9 - Semblance and Storytelling in Augustan Rome

Summary

Past as Prologue

Art in the age of Augustus was such a sophisticated blend of monument and national identity that it is hard to believe that it did not emerge full blown like Minerva from the head of Jupiter. In truth, Augustan art was inspired by such diverse civilizations as Ptolemaic Egypt, Classical and Hellenistic Greece, and Republican Rome, yet what it derived from these was merged into an entirely new creation. Almost as if by magic, a city of brick became one of marble, legendary founders and contemporary dynasts coalesced, and Rome took on the eminence of Alexandria and Athens.

This stunning and nearly flawless result owes a great deal to one man - Octavian Augustus and to his alliance with one woman - Livia Drusilla. The union of Augustus and Livia started out conventionally enough - ambitious man on the rise, disappointed that his wife has not given him a male heir, decides to divorce her in order to marry a beautiful aristocrat with a son and another child on the way. He envisions the new bride's personal and financial assets as a perfect complement to his own soaring aspirations, and he is not disappointed. In fact, it soon becomes clear that her intellect and vision match his own and that they are the perfect power couple.