Cultural depictions of Augustus

Caesar Augustus (63 BC – AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first and among the most important of the Roman Emperors. As such, he has frequently been depicted in literature and art since ancient times.

Augustus listening to the reading of The Aeneid by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1812, later reworked). Over the course of 53 years, Ingres revisited this scene from antiquity in over 100 drawings and watercolours and three oil paintings.

In many of these works, Augustus appears as the main character, but he also frequently features as a supporting character in depictions of prominent contemporaries, most notably in those of his adoptive father Julius Caesar and his great rivals Mark Antony and Cleopatra. As a result of the various titles he adopted throughout his life, Augustus is known to history by several different names, however he is most commonly referred to as either Octavian, Caesar or Augustus in popular culture, depending on the stage of his life that is being depicted.[1]

Augustus' most visible impact on everyday culture is the eighth month of the year, which, having been previously known as Sextilis, was renamed in Augustus' honor in 8 BC because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, occurred during this month.[2] Commonly repeated lore has it that August has thirty-one days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, but this is an invention of the thirteenth-century scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco. Sextilis in fact had thirty-one days before it was renamed, and it was not chosen for its length.[3][4]

Roman sculpture
See also: Augustan and Julio-Claudian art

Augustus was one of the most widely depicted individuals in ancient times,[5] appearing in coins, sculptures, cameos, plaques, and other media. Numerous arches and temples were dedicated to Augustus both during his lifetime and after his death.

His dominant portrait, introduced in 27 BC to visually express the title Augustus, is that of the serene, ageless First Citizen, the most famous example of which is the Augustus of Prima Porta.[6] At its best, in Roland R. R. Smith's view, this "type achieves a sort [of] visual paradox that might be described as mature, ageless, and authoritative youthfulness".[7] Another full-size statue of Augustus with these "Primaporta type" features is the Augustus of Via Labicana, portraying Augustus in the role of Pontifex Maximus.

D. Boschung[8] identified four other portrait types (the Actium or Alcúdia type, the Béziers-Spoleto type, the Forbes or MA 1280 type, and the Lucus Feroniae type),[9] although Smith considers the Béziers-Spoleto type to be a variant of the Alcúdia type and the Lucus Feroniae type to be a category of dubious validity.[9] The Alcúdia portrait type is thought to have been developed around 40 BC to coincide with the adoption of the patronymic title Divi Filius; Smith describes it as "a youthful portrait with thick hair and probably some expression of vigour and energy".[7] Different scholars have argued whether the Forbes type, "with distinctive short forehead hair," preceded or followed the Prima Porta type.[10]

  • Augustus of Prima Porta
    Augustus of Prima Porta
  • Meroë Head, dated to 30–25 BCE
    Meroë Head, dated to 30–25 BCE[11]
  • Portrait of the dominant ('Prima Porta') type
    Portrait of the dominant ('Prima Porta') type[6]
  • Augustus on the altar to Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste, based on the 'Alcúdia' or 'Actium' type but showing greater age
    Augustus on the altar to Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste, based on the 'Alcúdia' or 'Actium' type but showing greater age[7]
  • Portrait of the 'Forbes' type (Louvre MA 1280)
    Portrait of the 'Forbes' type (Louvre MA 1280)[12]
  • Bust of Augustus in Spoleto, one of the two examples of the 'Béziers-Spoleto' portrait type
    Bust of Augustus in Spoleto, one of the two examples of the 'Béziers-Spoleto' portrait type[9]
  • Augustus in the Villa Chiragan. This portrait is based on the Alcúdia and Prima Porta types but shows greater age
    Augustus in the Villa Chiragan. This portrait is based on the Alcúdia and Prima Porta types but shows greater age[7]
  • Augustus, then named Caesar Divi Filius, in 36 BCE; his beard symbolizes that he is in mourning
    Augustus, then named Caesar Divi Filius, in 36 BCE; his beard symbolizes that he is in mourning[13]
  • Egyptianized statue of Augustus. Roman Period. State Museum of Egyptian Art, Munich
    Egyptianized statue of Augustus. Roman Period. State Museum of Egyptian Art, Munich
  • Head of Augustus from Bergama, in modern-day Turkey. Museum of Archaeology, Istanbul
    Head of Augustus from Bergama, in modern-day Turkey. Museum of Archaeology, Istanbul
  • The Via Labicana statue of Augustus, closeup
    The Via Labicana statue of Augustus, closeup
  • The Blacas Cameo, dated from shortly after his death in 14 AD. It has been located in the British Museum since 1867
    The Blacas Cameo, dated from shortly after his death in 14 AD. It has been located in the British Museum since 1867
  • The Gemma Augustea in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
    The Gemma Augustea in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
  • The Great Cameo of France
    The Great Cameo of France

