Augustan Art and Propaganda Essay - 1964 Words

Augustan Art and Propaganda Julius Caesars reign was an unfavorable and chaotic period for Rome, and after his death, a large portion of the empire was handed down to his adopted son, Gaius Octavian. From the ashes of his father, Octavian was able to build an Empire unparalleled. Later, the name Augustus was given to him by Senate. Augustus ostensibly maintained the form of the Roman Republic while in actuality creating the Roman Empire. He introduced the administrative reforms that led to the Pax Romana with its flourishing of trade and the arts. Although Augustuss ascension to power could have not been without it bequested by Julius, it was his use of art and propaganda that reinforced the legitimacy his position. Octavians rise to†¦show more content†¦With the last of his rivals dead and defeated, Octavian occupied Egypt as a Roman conquest and won the honorary name Augustus from the Senate and called himself the first Princeps (First Citizen) rather than Emperor of Rome (Stockton 56). Augustus had direct control over the aesthetics of public art, commissioning propagandistic works to his benefit. Augustus was a great patron of the arts and architecture, in which he sponsored the construction of many buildings and portraits of himself to be distributed to every town throughout the Empire such as the Ara Pacis Augustae and the life size marble portrait of Augustus in Prima Porta. The Augustan Age was marked as one of the greatest time periods in Roman history, where the Empire flourished with prosperity and power. Augustus was careful not to declare himself as an emperor or any kind of title to state his kingship, but he referred to himself as â€Å"Princeps† or the First Citizen (Mark). Although he gave back power the senate, by doing so he establish central authority to himself. By calling himself Princeps, he held tremendous power. Also,because his uncle, Julius Caesar identified himself as a god, Augustus also represented himself as son of a god, something that is depicted in many of his portraits such as the one found in Prima Porta. During his reign, Augustus enacted an effective social and cultural program enlisting literature and the other arts revived time-honored values andShow MoreRelatedAugustus s Influence On Art And Architecture1930 Words   |  8 Pagesa new political propaganda campaign that used art and architecture to promote and enh ance his regime. The most fundamental message can be regarded as to establish the legitimacy of his rule and to portray him as the natural successor of Rome, as this is consistently presented throughout the visual programme. Yet factors such as the restoration of the Republic, reviving the old religion, nationalism and militaristic triumph can also be seen to be communicated prominently through art and architectureRead MoreArt Piece 2 : Arch Of Titus Essay1525 Words   |  7 PagesArt piece 2: Arch of Titus Dated: This art piece was dated Basic outline: Titus emperor who died Built by his bro, Domitian Triumphal arch Passageway on Sacred Way Inscriptions, friezes telling war stories. Details: The domitian built this arch on the road leading into the Roman Forum to honor his brother, the emperor Titus, who became a god after his death. Victories fill the spandrels of the arcuated passageway. Freestanding/ triumphal arch Material: The concrete and white marble, (originallyRead MoreArt and Literature in Augustan Rome1252 Words   |  6 PagesArt and Literature in Augustan Rome The beginning of this time period comes with the death of Julius Caesar and the rise to power of his nephew, Octavius. 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VitruviusRead More Augustan Poetry Essay830 Words   |  4 PagesAugustan Poetry Often through hardship and nearly insurmountable difficulty great works of art are born. Although years of bloodshed and civil war had plagued Rome since the death of Julius Caesar, some of the most powerful and influential literature in the western world was developed in that timeframe. During the Age of Augustus (approximately 43 BC – 17 AD) such great writers as Virgil, Horace, Livy, Propertius, and Ovid created epic masterpieces of literature and philosophy. It was throughRead MoreThe Public Life of Monuments1300 Words   |  6 Pagesmemory (and forgetting)? How did visitors perceive it? How did they appropriate it, and to what historical conclusions, what understanding of the Roman empire, might its viewers have been moved?† â€Å"The Summi Viri as a Monument† †¢ summi viri a work of Augustan ideology and a reflection of historical memory. Represents an effort to restore the past, to establish â€Å"historical continuity.† Statues of Roman/Republican heroes within the Forum. Constructed representation of Rome’s past within a public destinationRead MoreThe Case Of Augustus s True Message2268 Words   |  10 PagesArt is often used in propaganda regimes in order to convey a certain message. Many times that message is clear. However, in the case of Augustus, is his message straightforward? Was he telling people that he was a brave and godlike man with the Prima Porta? Or would he rather be known as the humble pontifex maximus? Or rather a man who works in conjunction with his family and the senate as seen in the Ara Picas Augustae? Certainly these different characteristics make it hard to pin point Augustus’sRead MoreThe Era Of The Republic Essay2052 Words   |  9 Pagesthis honour in order to maintain the ap pearance of equality amongst the Second Triumvirate. Therefore, this unprecedented grant worked in particular ways within the charged ideological climate of the triumviral period, and served a very specific propaganda goal. Augustus, by honouring both respectable Roman wives of the triumvirs equally, concealed his underlying motivation, which was to propagate the image of Octavia as a victim of Antony. A secondary initiative was that by depicting images of theRead MorePortrait of Augustus as General1323 Words   |  6 Pagesportraiture was one of the most significant periods in the development of portrait art. The characteristics of Roman portraitures are more modest, realistic, idealized, and natural. Also, the body compositions, muscles and facial expressions of portraits and sculptures are more advanced. Many roman portraits are directly linked to specific individuals, such as gods and emperors. They were often used for propaganda purposes and included ideological messages in th e pose, accoutrements, or costume ofRead MoreThe Aeneid By Virgil Aeneid1689 Words   |  7 PagesThroughout the poem Virgil used prophecies to make connections between the founding of the settlement (later to be Rome) by Aeneas and Rome’s culminating point with Augustus, who, according to Virgil, descends from Aeneas. Virgil uses this poem as propaganda for the new emperor by creating a parallelism between Aeneas, destiny, and Augustus at the same time that it uses a hidden ironic critique of the new regime. In the Aeneid, Virgil’s main concern is the creation of an etiological myth that unifies