Imperial Image Scholarship

Question 1

Colin Wells on Augustus and images

Answer 1

“Augustus understood the power of images”

Question 2

McGahern on Augustus’s roles

Answer 2

Augustus “played, in his time, so many roles”

Question 3

Colin Wells on Augustan peace and the restoration of the republic (2)

Answer 3

“Italy was sick of war and sick of ‘liberty’ which seemed only to mean oligarchic licence”
“most people did not care [about Augustus’s motives]. Peace was everything”

Question 4

Matthew Nicholls on why Augustus succeeded

Answer 4

“one of Augustus’s talents is knowing when to give other people some control”

Question 5

Mary Beard on why Augustus succeeded/ Divi Filius

Answer 5

Julius Caesar was Augustus’s “passport to power”

Question 6

Bettany Hughes on why Augustus succeeded

Answer 6

“he drafted the blueprint for imperial success… blatant, meticulous image control”

Question 7

1. Zanker on Augustus’s military image (2)

Answer 7

“every new victory becomes automatically a justification of the ruler”
each triumph forged “the link between military victory, internal order and happiness in general”

Question 8

2. Zanker on Augustus’s military image (2)

Answer 8

Augustus’s military victories are important because they’re proof of the godlike nature of the ruler and demonstrate the Republic has won the gods back to their side.
Peace and security, not war, are the focus in Augustan art to help wipe out the memory of the wars.

Question 9

Werner Eck on Augustus as a military leader

Answer 9

Augustus created settlements for veterans to get them on side, and in doing so gained a useful military clientele and strengthened his political following in Italy.

Question 10

Matthew Nicholls on Augustus as a military leader (2)

Answer 10

Augustus is “the unifier by force, and pacifier by force, of the whole Roman world”
“the way [Actium] was presented becomes really foundational for Augustus’s regime”

Question 11

Colin Wells on Augustus’s building programme

Answer 11

“Augustus and his friends built for use, not just for show”

Question 12

Colin Wells on the motif of Augustan propaganda

Answer 12

“a motif for Augustan propaganda was the restoration of stability”

Question 13

Christopher Siwicki on ‘I found Rome… I left Rome…”

Answer 13

What he meant is he found it weak and left it strong, it was not about his building programme.

Question 14

McGahern on Augustus as a culture hero

Answer 14

“through a combination of luck, guile, ruthlessness and intelligence, he suceeds in bringing what was then most of the civilised world under the rule of law, giving to Rome an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity”

Question 15

Colin Wells on the religious aspect of Augustus’s programme on cultural renewal

Answer 15

“the mythology of the new regime and its related iconography, heavy with religious symbolism and austere moral undertones, was an integral part of his programme of cultural renewal”

Question 16

Colin Wells on Augustus and traditional values/ Divi Filius

Answer 16

“Octavian, warned by Caesar’s fate, was concerned to conciliate potential opposition by deference to traditional forms”

Question 17

Colin Wells on Augustus and traditional values

Answer 17

“Augustus was consciously aiming to create a new order and to perpetuate it, institutionally and dynastically, but was also concerned to placate conservative sentiment by appeals to precedent and by maintaining and restoring traditional values, ceremonies and procedures”

Question 18

Frank on Augustus’s morality laws

Answer 18

“neither the ideology nor the laws changed morality”

Question 19

Frank on Augustus and traditional values

Answer 19

“Augustan legislation had aimed at reform and restoration; it suceeded only in fostering nostalgia for old values and contempt for new realities”

Question 20

Southon on Augustus and traditional values

Answer 20

“Augustus’s ability to couch brand new things in trappings of ancient tradition remains unparalleled”

Question 21

Stanier on Augustus’s name

Answer 21

“with his adoption of the new name, Augustus could finally edit Octavianus, the last trace of his humble origin, out of his name”

Question 22

Freyburger-Galland on the restoration of the republic

Answer 22

“this manipulation of public opinion by means of religious propaganda is also to be found in the aread of purely political propganda, as Augustus suceeds in promulgating - in such a way was to lay the foundations for absolute monarchy- a belief in Res Publica Restituta”

Question 23

Richard Jenkyns on statues of Augustus (2)

Answer 23

“his face does not alter with the years: he is godlike in his immutability, superbly monarchical, aloof”
Augustus’s faces on his statues resemble Alexander’s, but, “Alexander… is wrapped up in private romance; Augustus bears the weight of public responsibility”

Question 24

Zanker on the Prima Porta

Answer 24

“the Prima Porta does not hesitate to celebrate the radiant conqueror and make clear reference to his divine ancestry”

Question 25

Chester G. Starr on Horace (3)

Answer 25

“one cannot describe the poet as a man who had given body and spirit to Augustus”
“his expressions of support for the religious and social reforms of Augustus had a shade of doubt with respect to their efficacy”
Horace’s “praise of Augustus was marked with an undertone of detachment”

Question 26

Raymond Marks on Horace

Answer 26

“Horace has two voices in his poetry, his public one and his private one”

Question 27

Stephen Harrison on Horace

Answer 27

“Horace has made contemporary issues into profound and timeless poetry, something which could not have been done if Maecenas had encouraged his poets to write straightforward propaganda about Augustus”

Question 28

1. Richard Jenkyns on the use of poets (2)

Answer 28

“as propagandists the poets were useless”
“poets might be simply part of the apparatus of magnificence”

Question 29

2. Richard Jenkyns on the value of poets (longer quote)

Answer 29

“if the brilliance was there, if the poets were gathred together by a patronage that implied some shared outlook, and if the glory of Augustus was loudly asserted in their verse somewhere, it would be enough”