Literature

Augustan
Main articles: Augustan literature (ancient Rome) and Gaius Maecenas
Manuscript of Virgil's masterpiece, the Aeneid, circa 1470, Cristoforo Majorana

In literary histories of the first part of the twentieth century and earlier, Augustan Literature, the pieces of Latin literature written during the reign of Augustus, was regarded along with that of the Late Republic as constituting the Golden Age of Latin literature, a period of stylistic classicism.[14]

In the wars following Julius Caesar's assassination, a generation of Republican literary figures was lost. Cicero and his contemporaries were replaced by a new generation who spent their formative years under the old constructs and were forced to make their mark under the watchful eye of a new emperor and his quasi-culture minister, Gaius Maecenas, who was a prolific patron of the arts. The demand for great orators had ceased,[15] shifting to an emphasis on poetry. Other than the historian Livy, the most remarkable writers of the period were the poets Virgil, Horace, and Ovid.

Augustan literature produced the most widely read, influential, and enduring of Rome's poets. Although Virgil has sometimes been considered a "court poet", his Aeneid, the most important of the Latin epics, also permits complex readings on the source and meaning of Rome's power and the responsibilities of a good leader.[16] Ovid's works were wildly popular, but the poet was exiled by Augustus in one of literary history's great mysteries; carmen et error ("a poem" or "poetry" and "a mistake") is Ovid's own oblique explanation. Among prose works, the monumental history of Livy is preeminent for both its scope and stylistic achievement. The multi-volume work On Architecture by Vitruvius also remains of great informational interest.[16]

In 1737, British writer Alexander Pope, who had been imitating Horace, wrote an Epistle to Augustus that was in fact addressed to George II of Great Britain and seemingly endorsed the notion of his age being like that of Augustus, when poetry became more mannered, political and satirical than in the era of Julius Caesar.[17] Later, Voltaire and Oliver Goldsmith (in his History of Literature in 1764) used the term "Augustan" to refer to the poetry and literature of the 1720s and the 1730s in Britain.[18]

Biblical
  • In the Bible, Augustus is mentioned by name in Luke 2:1. According to the Gospel of Luke, Augustus ordered a census be conducted of the ".. entire Roman World" and this is the reason that Joseph and Mary, who lived in Nazareth, were in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.[19] Joseph was a descendant of King David, who was born in Bethlehem, and, as such, Joseph was required to register his family in Bethlehem.
  • The Tribute Penny, the coin that was shown to Jesus when he made his famous "Render unto Caesar..." speech, is usually thought to be a Roman denarius with the head of Tiberius, Augustus' successor.[20] The inscription reads "Ti[berivs] Caesar Divi Avg[vsti] F[ilivs] Avgvstvs" ("Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus"), claiming that after death Augustus had become a god. However, it has been suggested by some scholars that denarii were not in common circulation in Judaea during Jesus' lifetime and that the coin was more probably an Antiochan tetradrachm bearing the head of Tiberius, with Augustus on the reverse.[21] Another suggestion often made is the denarius of Augustus with Gaius and Lucius on the reverse, while coins of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Germanicus are all considered possibilities.[22]

Medieval
A page from a fifteenth-century Middle English manuscript of Octavian, found in the British Library
  • In the Golden Legend, among other works from the Middle Ages, a legendary meeting between Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl is recounted. According to the story, Augustus inquires of the Sibyl whether he should be worshiped as a god. In response, the Sibyl reveals to Augustus a vision of the Virgin and the Christ Child, who will eclipse all Roman gods.[23][24]
  • Augustus is mentioned several times in Dante Alighieri's epic poem, the Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321):
    • He is called "the good Augustus" by Virgil, a Roman poet of the Augustan period, who appears as the author's guide through Hell and Purgatory. Inf. I, 71.
    • Augustus is said to have taken charge of Virgil's physical and literary remains after his death. "My bones were buried by Octavian." Purg. VII, 6.
    • His triumphant chariot is compared to the chariot in the Pageant of the Church Triumphant. Purg. XXIX, 116.
  • Augustus (as Octavian) appears in two of Geoffrey Chaucer's fourteenth-century works: The Book of the Duchess and The Legend of Good Women.
  • Augustus (as Octavian) is the title character of a fourteenth-century Middle English verse translation and abridgement of a mid-13th century Old French romance of the same name by an unknown author.[25] The story describes a trauma that unfolds in the household of Octavian, whose own mother deceives him into sending his wife and his two newborn sons into exile and likely death. After many adventures, the family are at last reunited and the guilty mother is appropriately punished.[26][27]

Modern

Art
The Age of Augustus, the Birth of Christ, c. 1852–1854, Musée de Picardie

Temples and monuments

The Romans celebrated Augustus on a variety of honorific monuments; he was also worshipped as a divine or semi-divine figure in temples in many parts of the Roman Empire.[31]

