Actium and Augustus : The Politics and Emotions of Civil War

by: Gurval, R.A.

Price: 44,00 EURO

1 copy in stock

Actium and Augustus
The Politics and Emotions of Civil War
Robert Alan Gurval
What does it feel like when brother fights brother?
Description
On 2 September 31 B.C.E., the heir of Julius Caesar defeated the forces of Antony and Cleopatra in a naval engagement at Actium. Despite the varied judgments this battle received in antiquity, common opinion held that Actium marked the start of a new era, a turning point in Roman history and, indeed, in Western civilization.

Actium and Augustus marks a turning point as well. Robert Alan Gurval's unusual approach is to examine contemporary views of the battle and its immediate political and social consequences. He starts with a consideration of the official celebration and public commemoration of the Actian victory and then moves on to other questions. What were the "Actian" monuments that Octavian erected on the battle site and later in Rome? What role did the Actian victory play in the political formation of the Principate and its public ideology? What was the response of contemporary poetry? Throughout, this volume concentrates on contemporary views of Actium and its results.

Written to include the general reader, Actium and Augustus presents a thoughtful examination of a complex period. All Greek and Latin quotations are translated, and extensive illustrations present graphic evidence about the issues Romans faced.

Robert Alan Gurval is Associate Professor of Classics, University of California, Los Angeles, and has been a recipient of the Rome Prize awarded by the American Academy in Rome.

Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter One: "The imperious show of the full-fortun'd Caesar": celebration in Rome and the monuments of victory
The triple triumph ceremony
The "Actian" arch
The coinage of the victor
Monuments in the east: victory cities and Actian games
Chapter Two: Tuus iam regnat Apollo: Octavian, Apollo, and the temple on the Palatine
Octavian and Apollo
The temple of Apollo
Chapter Three: Posteri negabitis: Horace and Actium
Initial joy of victory and mixtum carmen
The Neptunius dux and the recollection of Naulochus
The Actian campaign and battle
The cry of triumph and the nec parem ducem
The defeat and flight of the hostis
Final anxiety, fear, and the fluens nausea
Chapter Four: Bellaque resque tui memorarem Caesaris: Propertius and the memorials of Actium
"Caesar's affairs. . . for a background": The Propertian recusatio and Actium
The Elegist's defense: Rome's fear of Cleopatra and the shame of civil war
Chapter Five: "No, Virgil, no": the battle of Actium on the shield of Aeneas
Chapter Six: Alexandrian poetics and Roman politics: Propertius 4.6
Epilogue: Actium renascens
Bibliography
General index
Index of ancient authors
Index of coins and inscriptions
Illustrations

Actium and Augustus : The Politics and Emotions of Civil War

by: Gurval, R.A.

• ISBN-13: 9780472084890 / 978-0-472-08489-0
• ISBN-03: 0472084895 / 0-472-08489-5
• The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1998

Price: 44,00 EURO

1 copy in stock