Question 30

Chester G. Starr on Virgil

Answer 30

“Virgil, in whom one never senses doubt or disagreement with the Augustan system”

Question 31

Mattes on criticism of Augustus

Answer 31

“Frank criticism of the Augustan regime was not possible in the time which Virgil lived”

Question 32

Mattes on the Aeneid (2)

Answer 32

“the Aeneid is really anti-Augustan while feigning to be pro-Augustan”
“just as the Greeks needed to trick the Trojans into bringing the horse inside their city, Virgil had to convince Augustus that his epic was pro-Augustan, while really being poisonous to him, as the horse was fatal to the Trojans”

Question 33

Elkins on coins

Answer 33

coins are “monuments in miniature”

Question 34

Zanker on the Forum of Augustus and the Temple of Mars Ultor

Answer 34

“forest of images”
“visitor could hardly have escaped the many serious images that recalled the proud past of Rome”

Question 35

Cooley on the Res Gestae

Answer 35

the Res Gestae is about “world conquest”

Question 36

Matthew Nicholls on Augustus’s concern for his citizens

Answer 36

he had fatherly concern for his fellow citizens

Question 37

Zarecki on Horace’s 4.15 To Augustus

Answer 37

Horace is reluctant to praise Augustus

Question 38

Lowry on Horace’s 4.15 To Augustus

Answer 38

the most straightforward praising of Augustus

Question 39

Galinksy on the Carmen Saeculare

Answer 39

the theme is “marital fecundity and the future hopes of Rome”

Question 40

Pandey on Augustan poetry

Answer 40

there is no such thing as pro or anti-Augustan poetry, it depends on the reader

Question 41

Harris on Augustus and religion

Answer 41

divinely ordained leader

Question 42

Edwards on Augustus’s modesty

Answer 42

Augustus was notable for his avoidance of luxury

Question 43

Goldsworthy on the Mausoleum (2)

Answer 43

“monarchical”
“shows Octavian to be Roman through and through”

Question 44

Wardle on Suetonius

Answer 44

Suetonius was prone to generalisation

Question 45

Morgan on Horace’s 3.6 Moral Decadence (2)

Answer 45

there had to be a supernatural explanation for their achievements and their woes
it is insisting the Romans do something that’s already being done

Question 46

Kellman on Horace’s 1.37 Cleopatra

Answer 46

“grudging admiration by Horace for Cleopatra’s heroism”

Question 47

Colin Wells on the historical sources

Answer 47

“the world picture is that of the Italian upper classes, the sources embued with Senatorial ethos”

Question 48

Colin Wells on the historical sources

Answer 48

“the world picture is that of the Italian upper classes, the sources embued with Senatorial ethos”

Question 49

Mattes on the Aeneid

Answer 49

“the Aeneid is really anti-Augustan while feigning to be pro-Augustan”

Question 50

Mattes on criticism of the regime

Answer 50

“frank criticism of the Augustan regime was not possible in the time which Virgil lived”

Question 51

Levi on Horace and Virgil

Answer 51

“the grandeur of Augustus was a terrifying presence even to his friends, and Virgil trod as carefully as Horace”

Question 52

Bettany Hughes on coins

Answer 52

“mass communication tools”

Question 53

Richard Jenkyns on who read poetry

Answer 53

poetry was read by a “minority of a minority”

Question 54

Goldsworthy on subversion

Answer 54

“misguided is the quest to reveal carefully veiled subversion or hinted criticism of the princeps and his rehime”

Question 55

Pandey on Propertius

Answer 55

he displays “cognitive dissonance” towards the regime (inconsistent, doesn’t know what he means)

Question 56

Russell on the Res Gestae’s discussion of the building programme

Answer 56

Augustus creates a dizzying array of buildings

Question 57

Wallace-Hadrill on Augustus’s building programme

Answer 57

“he made the city a showplace simultaneously of Rome’s power in the world and of his own power in Rome”

Question 58

Freyburger-Galland on Apollo

Answer 58

“Apollo will become the victorious god and the god of the victor who will construct the ideology for the Principate around the values represented by this

Question 59

Matthew Nicholls on Horace

Answer 59

“[the poetry] is too complex and nuanced and subtle and human to be simply a clanging gong saying ‘Augustus is great, Augustus is great’

Question 60

Nicholls on the morality laws

Answer 60

“Augustus is trying to sweep all of this rubbish… out of Rome”

Question 61

Nicholls on Livia

Answer 61

“her public persona was one of careful, stage-managed, demure modesty”- even though she had financial autonomy, and private influence
Augustus and Livia “had to stage manage that influence and present it to the world in an acceptable manner”

Question 62

Nicholls on the idea of tradition cloaking new ideas (3)

Answer 62

“it suits everyone to go along with the charade”
“respect for the Senate and its traditions is more now a kind of fictive piece of illusion than actually real and substantial”
“it was congenial and useful for them to believe that Augustus was ordained by heaven to restore Rome to its greatness and bring about an age of prosperity and peace”

Question 63

Nicholls and Augustus as a god

Answer 63

Augustus ‘flirts’ with the idea with being a god, but never claims he actually is one in Rome, bar worship of the Lares. outside Rome it’s different: they are worshipped in some provinces

Question 64

Nicholls on Augustus’s link to the gods

Answer 64

“he had a kind of hotline to heaven”

Question 65

Nicholls on the value of religion and power

Answer 65

“it kind of permeated every aspect of daily life”

“controlling all that, being integrated with all that was vital to Augustus in taking and maintaining power”