Introduction:
In 27 BC Augustus began his political career with a “new policy which embodied a national and Roman spirit” (Galinksy, 1996, 225) and “represented new heights in creativity and sophistication” (Galinksy, 1996, 225). Augustus created a new political propaganda campaign that used art and architecture to promote and enhance his regime. The most fundamental message can be regarded as to establish the legitimacy of his rule and to portray him as the natural successor of Rome, as this is consistently presented throughout the visual programme. Yet factors such as the restoration of the Republic, reviving the old religion, nationalism and militaristic triumph can also be seen to be communicated prominently through art and architecture.
Legitimacy of Augustan Rule:
The art and architecture in the Augustan regime fundamentally reflected the new order and glorified the position and power of Augustus. Initially, at the beginning of his political career, Augustus wished to portray himself appropriately, therefore devised a new image as the first leader of the restored Republic. The academics Walker and Burnett comment that this plan included the melting down of eighty silver statues of Augustus, as the metal was “considered inappropriate for images of living persons and should be reserved for gods” (Walker and Burnett, 1981, 17); the silver was then offered to the Temple of Apollo. Nevertheless, Augustus’ intention to limit the use of his image can appear to be
From the beginnings of human existence art has been used to depict, glorify, and eternize the cultures of a society. Though the ages of time none have become more world renown than the workings of the Roman civilization; an art form which incorporated the customs of the Etruscans and Greeks to create an individualistic style that appealed to the cultural aesthetics of the time period. Of the various forms of art used by the Romans, the one which most clearly illustrates this is the Roman's architecture, arguably the most influential and impressive use of artistic ideals. By using innovative new materials, establishing new building methods, and absorbing surrounding and past cultural ideologies the Romans were
Emperor Augustus commissioned these sculptures around 20 B.C.E. to be distributed around the Empire as propaganda. This statue communicates his ideology and power. Before Augustus came to power, Roman political culture valued older, wiser men for positions of political power. He decided the Roman empire need to return to the classical idea of an emperor who was a strong, youthful military victor. According to Fischer, “...by modeling the Primaporta statue on such an iconic Greek sculpture created during the height of Athens’ influence and power, Augustus connects himself to the Golden Age of that previous civilization.” Both Augustus of Primaporta and Leviathan Zodiac are both trying to curate an idea of power and masculinity. While Augustus of Primaporta propagandistic in nature, Wiley’s work is trying to send out an innocent but powerful message about how we perceive marginalized groups of
Portraiture in Rome and specifically portraiture in Roman politics has always been a clever game of propaganda to the people for the people in Rome. During the reign of the Emperor Augustus there is vast usage of imagery, deification, portraiture and political symbolism to help him carry out his subtle political propaganda and win the people of Rome his adoptive father Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. It is specifically in Augustus' coinage and how he used the mints and distribution of money to the Roman Empire, as a method of directly ensuring his political statements and beliefs would be instigated within his empire. Augustus' use of the coins helped influence his reign and considerably during the 13 year civil war between himself
The art I selected from the Roman Empire is the architectural structure of the Colosseum, or amphitheater. This structure reveals the importance that the Romans’ placed on entertainment, in so much that Benton and DiYanni indicate “it was official policy that the state should provide entertainment for the public” (Benton, DiYanni, p. 108). The relationship between the art and the culture is distinguished and represented by the size of the structure; it being able to accommodate such large crowds of people indicates that the Romans placed much importance in attending the entertainment provided. The Colosseum influenced the culture by providing ample space for everyone to enjoy entertainment. The culture influenced the art by supporting through attendance to the different entertainment during that time.
Augustus is known to be the first Roman emperor, and the founder of Rome, known for politically transforming the Roman republic to the early Roman Empire. During his rule his influence on artwork and architecture illustrated a classical style, and often they was a reflection of the “public image” of his rule, as well as his “new agenda”. (115) Augustus was quickly seen as a restorer of Rome. Augustus commissioned many large scale building projects such as the Campus Martius, as well as elaborate pieces of portraiture that illustrate his power and the peace of the new Rome under his rule. Augustus acknowledged his power and wealth but at the same time never formally declared himself emperor in order to maintain his citizenship. Although he was keen on denying title of emperor, he emphasized that he was a descendant of the great Julius Caesar considering himself his adopted son and his predecessor, in which he reinforces in some of the temples he commissioned. Overall Augustus was seen as a man of change and power, the one who brought prosperity to Rome when it became shaken by the assassination of Julius Caesar. The age of Augustus brought forth a classical style, influenced by Greeks, and the usage of marble and concrete to create complex buildings and sculptures. This was important because as a result of Augustus’ reign Rome obtained a very classical style, in which would later be reintroduced in order to mimic his greatness by other Emperors.
Augustus, formerly known as Octavius, was born September 23, 63 BC and died August 19, 14 AD. His father was a senator in Rome, but died when Augustus was only 4 years old. Julius Caesar adopted him from his mother, Atai. She was Julius’ sister’s daughter. He changed his name to Octavian. Because he got to grow up with Julius Caesar, he gained a lot of his skill and knowledge. He also got to be Caesar’s heir.
