Download or read book The Divinization of Caesar and Augustus written by Michael Koortbojian and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the newly institutionalized divinization of Caesar and Augustus at the advent of the Roman empire.

Download or read book Life of Augustus written by Suetonius and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Suetonius' Life of Augustus is the most commonly read ancient account of the life of Rome's first emperor, presenting a mass of historical and biographical detail about both his public and personal lives. This volume provides the first large-scale commentary on Suetonius' work in English, drawing out what is unique about Suetonius' information, discussing how it relates to other ancient accounts, and assessing its historical reliability. The commentary is the first to be accessible to readers without any knowledge of Latin or Greek due to its use of English lemmata, while the new translation remains faithful to the original Latin. Accompanied by an introduction which investigates the career of Suetonius, the date of the Lives of the Caesars, the structure of the Life of Augustus, the various sources utilized by Suetonius, and the way in which the reader should approach this complex text, the commentary also looks to examine Suetonius' work not just as a repository of facts, but as a literary artefact carefully constructed by its author.

Download or read book The Failure of Augustus written by E.A. Judge and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-02-18 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Augustus did not mean to become the “Founder of the Roman Empire”. We only say this to make sense of what happened later. At the time, there were indeed suspicions. However, Augustus plugged on with his propaganda, with a proud and clear aim in mind. In the end, though, his own persistence defeated him. In all history, we must first find out what was true at the time. This book focuses always on the particular words of Augustus, and how his mind could be read from them. It is not concerned with any contemporary focus of research in Augustan studies, but offers, rather, a sustained argument over the primacy of the original sources in any historical interpretation. Behind that lies the question of truth itself in any history.

Download or read book The Imperial Cult in the Latin West Volume 2 Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire Part 2 1 written by Duncan Fishwick and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preliminary material -- GENIUS AND NUMEN -- NUMINA AUGUSTORUM -- THE IMPERIAL NVMEN IN ROMAN BRITAIN -- DOMUS DIVINA -- AUGUSTO UT DEO -- AUGUSTAN GODS -- AUGUSTAN BLESSINGS AND VIRTUES -- LITURGY AND CEREMONIAL -- DATED INSCRIPTIONS AND THE FERIALE DURANUM -- THE AUGUSTALES AND THE IMPERIAL CULT -- ADDENDA TO VOLUME II, 1 -- LIST OF PLATES -- Plates LXXIV-CXIII.

Download or read book The Augustan Succession written by Peter Michael Swan and published by Oxford : Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This commentary pays close critical attention to Dio's historical sources, methods, and assumptions as it also strives to present him as a figure in his own right. During a long life (ca. 164-after 229), Dio served as a Roman senator under seven emperors from Commodus to Severus Alexander, governed three Roman provinces, and was twice consul."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Religious Reconstruction Under Augustus written by Emma Vera Strong and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Emperor Worship and Roman Religion written by Ittai Gradel and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2002-08-02 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While Roman religion worshipped a number of gods, one kind in particular aroused the fury of early Christians and the wonder of scholars: the cult of Roman emperors alive or dead. Was the divinity of emperors a glue that held the Empire together? Were rulers such as Julius Caesar and Caligula simply mad to expect such worship of themselves? Or was it rather a phenomenon which has only been rendered incomprehensible by modern and monotheistic ideas of what religion is - or should be - all about? This book presents the first study of emperor worship among the Romans themselves, both in Rome and in its heartland Italy. It argues that emperor worship was indeed perfectly in keeping with Roman religious tradition, which has been generally misunderstood by a posterity imbued with radically different notions of the relationship between humans and the divine.

Download or read book Cult Places and Cult Personnel in the Roman Empire written by Duncan Fishwick and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twenty-one studies assembled in this volume focus on the apparatus and practitioners of religions in the western Roman empire, the enclaves, temples, altars and monuments that served the cults of a wide range of divinities through the medium of priests and worshippers. Discussion focuses on the analysis or reconstruction of the centres at which devotees gathered and draws on the full range of available evidence. While literary authorities remain of primary concern, these are for the most part overshadowed by other categories of evidence, in particular archaeology, epigraphy, numismatics and iconography, sources in some cases confirmed by the latest geophysical techniques - electrical resistivity tomography or ground-probing radar. The material is conveniently presented by geographical area, using modern rather than Latin terminology: Rome, Italy, Britain, Gaul, Spain, Hungary, along with a broader section that covers the empire in general. The titles of the various articles speak for themselves but readers may find the preface of interest in so far as it sets out my ideas on the use of ancient evidence and the pitfalls of some of the approaches favoured by modern scholars. Together with the wide range of individual papers the preface makes the book of interest to all students of the Roman empire as well as those specifically concerned with the history of religions.

