Imperial Image Modern Scholarship

Syme

Augustus’ reign was so tyrannical on so large a scale that a genuine comparison to Caesar’s time as dictator perpetuus cannot be made.

White

1. Augustus was not, at least in the early stages after Caesar’s death, trying to sever himself from the Caesar name.

2. Augustus promoted the deification of Caesar not to make Caesar a less controversial figure, but to prepare the public for his own later apotheosis.

Zanker (1)

The Forum represents both Rome’s epic history and its modern present. It was used to “educate her people.”

Zanker (2)

Even Augustus’s most adamant opponents would not be able to find untoward self-promotion in the Forum.