Aeneas and the Augustan Charioteer in the Aeneid

Abstract

The dedication of two Augustan monuments roughly brackets the composition of the Aeneid: the Temple of Apollo Palatinus (28 BCE) and the Arch of Augustus (19 BCE). Hardie 1986 and Miller 2000 have convincingly shown that the Temple of Apollo is an important referent for Virgil's epic. Nevertheless, the influence on the Aeneid of one image shared by these monuments has been neglected: the charioteer. In this paper, I argue that Augustus' innovative use of this figure registers in the literary representation of charioteers within the Aeneid itself. Specifically, I demonstrate connections between Aeneas' chariot (7.274-283) and Augustan imagery based on the association between the charioteer, paternity and divinity on these monuments. My analysis contributes an interpretation of Virgilian imagery that connects it with the evolving iconography of imperial power during the Principate. The image of the charioteer has a long history of serving as a metaphor for poetic composition in antiquity (Lovatt 2005). Virgilian critics have focused on the charioteer that opens the third Georgic and its connections to both Roman monuments and the poet's epic designs (e.g. Nelis 2008, Meban 2008, Nappa 2005). My chief concern is to demonstrate the influence of Augustan charioteers on imagery in the Aeneid. First, I analyze the overtly imperial overtones of the charioteer on the Temple of Apollo and the Arch of Augustus, located near Augustus' temple to Divus Iulius. Both chariots were located atop monuments connected with paternity and commemorated the successful incorporation of the East into the Roman state. Significantly, Augustus occupies the chariot on his arch and takes over the reins from the figure of Sol on the Temple of Apollo. These themes find their counterparts in Virgil's own imagery of charioteering in the Aeneid. For instance, these connections shed light on the language used to describe Aeneas' chariot at 7.280-83. Virgil consistently uses language of paternity in this passage (pater 7.272, pater 7.274, patri 7.282), and connects Aeneas' chariot explicitly with Sol through Circe, the god's daughter (daedala Circe, 7.282; Solis filia 7.11). Other words, such as ignem (7.281) and aetherio (7.281), support this interpretation. Finally, Ovid's own description of Sol's chariot at Metamorphoses 2.118-121 alludes to this passage and demonstrates that Virgil's best Augustan reader was aware of the model for Aeneas' chariot. My analysis pinpoints the chariot as an important vehicle in the gradual orientalizing of the Principate and the incorporation of the East into Augustan iconography and culture. The chariot of Sol and the chariot of Augustus are two images whose dates roughly bracket the composition of the Aeneid itself, and it is no coincidence that two charioteers exit the Aeneid at points that frame the epic (Troilus in Book One and Iuturna in Book Twelve). The loss of these charioteers is an appropriate metaphor for the process of integrating Augustus' new imagery into Roman culture and dispensing with those inherited from the republican past. I conclude that this makes Virgil an important participant in the ongoing and gradual process of incorporating eastern imagery into the Principate as a harbinger of Augustus' divine status.