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IMPERIAL IMAGE - SOURCES, LITERARY SOURCES - Coggle Diagram
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LITERARY SOURCES
Res Gestae Divi Augusti
Context:
- Written around 13/14 AD
- Written by Augustus
- Written on the pillars outside Augustus' mausoleum - text reproduced and displayed throughout empire
Quotes:
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"I drove into exile those men who had murdered my father, avenging their deed by legal means"
"I often waged wars on both land and sea... and, as victor, i pardoned all the citizens who asked for mercy"
"Twice I earned ovations... three times I celebrated curule triumphs and I was named imperator twenty one times"
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Purpose:
- how Augustus wants to be remembered
--- positive legacy
Epitaphs:
- common
- often composed early in anticipation of death
- Res Gestae is much longer than most epitaphs
--- Is this immodesty? Does Augustus just have a lot to say because he was so great a Roman?
Important style points:
- 2500 words long - this is very long
- simple, descriptive writing style
- focusses on Augustus' life and achievements
- focusses on Rome rather than the empire
- Augustus is writing about himself - this is exactly what he wants us to know about him
- frequently mentions the senate and magistrates to legitimise his power
- he doesn't mention things he doesn't like
--- Antony + Cleopatra are unnamed
--- Civil Wars aren't referenced directly
--- Brutus and Cassius are the "men who had murdered my father"
--- Pompeius and followers are "pirates"
--- ignores that he had great unconstitutional powers and imperium maius - effectively total power - he wants to be remembered as a constitutional and popular ruler
Horace, Epode IX - A Toast to Actium
Horace, Odes 1.37 - Cleopatra
Horace, Odes 3.6 - Moral Decadence
Horace, Odes 3.14 - Augustus Returns
Horace, Odes 4.4 - Drusus and the Claudians
Horace, Odes 4.15 - To Augustus
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Propertius, Elegies 3.11 - Woman's Power
Propertius, Elegies 3.4 - War and Peace
Propertius, Elegies 3.12 - Chaste and Faithful Galla
Propertius, Elegies 4.6 - The Temple of Palatine Apollo
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Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Augustus