OCR Classical Civilisation The Imperial Image overview quiz quiz

Augustus

Caesar

Imperator

Dictator

A hostile biography of the emperor Augustus composed long after his death by the historian Suetonius

Augustus' own first-person account of his achievements, set up for public display

A collection of Horace's odes praising Augustus and the new golden age of Roman peace

A formal law passed by the Senate that genuinely restored the old Republic to full working order

Auctoritas is formal legal power, whereas potestas is merely influence and personal prestige

They mean exactly the same thing and Augustus used the two words interchangeably throughout

Auctoritas is influence and prestige; potestas is formal legal power

Auctoritas refers to military command, whereas potestas refers to religious or priestly authority

The naval battle of Actium fought against Antony and Cleopatra

The founding of the city of Rome by Romulus on the Palatine

The pious sacrifice offered by Aeneas after his flight from Troy

The return of the Roman standards by the Parthians

As Pontifex Maximus (chief priest), veiled and sacrificing

As a victorious general in armour, celebrating a military triumph

As a god enthroned in majesty among the other Olympian deities

As a youthful nude athlete in the manner of Classical Greek sculpture

Because Augustus actually died at a young age, before his features could ever grow old

To draw on Classical Greek models and project timeless, godlike authority

Because the techniques of realistic, ageing portraiture were entirely unknown to Roman sculptors

To deliberately disguise and hide his true identity from the ordinary people of the empire

Military conquest and the subjugation of Rome's foreign enemies

The fall of the old Republic and the collapse of senatorial rule

Peace, piety and dynastic continuity through the imperial family

The growth of Roman trade and the prosperity of merchants abroad

The conquest of Egypt and the final defeat of Cleopatra's kingdom

The formal restoration of the Senate to its full powers under the Republic

The celebration of the Secular Games held to mark a new age of Rome

The avenging of Julius Caesar's murder, with Augustus among Rome's heroes

Money circulated everywhere, carrying his portrait, titles and messages to everyone

Coins were rare and highly prized objects that only the wealthiest Romans ever handled

Coins were chiefly displayed as dedications inside the temples of the major Roman gods

Only soldiers ever used coins, since the army was paid in cash while civilians bartered

They cannot be dated at all, so historians have no way of fixing any coin to a particular year or reign

Their tiny images and abbreviated legends mean we cannot assume everyone read the messages; they show intention, not reception

They were never officially issued by the Roman state, which means that all of the surviving Roman coins must be later forgeries of no value

They carried no images or inscriptions whatsoever, so they can tell us nothing at all about imperial messaging

It openly criticises Augustus and condemns his rise to sole power over Rome

It ignores Augustus entirely and never once alludes to him or his new regime

It presents Augustus as the climax of Roman destiny and bringer of a golden age

It mocks the Augustan peace as hollow and treats the new settlement with heavy irony

They never once mention Augustus or his achievements, keeping their poetry entirely free of any political content at all

They were strictly forbidden by law from writing about politics, so any praise of Augustus in their verse must be ironic

They all secretly opposed the new regime, and so every single line of their work conceals a coded attack on Augustus and his new order

Propertius is ambivalent, Ovid was exiled and reflects on imperial harshness, and even Virgil shades his triumph with loss