Cl. Civ. 224/Class. 324: Culture and Ideology in the Age of Augustus
Course requirements: 8-page research paper, 15-minute panel presentation (w/ partner), midterm, final.
This course demands 100-140 pages of reading per week and is not for the faint of heart. Syllabus notation: & = required text; 1 = on reserve at Reg. Libr; I =
handed out as a (free) xerox. Grading policy: Attendance and participation, 10%; panel presentation, 10%; 8-page paper 30%; midterm exam 20%; final exam 30%.
Late papers will be down-graded a letter grade per day. Attendance policy: Up to 2 unexcused absences will be tolerated.
Week 1: March 31 and April 2 Imago rei publicae: The “Restoration of the Republic”
Roman readings: (all in “Restoration” folder on reserve 1)
1. Augustus, Res Gestae.
2. Tacitus, Annals chapter one, sections 1-10.
3. Suetonius, Augustus, sections 26-60.
4. Dio Cassius, 53.11-16; 16.6-17.1
5. Velleius Paterculus, 2.85-90
Contemporary readings:
6. Galinsky, chapter 2, “The Restoration of the Res publica,” 42-79. &
7.
in Between Republic and Empire, 71-122. 1
Week 2: April 7 and 9: Refiguring history:
Roman readings: (All handouts I)
1. Vergil, Eclogue 4; Aeneid 8.675-728
2. Horace, Epodes 9
Contemporary readings:
3. Gruen, Erich. “Augustus and the Ideology of War and Peace.” In Winkes (1985), 51-72. 1
4. Rosenstein, Nathan. Imperatores victi: Military Defeat and Aristocratic Competition in the Middle and
5. Wallace-Hadrill, “The Myth of Actium,” from Augustan
6. Gurval, R. “Posteri Negabitis: Horace and Actium” from
7. Quint, D. “Epic and Empire: Versions of
Week 3: April 14 and 16: Propaganda and the Arts
Roman readings:
1. Vitruvius, Preface to Book 1 of On Architecture. I
2. Vergil: Ekphrases from bks. 1, 6, 8, and 12. I
3. Sources in Chisholm,
Contemporary readings:
4. Zanker, “The Augustan Program of Cultural Renewal,” 101-66 and “The Mythical Foundations of the New
167-79, 183-215, 230-38. &
5. Galinsky, chapter 3, “Ideas, Ideals, and Values,” only 80-121; chapter 4, “Art and Architecture,” 141-79, 197-224. &
6. Kellum, B. “Sculptural Programs and Propaganda in Augustan
Winkes, ed. The Age of Augustus, 169-76. 1
Week 4: April 21 and 23: Religion and the New Regime
Roman readings:
1. Sources in Reinhold, The Golden Age of Augustus, 174-86. I
Contemporary readings:
2. Zanker, “The
3. Pollini, J. “Man or God: Divine Assimilation and Imitation in the Late Republic and the Early Principate,” in Raaflaub and Toher (1990), 334-63. 1
4. Wallace-Hadrill, A. “God and Man,” in Augustan
5. Galinsky, chapter 6 “Religion,” 288-331. &
Week 5: April 28 and 30: Gender and Empire: Dido, Cleopatra, Cornelia.
Roman readings:
1. Vergil, Aeneid book 4; also review passage from book 8, week 2. 1
2. Propertius, Elegies 4.11; Horace Odes 1.37 I
Contemporary readings:
3. Bauman, R. A. “Women in the Augustan Principate,” in Women and Politics in
4. Hallett, J. “
5. Wyke, Maria. “Augustan Cleopatras: Female Power and Poetic Authority,” in A. Powell (1992), 98-140. 1
Week 6: May 5 and 7: Pater patriae: The Arbiter of Morals
Roman readings:
1. Sources from Chisholm,
2. Sallust, Catilina sections 10-11, 47, Jugurtha 41; Lucan 1.160ff. I
Contemporary readings:
4. Cohen, David. “The Augustan Law on Adultery: The Social and Cultural Context.” In The Family in
5. Earl,. Donald “Morality and Politics” in The Moral and Political Tradition of
6. Wallace-Hadrill, A. “Love and War,” from Augustan
Week 7: May 12 and 14: Class Hierarchies, Class Breakdown.
Midterm on Tuesday, May 12
Roman readings.
1. Sources in Reinhold, The Golden Age of Augustus, 27-33. I
2. Sources in Chisholm,
Contemporary readings:
3. Eck, W. “Senatorial Self-Representation: Developments in the Augustan Period,” in Caesar Augustus, 129-168. 1
4. Brunt, P.A. “The Role of the Senate in the Augustan Regime,” CQ 34 (1984), 423-44. 1
5. Barja de Quiroga, P. L. “Freedman Social Mobility in Roman Italy,” Historia 44 (1995), 327-48. 1
Week 8: May 19 and 21: Violence, Spectacle, and the Self
Roman readings:
1.
2. Seneca, Epistles 7, 37, 70. 1
3. Augustus, Res Gestae 22-23. (from week 1)
Contemporary readings:
4. Barton, C. “Despair: The Scandal of the Arena,” in Sorrows of the Ancient Romans, 1-46. 1
5. Plass, P. The Game of Death in Ancient
*Papers due on MONDAY May 25th.
Week 9: May 26 and 28: Political Opposition to the New Ideology
Roman readings:
1. Sources in Reinhold, The Golden Age of Augustus 60-68. 1
Contemporary readings:
2. MacMullen, R. Enemies of the Roman Order, chap. 1 1
3. Syme, R. The Roman Revolution, chaps. 22, 24-26 1
4. Raaflaub, K., and Samons, L.J. “Opposition to Augustus,” Raaflaub and Toher (1990), 417-54. 1.
5. Galinksy, K. “Recent Trends in the Interpretation of the Augustan Age,” The Augustan Age 5 (1986), 22-36. 1
Week 10: June 2 and 4: The Well-Policed Muse: Two Case Studies from Ovid
Roman readings:
1. Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1; Heroides 14 I
Contemporary readings:
2. Kennedy, D. F. “‘Augustan’ and ‘Anti-Augustan’: Reflections on Terms of Reference.” In A. Powell, ed. Roman Poetry and Propaganda in the Age of Augustus, 26-57. 1
3. Galinksy, chapter 5, “Augustan Literature,” 225-253, 261-269. &
4.
5. Ellen O’Gorman, “Love and the Family: Augustus and the Ovidian Legacy.” Arethusa 30 (1997), 103-23. 1