Siècle d’Auguste et âge d’or

Abstract

We find three definitions of the saeculum in the Roman world. The Etruscan Century is based on the lives of the human beings and of the different cities in Etruria. We find an echo of these theories in the Roman divination There are two definitions of the century in Rome, a century of 100 and a century of 110 years. This theory, elaborated by the Quindecemviri sacris faciundis and Ateius Capito, has been taken into consideration to celebrate the Secular Games in 17 AD. In fact, the reign of Augustus has been considered as the return of the Golden Age in Italy and in the Roman world, with the end of the civil wars. In Vergil’s poetry, we find a historical conception of the Hesiodic Golden Age. Announced in the fourth Eclogue, the Golden age is localized in the Latium (Georgica) under the power of Augustus (Aeneid).