Download or read book Religion and Memory in Tacitus Annals written by Kelly E. Shannon-Henderson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-29 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout his narrative of Julio-Claudian Rome in the Annals, Tacitus includes numerous references to the gods, fate, fortune, astrology, omens, temples, priests, the emperor cult, and other religious material. Though scholars have long considered Tacitus' discussion of religion of minor importance, this volume demonstrates the significance of such references to an understanding of the work as a whole by analyzing them using cultural memory theory, which views religious ritual as a key component in any society's efforts to create a lived version of the past that helps define cultural identity in the present. Tacitus, who was not only an historian, but also a member of Rome's quindecimviral priesthood, shows a marked interest in even the most detailed rituals of Roman religious life, yet his portrayal of religious material also suggests that the system is under threat with the advent of the principate. Some traditional rituals are forgotten as the shape of the Roman state changes while, simultaneously, a new form of cultic commemoration develops as deceased emperors are deified and the living emperor and his family members are treated in increasingly worshipful ways by his subjects. This study traces the deployment of religious material throughout Tacitus' narrative in order to show how he views the development of this cultic "amnesia" over time, from the reign of the cryptic, autocratic, and oddly mystical Tiberius, through Claudius' failed attempts at reviving tradition, to the final sacrilegious disasters of the impious Nero. As the first book-length treatment of religion in the Annals, it reveals how these references are a key vehicle for his assessment of the principate as a system of government, the activities of individual emperors, and their impact on Roman society and cultural identity.

Download or read book The Universal Eschatological Worship of Jesus Christ in Paul s Letter to the Philippians written by Surif, and published by Langham Monographs. This book was released on 2021-11-05 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philippians 2:6–11 is one of the most significant christological passages to appear in Paul’s letters. Placing these verses against the backdrop of the Roman-imperial cult that flourished in Philippi, Dr. Surif moves beyond a humiliation/vindication or obedience/lordship paradigm to focus on the section’s culmination in the universal eschatological worship of Christ. Examining Paul’s eschatological framework throughout Philippians – as well as its tradition within Jewish literature more broadly – Dr. Surif explores the implications for Christians called to obedience, suffering, and holiness as active participants in God’s work of salvation. Ultimately, Paul is reminding his readers that salvation does not culminate in the resurrection of the dead but the universal worship of Jesus Christ – and it is for that worship that they are being prepared.

Download or read book Imperial Women of Rome written by Mary T. Boatwright and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-20 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Imperial Women of Rome explores the constraints and activities of the women who were part of Rome's imperial families from 35 BCE to 235 CE, the Roman principate. Boatwright uses coins, inscriptions, papyri, material culture, and archaeology, as well as the more familiar but biased ancient authors, to depict change and continuity in imperial women's pursuits and representations over time. Focused vignettes open each thematic chapter, emphasizing imperial women as individuals and their central yet marginalized position in the principate. Evaluating historical contingency and personal agency, the book assesses its subjects in relation to distinct Roman structures rather than as a series of biographies. Rome's imperial women allow us to probe the meanings of the emperor's authority and power; Roman law; the Roman family; Roman religion and imperial cult; imperial presence in the city of Rome; statues and exemplarity; and the military and communications. The book is richly illustrated and offers detailed information in tables and appendices, including one for the life events of the imperial women discussed in the text. Considered over time and as a whole, Livia, the Agrippinas and Faustinas, Julia Domna, and others closely connected to Rome's emperors enrich our understanding of Roman history and offer glimpses of fascinating and demanding lives.

Download or read book Christ s Enthronement at God s Right Hand and Its Greco Roman Cultural Context written by D. Clint Burnett and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2021-01-18 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Given the dearth of non-messianic interpretations of Psalm 110:1 in non-Christian Second Temple Jewish texts, why did it become such a widely used messianic prooftext in the New Testament and early Christianity? Previous attempts to answer this question have focused on why the earliest Christians first began to use Ps 110:1. The result is that these proposals do not provide an adequate explanation for why first century Christians living in the Greek East employed the verse and also applied it to Jesus’s exaltation. I contend that two Greco-Roman politico-religious practices, royal and imperial temple and throne sharing—which were cross-cultural rewards that Greco-Roman communities bestowed on beneficent, pious, and divinely approved rulers—contributed to the widespread use of Ps 110:1 in earliest Christianity. This means that the earliest Christians interpreted Jesus’s heavenly session as messianic and thus political, as well as religious, in nature.

