Chapter Three. The Roman Background

The direct influences that can be traced were Roman, and it was these that in all likelihood absorbed ingredients from some of these Greek forerunners. When Augustus completed his plans he had before his eyes both a phenomenon which he must have regarded as self-evident, namely the wealth of statuary and portraiture displayed in the city and elsewhere in Italy, in public places and in the houses of the nobility, and also what was largely an innovation of his age, a variety of literary works dealing with historical personages, some of whose authors he may have been acquainted with. Both these phenomena must have been highly relevant to his pursuit. It is these two kinds of probable influences that are traced and evaluated in this chapter.Keywords: Augustus; Forum Augustum; Roman nobility

Classical Antiquity Studies · History