps inspired by the tomb of Alexander the Great in Egypt, one of the seven wonders of the world (but it is also reminiscent of Etruscan tumuli). Not classically Greek in inspiration, it is conceived in the manner of the dynastic tomb of a Hellenistic monarch. It dominated the natural landscape in the Hellenistic manner and it was set in a massive park. Originally 120 feet high with two concentric cylinders, each sheathed in marble or travertine, between which trees were planted on the sloping terrain. Topped with bronze statue of Augustus himself. And Res Gestae and Egyptian obelisks placed at front. With its use as a resting place for the Julian clan and its Hellenizing monumentality it is not as understated as Augustus’s later projects.

Monumental SUN DIAL: Dedicated in 10 BC. Ara Pacis was part of a gigantic sun dial (largest ever built) whose pointer was an obelisk imported from Egypt (Aegypto capta) about one hundred feet height. On the date of the fall equinox, Sept 23, which was also Augustus’s birthday, the obelisk’s shadow fell directly on the center of the altar, part of another epithet of Augustus as (natus ad pacem), born to peace. Sundial was an incredible monument, and one can easily imagine what fun it must have been to stroll around its huge network of markers. The inscriptions were also given in Greek, apparently as a gesture to the many residents and visitors to Rome from the East.

ARA PACIS: --Built between 13 and 9 BC, inaugurated on Livia’s birthday, and dedicated to Augustus by the Senate to commemorate the PAX AUGUSTA (3-year military expedition in Gaul and Spain). Built in THE field of Mars. Overall message: with Augustus, a member of the Julian family and descendant of Aeneas, the city’s mythical founder, an era of prosperity and peace had commenced for Rome. Artists are Greek (a somewhat cold classicism) but message is Roman.

--Front of Altar has to do with foundings. Facing the Altar on your left, Romulus and Remus in the wolf’s cave with Mars in background. On the right, Aeneas veiled as a priest and sacrificing a sow to Penates or household Gods who are represented in a shrine atop a hill. Sow is part of dream Aeneas had that would tell him where to build his settlement in Italy.

--Turn corner and you see a veiled Augustus doing a similar sacrifice at head of a procession of the Imperial family (note the importance of women and children—image of family, social policies to encourage childrearing).

--REAR: On one side warlike Rome and on the other an image of Tellus (earth) or Pax (peace) or perhaps even Venus: Peace comes from military virtue. Tellus=golden age of peace and prosperity, aurea aetas—saeculum aureum in a cosmological type of setting. Mother Earth with two babies in her lap to emphasize her fertility. A peaceful and contented sheep and cow rest below her and personifications of air, water, and sea surround her indicating the Augustan prosperity spanned the globe.

--LOWER REGISTERS: Tendrils and acanthus leaves are yet another symbol of peace and plenty. Small animals are interspersed among the foliage and a swan perches atop the design at intervals (traditional symbol for both Apollo and Venus). Inside bucrania (bull’s skulls), sacrificial bowls (paterae) and garlands hang. The fruit in the garlands represent all four seasons and are all blooming at once to remind the view that Augustus’ peace and prosperity spanned the entire year.

4) REPRESENTATIONS OF AUGUSTUS: as pontifex maximus and the Prima Porta statue of him as victorius general with breastplate narrating the return of the Roman Standards by the Parthians.

5) LITERATURE:

--renovation: Augustan writers like the historian Livy and the poet Vergil look to the Roman past to instill a new “nationalism” and suggest that the Roman past-present-future is directed by a divine destiny.

--INNOVATION: in terms of quality and extent of literary activity, this is the most vibrant and progressive period of Roman literature to date [Golden Age] (e.g., the lyric poet Horace’s unparalleled adaptations of Greek meter to Latin poetry, Virgil’s reinvention of epic in the Aeneid, Ovid’s experiments with various genres, etc.).

AENEID:

1) relationship to Homer (Iliad and Odyssey)—Homer represents heroic and often wayward individualism, Aeneas is always duty bound. Aeneid is a “national epic” in a way that the Homeric poems are not. Aeneas is both a warrior and pious (as in the founding kings Romulus and Numa Pompilius).

—Virgil had written the Aeneid—at the insistence of Augustus (29-19 BC)—and given the myth of Venus, the Fall of Troy, and the wanderings of Aeneas a new meaning, in which not only the future rule of the Julian house, but the whole history of Rome was portrayed as one of predestined triumph and salvation (teleology). In the Aeneid, the age of Augustus is adumbrated in visions and, in the mythological context, is celebrated as the ultimate realization of an all-encompassing world order. By viture of his powerful and evocative imagery, Virigil created a national epic that was perfectly designed to bolster the Roman’s self-confidence.

–It was immensely popular and hit a chord with Romans. Tacitus: “the people, when they heard his verses in the theater, all rose and cheered the poet, who happened to be present, as if he were Augustus himself.”