Augustan Culture: An Interpretive IntroductionGrand political accomplishment and artistic productivity were the hallmarks of Augustus Caesar's reign (31 B.C. to A.D. 14), which has served as a powerful model of achievement for societies throughout Western history. Although much research has been done on individual facets of Augustan culture, Karl Galinsky's book is the first in decades to present a unified overview, one that brings together political and social history, art, literature, architecture, and religion. Weaving analysis and narrative throughout a richly illustrated text, Galinsky provides not only an enjoyable account of the major ideas of the age, but also an interpretation of the creative tensions and contradictions that made for its vitality and influence. Galinsky draws on source material ranging from coins and inscriptions to the major works of poetry and art, and challenges the schematic concepts and dichotomies that have commonly been applied to Augustan culture. He demonstrates that this culture was neither monolithic nor the mere result of one man's will. Instead it was a nuanced process of evolution and experimentation. Augustan culture had many contributors, as Galinsky demonstrates, and their dynamic interactions resulted in a high point of creativity and complexity that explains the transcendence of the Augustan age. Far from being static, its sophisticated literary and artistic monuments call for the active response and involvement of the reader and viewer even today. |
From inside the book
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... Concept : Auctoritas Auctoritas Auctoritas in the Aeneid : The Simile of the Statesman Auctoritas in Art : The Augustus Statue from Prima Porta Auctoritas and the Coins : The Mutuality of Leader and Followers CHAPTER II . The ...
... concepts and ideas that made the Augustan age so remark- able . They are not explained by a mere preoccupation with power ; genuine leadership goes beyond the accumulation of power . Nor should renewed interest in them be taken as a ...
... concepts and principles that did not always keep pace with political reality . " 10 The failure of the republic was perceived at the time as the failure to adhere to a traditional value system that placed the common good , the res ...
... concepts models for subsequent developments in Western culture . A related point is that many of these Augustan phenomena were in a state of nascence and evolution , a fact that tends to be obscured by their routiniza- tion in later ...
... evolution . This is , therefore , an important theme of this study , which is itself only part of the evolution of Augustan scholarship . CHAPTER I A PRINCIPAL CONCEPT : AUCTORITAS Few cultural periods THE AUGUSTAN EVOLUTION 9.
Contents
III | 10 |
IV | 20 |
V | 24 |
VI | 28 |
VII | 42 |
VIII | 43 |
IX | 49 |
X | 54 |
XXIX | 226 |
XXX | 229 |
XXXI | 234 |
XXXII | 237 |
XXXIII | 244 |
XXXIV | 246 |
XXXV | 253 |
XXXVI | 261 |