Age of Augustus

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This class offers a study of the rise to power of Rome’s first emperor Augustus and the ways in which he consolidated his power and created new institutions such as a professional army that endured for centuries afterwards. We consider key interventions in politics by allies of Augustus as well as his opponents. Emphasis is also placed on how a wide range of Romans and provincials forged a new imperial culture in literature, the visual arts, and other media that lent support to the rule of Augustus and his family. Some comparisons will be made with Alexander the Great and his successors and there will also be consideration of the reuse of Roman imagery in later times, including the Napoleonic Empire and the early United States.