Greece and the Augustan Cultural RevolutionThis book examines the impact of the Roman cultural revolution under Augustus on the Roman province of Greece. It argues that the transformation of Roman Greece into a classicizing 'museum' was a specific response of the provincial Greek elites to the cultural politics of the Roman imperial monarchy. Against a background of Roman debates about Greek culture and Roman decadence, Augustus promoted the ideal of a Roman debt to a 'classical' Greece rooted in Europe and morally opposed to a stereotyped Asia. In Greece the regime signalled its admiration for Athens, Sparta, Olympia and Plataea as symbols of these past Greek glories. Cued by the Augustan monarchy, provincial Greek notables expressed their Roman orientation by competitive cultural work (revival of ritual; restoration of buildings) aimed at further emphasising Greece's 'classical' legacy. Reprised by Hadrian, the Augustan construction of 'classical' Greece helped to promote the archaism typifying Greek culture under the principate. |
Contents
1 | |
chapter 2 Athenian eloquence and Spartan arms | 59 |
chapter 3 The noblest actions of the Greeks1 | 103 |
chapter 4 The gifts of the gods1 | 142 |
chapter 5 Constructed beauty | 207 |
chapter 6 Hadrian and the legacy of Augustus | 233 |
Conclusion | 271 |
275 | |
309 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Actium Aelius Aristides agora Agrippa Agrippeum ancient Antony Argive Argos argued Asia Athenian Athens Athens and Sparta attested Attic Augustan Augustan regime Augustan Rome Augustus building Buzyges Cartledge and Spawforth celebrated century bc Chapter Cicero civic Classical Claudius cult declaimers decree Delphi Dionysius Dionysius of Halicarnassus earlier eastern elder Eleusinian Eleusis emperor ephebes Eurycles evidence festival genos Greece Greek Greek culture Hadrian Hellenism Hellenistic Herodes honour ideological IG ii2 imperial imperial cult inscription Iulius Kantiréa late republic Latin Messene Messenian Mnasistratus monument moral mysteries Nicopolis noted ofAugustus ofthe Olympia orators oratory original Palladium Pammenes Panhellenion Paus Pausanias Persian Wars Philostratus Plataea Plut Plutarch political priest priesthood principate programme provincial Pythocles religious restoration rhetoric ritual Roman citizenship Rome sacred Salamis sanctuary second century social Spartan Spawforth 2002 statue style suggests temple theatre theme Themistocles traditional victory Wallace-Hadrill Wallace-Hadrill 2008 Zeus