Theater
The first page of Antony and Cleopatra from the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623

Opera

Film
Original theatrical release poster of the 1963 film Cleopatra

Portrayals of Octavian/Augustus in film:

Television

Radio

Military
Postcard of the MS Augustus (1950)

Video games
  • In Civilization IV, each game concludes with various statistics and a timeline, as well as a scale comparing the player to various historical figures. Augustus Caesar is at the top of the scale. He was also added in the expansion Civilization IV: Warlords as a Roman leader, accompanying Julius Caesar from the original game.
  • Augustus also makes his way into Civilization V, once again leading the Roman Empire. His special ability is "The Glory of Rome", which grants production bonuses for city improvements.
  • Augustus is a Main Character in the PS2 game, Shadow of Rome.
  • Augustus is one of the playable factions in Total War: Rome II's "Imperator Augustus" Campaign pack, which depicts the Second Triumvirate War between Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus during the last years of the Roman Republic. This DLC was released simultaneously with Total War: Rome II: Emperor Edition.
  • Augustus is mentioned as a member of the Order of the Ancients in the game Assassin's Creed Origins and also appears in the comic book series of the same name.

See also

Notes
  1. Ronald Syme, "Imperator Caesar: A Study in Nomenclature", Historia, vol. 7, no. 2 (Apr. 1958), pp. 176, 179, 181–183, 185
  2. Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.35.
  3. Lamont, Roscoe (1919). "The Roman calendar and its reformation by Julius Caesar". Popular Astronomy. Vol. 27. pp. 583–595, esp. 585–587. Bibcode:1919PA.....27..579P. Sacrobosco's theory is discussed on pages 585–587.
  4. Nothaft, C. Philipp E. (2018). Scandalous Error: Calendar Reform and Calendrical Astronomy in Medieval Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 122. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198799559.001.0001. ISBN 9780198799559.
  5. Goldsworthy (2014), p. 256.
  6. Smith (1996), p. 38.
  7. Smith (1996), p. 46.
  8. D. Boschung (1993). Die Bildnisse des Augustus: das römische Herrscherbild. Berlin: Gebr. Mann. ISBN 3786116954.
  9. Smith (1996), p. 39.
  10. Smith (1996), pp. 38–39.
  11. Smith (1996), p. 40.
  12. Smith (1996), p. 37.
  13. Goldsworthy (2014).
  14. Fergus Millar, "Ovid and the Domus Augusta: Rome Seen from Tomoi," Journal of Roman Studies 83 (1993), p. 6.
  15. Teuffel 1873, p. 385, "Public life became extinct, all political business passed into the hands of the monarch..."
  16. Joseph Farrell, "The Augustan Period: 40 BC–AD 14," in A Companion to Latin Literature (Blackwell, 2005), pp. 44–57.
  17. Thornton 275)
  18. Newman and Brown 32
  19. Lk. 2:1
  20. Akerman, John Y. (1855). The Numismatic Chronicle. Vol. 17. Royal Numismatic Society. p. 52.
  21. Lewis, Peter E.; Bolden, Ron (2002). The Pocket Guide to Saint Paul: Coins Encountered by the Apostle on his Travels. Wakefield Press. p. 19. ISBN 1-86254-562-6.
  22. Michael E. Marotta (2001). "Six Caesars Of The Tribute Penny". Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  23. Hall, 282; Murrays, 41
  24. "The Tiburtine Sibyl Showing the Virgin and Child to Augustus | RISD Museum".
  25. Hudson, Harriet (Ed). 1996. Four Middle English Romances. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University for TEAMS.
  26. Hudson, Harriet (Ed). 1996.
  27. Mills, Maldwyn (Ed). 1972.
  28. "The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  29. "Review: The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston". Kirkus Reviews. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  30. "Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus, Livia, and Octavia". Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  31. Karl Galinsky (1996). Augustan Culture: An Interpretive Introduction. Princeton University Press. pp. 323, 326–267. ISBN 0-691-05890-3.
  32. Ivo van Hove, interview in The Globe and Mail, 27 May 2010, p. R2.
  33. "Augustus Caesar (Character) from Rome (2005)," The Internet Movie Database.
  34. "Life of Caesar Podcast" Accessed 2 September 2015

References
  • Goldsworthy, Adrian (2014). Augustus: First Emperor of Rome. ISBN 9780300178722.
  • Smith, Roland R. R. (1996). "Typology and diversity in the portraits of Augustus". Journal of Roman Archaeology. 9: 30–47. doi:10.1017/S1047759400016482.
  • Teuffel, Wilhelm Sigismund (1873). A History of Roman Literature. Translated by Wagner, Wilhelm. London: George Bell & Sons.
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