Res Gestae Divi Augusti: Text, Translation, and Commentary

by Augustus , Alison E. Cooley

• ISBN13: 9780521601283
• ISBN10: 0521601282
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

At the end of his life the emperor Augustus wrote an account of his achievements in which he reviewed his rise to power, his conquest of the world and his unparalleled generosity towards his subjects. This edition provides a new text, translation and detailed commentary - the first substantial one in English for more than four decades - which is suitable for use with students of all levels. The commentary deals with linguistic, stylistic and historical matters. It elucidates how Augustus understood his role in Roman society, and how he wished to be remembered by posterity; and it sets this picture that emerges from the Res Gestae into the context of the emergence both of a new visual language and of an official set of expressions. The book also includes illustrations in order to demonstrate how the Augustan era witnessed the rise of a whole new visual language.

Author Biography

Alison E. Cooley is Senior Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. Recent books include Becoming Roman, Writing Latin? Literacy and Epigraphy in the Roman West (2002, edited), and Pompeii (2004).

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. viii
Preface	p. xi
List of abbreviations	p. xii
Maps 1-4	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
'Queen of inscriptions'	p. 1
RGDA at Rome	p. 3
RGDA in its provincial contexts	p. 6
Ancyra	p. 7
Antioch near Pisidia	p. 13
Apollonia	p. 16
Mechanisms for publication	p. 18
The language of the RGDA	p. 22
Stylistic characteristics of the Latin text	p. 22
Features of the Greek translation	p. 26
The messages of the RGDA	p. 30
Date of composition	p. 42
Transmission of the text and previous study of the monuments	p. 43
Ancyra	p. 43
Pisidian Antioch	p. 46
Apollonia	p. 47
Reinterpretations of the RGDA	p. 48
Roman responses	p. 48
Mussolini and the RGDA	p. 51
Res Gestae Divi Augusti: text and translation	p. 57
Commentary	p. 102
Appendix	p. 279
Bibliography	p. 282
Index locorum	p. 302
General index	p. 305
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