Imperial Image Scholarship

Mary Beard

“Caesar was Octavian’s passport to power”

Antony Everitt

“As Julius Caesar’s adopted son, he was hugely popular with the masses”

Antony Everitt

‘After Julius Caesar’s deification, Octavian’s standing was considerably enhanced, for he could style himself as divi filius, the son of a god’

Brunt and Moore (RG)

“The account of achievements might be highly selective, […what is missing…] will indicate the way in which the author wished to ‘slant’ his narrative”

Andrew Wallace Hadrill (Actium)

“As well as a naval battle, there was a battle for hearts and minds”

“In the myth of Actium, Augustus fought […] to save the Capitol from ruin, the Roman world from destruction”

“Actium was a battle for Roman values”

Paul Zanker (temple of Palatine Apollo + Augustus)

“the striking proximity of Octavian’s residence to Apollo’s temple on the Palatine attested most dramatically to the close relationship of the two”

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (Parthian standards)

“Just as the loss of Roman standards to the Parthians could be taken to symbolise the folly and chaos of civil wars, their recovery marked the reversal of that era, the end of sin and strife, the return of order, purity and plenty”
(could link to the forum of Augustus - standards displayed in temple, new Golden Age, statues of ancestors)

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (family as a role model)

“We see Augustus in the middle years of his reign making heavy use of his family for military command and promoting the image of the dynasty”

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (Julia and morality)

“the moral element of the scandal was crucial”
“Moral reform stood at the heart of Augustus’ new Rome, and his own family was offered as a model of morality”
“The scandal gave deep embarrassment and real damage to the regime”

Pliny the Elder (the forum)

“The Forum of the late Emperor Augustus … one of the finest works that the world has ever beheld”

Neil MacGregor (Meroe head)

Th image this statue projects has “just the right mix of youth and authority, beauty and strength, will and power”,

David Shotter (Augustus’ legacy)

“In the first century AD there was little that was done that did not in some way imitate and follow Augustus”

Richard Jenkyns

Suggests that the small percentage of Romans who could read “could not be deceived” by messages in poetry etc, because this audience already knew what had actually happened
“As propagandists, poets were useless”

William Harris

Says the likely overall illiteracy level of the Roman Empire is almost certain to have been over 90%

Mary Beard (Actium)

“By focusing on Cleopatra rather than Antony, Octavian could represent the war as one fought against a foreign rather than a Roman enemy”

Zanker (Apollo)

“The relationship with Apollo would prove ideally suited to Octavian himself and to furthering his political image” (Apollo for discipline, purification + punishment of excess, god of peace, prophetic god proclaiming new Golden age)

Wardle (Suetonius)

“One of the major problems of Suetonius is that of generalisation” (making it seem like A did something frequently when he only did it a few times)

Horsfall (Suetonius)

“An altogether more humane, human, agreeable princeps”

Zanker (Mausoleum)

“The monument was first of all a demonstration of its patron’s great power”

Nicholls (the forum)

The forum has “quite radical dynastic overtones”

Nicholls (Ara Pacis)

"The Ara Pacis fits with contemporary and later discussion of the Augustan golden age of peace and plenty in some of the Augustan poets"

Donna Wilson

"Augustan coins are clear and the symbols were easy for any Roman to decode."

Bettany Hughes

“Coins were the most effective communication tool”

Cooley

Says that the Mausoleum shows young Caesar being eager to highlight the contrast between himself and Antony

Goldsworthy

Augustus elevated himself and his family to the centre of public life, his personal achievements seamlessly interwoven with the wider good.

Edwards

"Livia was presented as the exact antithesis of Cleopatra"

Suetonius (elsewhere, not in the bit we study)

Augustus found Rome as a city of brick and left it a city of marble

Bradley

“Augustus’ building projects were a form of propaganda”