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Age of Augustus. Visual Imagery P. Zanker , The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. From Carthage to Greece: Rome conquers most of the Mediterranean. From the conquest of the Mediterranean to civil war: the rise of warlords.
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Age of Augustus Visual ImageryP. Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
From Carthage to Greece:Rome conquers most of the Mediterranean
From the conquest of the Mediterranean to civil war: the rise of warlords • 133: socio-economic revolution: Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus • Gracchi (optimates – appeal to aristocratic rule) cater to the masses (populares – appeal to popular support) • 107-87: Gaius Marius: growth of professional army and rise of populares • 91-89: Social War – for civitas (“citizenship”) in Italy • 89-65: wars against Mithridates VI of Pontus (Black Sea) • 90-78: L. Cornelius Sulla: reign of terror; proscriptions; return to power of optimates • 70: Pompey and Crassus hold the consulship and reverse Sulla’s program of reform
From Sulla to Actium: civil war, and the beginning of the end • Contenders for control of the Republic: • 84-53: Marcus Licinius Crassus (71: ends Spartacus’ slave revolt; 53: killed by the Parthians at Battle of Carrhae and loses legionary standards) • 78-44: Gaius Iulius Caesar (58-51: pacifies Gaul) • 70-48: GnaeusPompeius Magnus (67: “Pompey the Great” defeats the pirates) • 70-43: Marcus Tullius Cicero (43: killed by Antony’s troops) • 63: Catilinarian Conspiracy (L. SergiusCatilina; Cicero’s senatusconsultumultimum) • 63: birth of Gaius Octavius
Gaius IuliusCaesar: imperator, parenspatriae, consul V (59, 48, 46, 45, 44) and dictator perpetuus (100-44 BCE)
Age of Augustus Roman Culture in the Age of the Republic, 753-31 BCE
Social systems • community (to Cicero, communioor communitas) • languages & literacy • public vs. private (domus, villa) places: • forum, temples, markets, lawcourts, arenas, amphitheaters, mausoleums, baths, gymnasiums, taverns, bakeries, brothels, aqueducts, roads, bridges • cultural achievements – see above, plus literature (history, poetry, biography, letters), architecture, city planning, sculpture, wall painting, pottery • social & military organization • respect for the dead – mores maiorum (“traditions of our ancestors”)
Social systems • patronage: patrons (patronii) and clients (clientes) • liberation from monarchy • law & equality • class struggle: • patricii (“patricians”) vs. plebes (“plebeians”) • optimates vs. populares(appeal to aristocracy vs. appeal to masses) • cursushonorum (“rank of honors”): • quaestor($), praetor (courts), consul(2 chief magistrates), censor(morals) • senatus/ senatores (ex-mags., aristocratic body, 600-800, for life) • proconsules, propraetores (provincial governors: extortion) • tribuniplebum(“tribunes of the plebs”: populism) • quaestiones (“courts”: justice for the aristocracy) • comitiaeandconcilia (“assemblies” – putative democracy) • roles for women, children, young adults: gendered expectations
Value systems • civitas(“citizenship”) and cives (“citizens”) • conquest: warfare and diplomacy, aggression and alliance; professional army • sanction from the gods • expansion: strategic colonization; creation of provinciae (“provinces”) – provincial governors, taxation – in territories, monarchies, etc. • “Romanization,” assimilation of other cultures (esp. Greece: see Zanker) & foreign cult-worship • dignitas (“dignity”), fides (“loyalty”), honor (“honor”), pietas (“piety), clementia (“clemency”), libertas (“freedom”)
Economic systems • exploitation of natural and manmade resources • slave-based economy: latifundia(“estates”) • servi (“slaves”) vs. liberti (“freedmen”) • trade: shipping to every corner of empire, access to luxury goods • major commodities: grain, wine, oil, silk, incense, spices, glass, metals, clay (ceramics) • land reform: placating the poor and military veterans • equites (“equestrians” – business class) and publicani (“publicans” – tax-collectors) • professional army: careerism, conquest, extension of roads and Romanization, construction of cities: auxiliarii (“auxiliaries”) vs. legionarii (“legionnaires”)
Iconography and Ideology in the Late Republic, 44-31 BCE: “Rival Images” • The images depicted in these figures reflect the competing political ideologies of • Gaius Octavius (later Augustus) • SextusPompeius(son of Pompey the Great) • Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), and • Cleopatra • What are the main themes and ideologies conveyed in these images? • What is the audience for these images supposed to understand, and what do their authors, or subjects, hope to achieve with these iconographic symbols? • How do the examples of literary evidence quoted by Zankersupport these ideologies? • Finally, what are the unifying themes that capture the ideologies of Octavius and his supporters? what are those of Antony & Octavia? Antony & Cleopatra?