Caesars Research Articles

NOTES ON THE TEXT OF SUETONIUS DIVUS IULIUS

The article makes critical comments on and proposes alternative readings to Kaster’s 2016 edition of Suetonius’ Divus Iulius.

Ephesos: Die antike Metropole im Spannungsfeld von Religion und Bildung

Ephesos: Die antike Metropole im Spannungsfeld von Religion und Bildung

The Silver Caesars: A Renaissance Mystery ed. by Julia Siemon

The Silver Caesars: A Renaissance Mystery ed. by Julia Siemon

CASSIUS DIO AND THE CULT OF IVLIVS AND ROMA AT EPHESUS AND NICAEA (51.20.6-8)

This paper considers Cassius Dio's account of the early worship of Augustus. Its main focus is the number of cults consecrated to the worship of Rome's new undisputed leader and his father, the now deceased and deified Divus Iulius, after the triumvir, on his way back from Alexandria in 29 b.c.e., wintered in Asia Minor. In his account of how the first official worship of Augustus was organized, Dio describes how Augustus let two separate cults inaugurate: a joint cult to the worship of Divus Iulius and the goddess Thea Roma—a Greek deity, which since the second century served as a personification of Roman rule or Roman power—and a personal cult to the worship of the victorious triumvir (51.20.6-8).

LIVIA: SACERDOS OR FLAMINICA?

Dio reports that, at the time Augustus was declared Divus, Livia, who was already called Julia and Augusta, was appointed his priestess (Cassius Dio 56.46.1). The term Dio uses is hiereia, which occurs in the same passage as his account of the priests and sacred rites (en tais hierourgiais) that were assigned to Augustus on his deification. As Livia was also permitted to employ a lictor, an honour that Tiberius apparently restricted to her function as priestess, everything suggests that Livia played a part in the state cult. In contrast, the festival Livia established in honour of her deceased husband was certainly a private gathering: three days of scenic games to which were invited only persons of the highest station. To distinguish between the two is crucial to the precise title of Livia's office. Just as Mark Antony had been made flamen of Divus Iulius—to all appearances for life (Cassius Dio 44.6.4)—so Germanicus was appointed life-long flamen Augustalis (Tac. Ann. 2.83.2)—a distinctive term of office compared with the single year accorded provincial flamines in the Latin West. The office of Livia ought correspondingly to have been that of flaminica, even if it was unprecedented for a woman to serve a god who in the light of his will was technically her father. A precise parallel to all this, it is important to note, exists in the case of Divus Claudius, whose cult Agrippina was appointed to tend and who in her capacity as priestess of Divus Claudius was granted in addition two lictors. Fortunately in this case the exact terminology of her office is given by Tacitus in his account of the honours bestowed by the Senate on Agrippina, who evidently was named flaminica (Ann. 13.2.6): … decreti et a senatu duo lictores, flamonium Claudiale, simul Claudio censorium funus et mox consecratio.

Last of the naval triumphs: revisiting some key Actian honours

In 29 B.C., after his victories over Marcus Antonius (cos. 44, 34) and Cleopatra at Actium and in Egypt, Caesar Octavi(an)us, or Imperator Caesar Divi f., as he then wanted to be known, returned to Rome as the uncontested master of the Roman world. He did so in a carefully managed pageant that culminated with his triple triumph on 13, 14 and 15 Sextilis (the month later renamed Augustus in his honour) and the opening of the Temple of Divus Iulius in the Forum Romanum shortly thereafter, on the 18th. These ceremonies marked the culmination of his claim — a pompous declaration already made in the autumn of 36 in the aftermath of Naulochus — that he had put an end to war on “land and sea” throughout the world. While the relevant entries in the Fasti Triumphales are lost, Cassius Dio produces a fairly accurate précis of Octavian's triple triumph. The first day was the triumph over the Pannonians and the Dalmatians, the Iapydes and their neighbours, and some German and Gallic tribes; the second day commemorated the naval victory at Actium, the ; the third and final triumph, the most costly and magnificent of them all, was over Egypt. Dio clarifies that the Egyptian spoils proved so rich and bountiful that they covered the expense and lustre of all three triumphal processions.

American Caesars

American Caesars

Octavianus und der Totengeist des Iulius Caesar in der römischen Geschichte des Florus

The contribution investigates the references of the ghost of Iulius Caesar in Florus II 16, with the help of textual analogies. The references are analysed from the point of view of ancient historiography and religious history, examining the role of the deceased Iulius Caesar as prodigium (not as divus Iulius) in the Augustan propaganda.

Aeneas and the Augustan Charioteer in the Aeneid

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.

JULIUS CAESAR , l. ii.139–40

JULIUS CAESAR , l. ii.139–40 Get access HOWARD JACOBSON HOWARD JACOBSON University of IllinoisUrbana Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume 48, Issue 3, September 2001, Pages 282-a–282, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/48-3-282a Published: 01 September 2001

‘BUT WITH JUST CAUSE’: JULIUS CAESAR, III.j.47

Journal Article ‘BUT WITH JUST CAUSE’: JULIUS CAESAR , III.j.47 Get access MACD. P. JACKSON MACD. P. JACKSON University of Auckland Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume 48, Issue 3, September 2001, Pages 282-b–284, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/48-3-282b Published: 01 September 2001

Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR

Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR

Two notes on Octavian and the cult of Divus Iulius

This article looks at the political use made by Octavian of the deified Caesar. Part one discusses a coin issued in 36 BC which shows the projected temple of Divus Iulius in the Forum Romanum. Part two discusses the passage in Cassius Dio which recounts the establishment of the Imperial Cult in Asia Minor in 29 BC. It is here argued that the promotion of the cult of Divus Iulius and the association of his cult with that of the Goddess Roma played an important part in Octavian's consolidation of power. It is also suggested that Octavian was actively interested in promoting the concept of his own divinity.

Review: Play: Julius Cœsar

Review: Play: Julius Cœsar

Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars

Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars

Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars

Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars

Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars

Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars

The Twelve Caesars. Illustrated Edition

The Twelve Caesars. Illustrated Edition

The Army of the Caesars

The Army of the Caesars

The Army of the Caesars

The Army of the Caesars