Download or read book Paul and Imperial Divine Honors written by D. Clint Burnett and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2024-03-19 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the imperial cult affect Christians in the Roman Empire? “Jesus is lord, not Caesar.” Many scholars and preachers attribute mistreatment of early Christians by Roman authorities to this fundamental confessional conflict. But this mantra relies on a reductive understanding of the imperial cult. D. Clint Burnett examines copious evidence—literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological—to more accurately reconstruct Christian engagement with imperial divine honors. Outdated narratives often treat imperial divine honors as uniform and centralized, focusing on the city of Rome. Instead, Burnett examines divine honors in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. While all three cities incorporated imperial cultic activity in their social, religious, economic, and political life, the purposes and contours of the practice varied based on the city’s unique history. For instance, Thessalonica paid divine honors to living Julio-Claudians as tribute for their status as a free city in the empire—and Christian resistance to the practice was seen as a threat to that independence. Ultimately, Burnett argues that early Christianity was not specifically antigovernment but more broadly countercultural, and that responses to this stance ranged from conflict to apathy. Burnett’s compelling argument challenges common assumptions about the first Christians’ place in the Roman Empire. This fresh account will benefit Christians seeking to understand their faith’s place in public life today.

Download or read book The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage written by Kevin Butcher and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-02 with total page 841 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fineness of Roman imperial and provincial coinage has been regarded as an indicator of the broader fiscal health of the Roman Empire, with the apparent gradual decline of the silver content being treated as evidence for worsening deficits and the contraction of the supply of natural resources from which the coins were made. This book explores the composition of Roman silver coinage of the first century AD, re-examining traditional interpretations in the light of an entirely new programme of analyses of the coins, which illustrates the inadequacy of many earlier analytical projects. It provides new evidence for the supply of materials and refining and minting technology. It can even pinpoint likely episodes of recycling old coins and, when combined with the study of hoards, hints at possible strategies of stockpiling of metal. The creation of reserves bears directly on the question of the adequacy of revenues and fiscal health.

Download or read book Greek Imperial Coins and Their Values written by David Sear and published by Spink Books. This book was released on 1982-12-31 with total page 673 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This catalogue is unique in providing the collector with the only comprehensive and authoritative guide devoted specifically to the local coinages of the Roman Empire, undoubtedly the most neglected series in the whole of ancient classical numismatics. Greek Imperial coins span more than three centuries from Augustus to Diocletian, and were issued at over six hundred mints from Spain to Mesopotamia.

Download or read book An Institution of General History from the beginning of the world to the monarchy of Constantine the Great etc written by William Howell and published by . This book was released on 1661 with total page 922 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book From Republic to Empire written by John Pollini and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political image-making—especially from the Age of Augustus, when the Roman Republic evolved into a system capable of governing a vast, culturally diverse empire—is the focus of this masterful study of Roman culture. Distinguished art historian and classical archaeologist John Pollini explores how various artistic and ideological symbols of religion and power, based on Roman Republican values and traditions, were taken over or refashioned to convey new ideological content in the constantly changing political world of imperial Rome. Religion, civic life, and politics went hand in hand and formed the very fabric of ancient Roman society. Visual rhetoric was a most effective way to communicate and commemorate the ideals, virtues, and political programs of the leaders of the Roman State in an empire where few people could read and many different languages were spoken. Public memorialization could keep Roman leaders and their achievements before the eyes of the populace, in Rome and in cities under Roman sway. A leader’s success demonstrated that he had the favor of the gods—a form of legitimation crucial for sustaining the Roman Principate, or government by a “First Citizen.” Pollini examines works and traditions ranging from coins to statues and reliefs. He considers the realistic tradition of sculptural portraiture and the ways Roman leaders from the late Republic through the Imperial period were represented in relation to the divine. In comparing visual and verbal expression, he likens sculptural imagery to the structure, syntax, and diction of the Latin language and to ancient rhetorical figures of speech. Throughout the book, Pollini’s vast knowledge of ancient history, religion, literature, and politics extends his analysis far beyond visual culture to every aspect of ancient Roman civilization, including the empire’s ultimate conversion to Christianity. Readers will gain a thorough understanding of the relationship between artistic developments and political change in ancient Rome.