Block 2 Flashcards
What are the limits of ancient historians?
- Often those historians were not contemporaries of the events the described.
- Their history writing was often not as objective or balanced as we would wish it to be.
- They were publishing works which should please their fellow elite male audience.
Criticism of the new regime?
In the view of many historians (Livy, Tacitus, etc) there were no longer men like the heros of the Republic -> Scipio Africanus. Real heroes, grounded in traditional Roman virtue.
Their lauding of the past may be some implicite achnowledgment of the failing of the present.
Men like Scipio Africanus.
Rome’s empire was growing thanks to a large part to individual generals such as Scipio Africanus or later Julius Caesar. But was the position of such men compatible with the ethos of the Republic, where the consulship was time-limited and the Senate hold sway? Or was it only a matter of time that one men would rise and the system would collaps? Heroes of the Republic paving the was for the Empire.
Why was Augustus so successful?
- He could be ruthless
- He promoted recovery and revival (political, moral and religious)
- He embellished the city of Rome
- He stage-managed his own image (poest such as Horace and Virgil)
- He avoided unconstitutional titles and powes
- He toured the provinces
- He oversaw military campaigns
- He provided for succession (to avoid more civil war)
- He controlles his posthumous reputation (also through his successors who would hold his reputation dear as it would serve themselves)
Of course luck and longvity also played a role
How does Horace present Augustus and why?
His poem is flattering and could be viewed as propaganda. Horace was encouraged to place Augustus in a good light. Maecenas’ influence? Did Horace really mean what he wrote or was he just payed to write it?
It is impossible to say. But ultimately Horace’s words capture some of the contemporary views of Augustus -> that he was like a new founder of the city, a god like saviour who had brought peace and stability
What was the Res Gestae and what did it tell about Augustus?
The Res Gestae was a masterpice of self-promotion. It was written by Augustus and places outside his mausoleum as an inscription. In such a public document, Augustus could not lie. But he could omit details and manipulate the facts. It is clearly set up to paint the emperor in a very good light. Nobel, modest, virtuous, generous, traditional
Great emphasis on his building projects.