The ancient city of Rome was filled with fantastic architecture and ever-changing rulers, which led to many differences in the city from year to year. Rome is responsible for many cultural and technological advances that are still used today, but it was not without problems. Many Roman writers from that time had their own views on Rome, however, which they would use in their writing. Two such writers are Juvenal and Augustus, both of which had their own perspectives of Rome. Their descriptions are both so different that it calls to question, which of their accounts is correct and which is not. Res Gestae by Augustus does not provide an accurate description of Rome, mainly due to the fact that Augustus was listing his own
Augustus ruled from 27 BC to 14 AD. He was the first emperor and the founder of the roman empire. He thought wisely and was able to keep the peace. He shared his power with the senate and created police force and fire brigade.
Augustus, born as Octavian, was one of Rome’s most prosperous Emperors as he contributed to Rome in many different ways. Most aspects of his achievements included; rebuilding constructions and continuing the works of his uncle, Julius Caesar. Augustus restored the Capitol and theatre of Pompey with an enormous cost. In addition; he rebuilt 82 temples of Gods and embarked on a constructive agenda of building roads, highways, aqueducts and bridges. Augustus states in the book he wrote himself – The Deeds of Divine Augustus: “I made highways that connected the entire empire with the Roman city the heart of Rome” which proves how much Augustus contributed to Rome. Due to the first emperor's utmost accomplishment, Pax Romana otherwise known as Roman
The Roman tradition of art, particularly architecture and sculpture is rooted in adopting styles of the past to convey a particular message. The combination of Greek and Etruscan styles, such as in the Temple of Portunus in Rome, ultimately culminate to reference a new meaning and style that is independently roman. Similarly to architecture, the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, chose to liken both is architecture, by using stone and the orders, and his portraiture back to the Greeks. Romans emperors ultimately tend to use style association to portray propaganda for their particular platform, as a form of associative mass media. Two emperors that exemplify this
I'm going to be writing about the life of Augustus. I chose to write about his life because he was a strong and powerful leader. Even Though Rome had many emperors, but Augustus is one of the well known emperor. He took Rome away from Mark and the government from a Republic government. He moved the capitol to a new location to make it harder for people to attack. He rebuild the city after the civil war and made so improvements as well. His death was long, but he was well taken care of. Augustus accomplished many things when he ruled as emperor, some of those things are taking over Rome, changing the government, rebuilding Rome, and changing the capitol.
The reign of Augustus was an age of enormous architectural and artistic avidity, where he combined conservatism and revolutionary new ideas. The establishment of a Principate in 27BC created a stability which enabled a long-term, comprehensive planning programme to be worked out for the monuments of Rome. Suetonius emphasises that Augustus not only “restored, ruined or burned temples” he also improved the infrastructure where “He improved the approaches to the city, repaving the Via Flaminia […] at his own expense”. Emperor Augustus and his family provided much of the patronage for his projects, which drew architects, sculptors and painters to Rome. This created the right conditions for art and architecture on a grand scale. With this patronage
Augustus was well known for using artwork for political gains and assertions in order to establish himself as a righteous statesman and emperor of Rome. Augustus was Gaius Octavian on the 23rd of September 63 B.C. His father and mother were Gaius Octavius and Atia, niece of Julius Caesar. Augustus grew up alongside Julius Caesar, but after his death in 43 B.C, Octavian became propraetor (governor) and consul for the first time and was recognize as Julius Caesar’s adoptive son under the name, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. As the first empeor of Rome, Augustus utilize the art of political propaganda to a full advantage among the Romans by using art in the service of his political and social ideology. For example, sestertius (coins) dating back to 37 B.C illustrates the portrait of Octavian on one side and the portrait of Divus Julius on the other. Political propaganda stunts like this were used by Augustus in order to demonstrate that he was the adoptive son of Julius Caesar, which further validated his claim to power. Coins were an easy tool to promote his claim because they were used daily by the citizens of Rome and nearby provinces. Three themes were common in Augustus political propaganda, one was to showcase his military victory as the foundation of his power, such as the Temple of Mars built after avenging Julius Caesar death. Two, peace achieved through military victory such as in the
14 As Stamper argues, this is a significant aspect of portraying authority when one an emperor uses precedent of Rome’s founding 15 and this is shown by Augustus in commemorating the temple to Julius Caesar as a sign of celebrating his own triumph. The Temple of Julius Caesar sat on an elevated podium with rostra in front of the colonnade where prows of the ships captured from the Battle at Actium were hung.16 Similarly, the public rostra erected at the opposite site of the Forum also consist of captures obtained from the Battle of Actium and these rostra that faced each other act as a reminder of the glories of the old Republic and the achievements of the restored Rome under its new leader, Augustus.17 To reflect more of the idea of power, Augustus uses different architectural elements to deliver them. Similar to the nearby Temple of Castor and Pollux erected during the Republic, the Temple of Julius Caesar had a pycnostyle composition that consisted of six closely arranged columns with
Abstract: In this paper I attempt to admire the spectator’s experience while viewing the Arch of Titus, and bring to the forefront why I find the Arch of Trajan to be underappreciated. I will compare the two by first analyzing the meaning of the Arch of Titus, and then analyzing and summarizing the Arch of Trajan. The source I used for the Arch of Trajan may be among the outliers of most scholars, but I find that I agree with their analysis of the arch in that it was not simply a list of Trajan’s accomplishments, but rather outcomes of his famed policy, unrightfully credited to Nerva, of alimenta.