The Alternative Augustan Age

The princeps Augustus (63 BCE - 14 CE), recognized as the first of the Roman emperors, looms large in the teaching and writing of Roman history. Major political, literary, and artistic developments alike are attributed to him. This book deliberately and provocatively shifts the focus off Augustus while still looking at events of his time. Contributors uncover the perspectives and contributions of a range of individuals other than the princeps. Not all thought they were living in the "Augustan Age." Not all took their cues from Augustus. In their self-display or ideas for reform, some anticipated Augustus. Others found ways to oppose him that also helped to shape the future of their community. The volume challenges the very idea of an "Augustan Age" by breaking down traditional turning points and showing the continuous experimentation and development of these years to be in continuity with earlier Roman culture. In showcasing absences of Augustus and giving other figures their due, the papers here make a seemingly familiar period startlingly new.

Josiah Osgood is Chair and Professor of Classics at Georgetown University (Washington DC). He has published several books on Roman history including Caesar's Legacy: Civil War and the Emergence of the Roman Empire (Cambridge University Press) and Turia: A Roman Woman's Civil War (Oxford University Press). Kit Morrell is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Amsterdam and an Honorary Associate of the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney. Her previous publications include Pompey, Cato, and the Governance of the Roman Empire (Oxford University Press). Associate Professor Kathryn Welch teaches Roman history at the University of Sydney (Sydney NSW Australia). Her most recent publications include Magnus Pius: Sextus Pompeius and the transformation of the Roman Republic (Classical Press of Wales) and (as editor) Appian's Roman History: empire and civil war (CPW). With Anton Powell, she edited Julius Caesar as Artful Reporter (CPW).

Preface List of contributors Table of figures 1. The alternative Augustan age Hannah Mitchell, Kit Morrell, Josiah Osgood, and Kathryn Welch 2. Augustus as magpie Kit Morrell 3. Hopes and aspirations: res publica, leges et iura, and alternatives at Rome Eleanor Cowan 4. Rebuilding Romulus' Senate: The lectio senatus of 18 BCE Andrew Pettinger 5. The good wife: fate, fortune, and familia in Augustan Rome Bronwyn Hopwood 6. At magnus Caesar, and Yet! Social resistance against Augustan legislation Werner Eck 7. C. Asinius Pollio and the politics of cosmopolitanism Joel Allen 8. For Rome or for Augustus? Triumphs beyond the imperial family in the post-civil war period Carsten Hjort Lange 9. Egyptian victories: the praefectus Aegypti and the presentation of military success in the age of Augustus Wolfgang Havener 10. African alternatives Josiah Osgood 11. The reputation of L. Munatius Plancus and the idea of "serving the times" Hannah Mitchell 12. How do you solve a problem like Marcus Agrippa? James Tan 13. Acting "republican" under Augustus: the coin types of the gens Antistia Megan Goldman-Petri 14. Saecular discourse: qualitative periodization in first century BCE Rome Paul Hay 15. Maecenas and the Augustan poets: the background of a cultural ambition Philippe Le Doze 16. Gauls on top: provincials ruling Rome on the shield of Aeneas Geraldine Herbert-Brown 17. The rise of the centumviral court in the Augustan age: an alternative arena of aristocratic competition Matthew Roller 18. Shields of Virtue(s) Kathryn Welch 19. The popular reception of Augustus and the self-infantilization of Rome's citizenry Tom Hillard 20. Inventing the imperial Senate Amy Russell Bibliography