Abstract
Nowadays there seems to be a tendency to approach the Res Gestae as a means of revealing Augustus and his deceptive ways, what might be called the right-or-wrong approach to history. The German epigraphist Alföldy rightly observes that the Res Gestae is different from biographies, and in continuation of this point stresses that inscriptions did not normally focus on the negative qualities of the honorand. That Augustus does stress civil war more than once seems not to have distracted him from that conclusion. One might say that the ending of the civil wars is accentuated, but the good ending only makes sense as a counterbalance to the not so good, i.e. the civil war itself. The question is what is expected from the Res Gestae.
This article will look at approaches to the Res Gestae and will suggest that negative things are not left out, but used to stress the coming of a new and better age of universal peace. Had Augustus tried to deceive, he would have jeopardised his res gestae. Not to mention the negative sides of Octavian would be absurd; it is by addressing the negative aspects that justification becomes possible.
A reconsideration of Heuss’ article on the ideology of the Res Gestae will be used to exemplify this approach. According to Heuss, the inscription should be used in its entirety, not just for cherry-picking. Surprisingly, he does not think a connection between the chapters was important for Augustus. Chapter 28 is thus misplaced because the mentioning of colonies should not be part of the section on foreign politics. This might seem rather unimportant, but that is far from the case. Heuss dismisses information instead of trying to find out why the information is in the chapter in question. This article will try to focus on the colonies of chapter 28 and the problem of why colonies are mentioned in this chapter; this will be the key to understanding that, apart from expansion and war, a subject of the RG, is the return to normality after civil war. In RG 3.3 foreign and civil wars are mentioned, as are indeed colonies; there is right from the outset a clear connection between civil war and colonies.
This article will look at approaches to the Res Gestae and will suggest that negative things are not left out, but used to stress the coming of a new and better age of universal peace. Had Augustus tried to deceive, he would have jeopardised his res gestae. Not to mention the negative sides of Octavian would be absurd; it is by addressing the negative aspects that justification becomes possible.
A reconsideration of Heuss’ article on the ideology of the Res Gestae will be used to exemplify this approach. According to Heuss, the inscription should be used in its entirety, not just for cherry-picking. Surprisingly, he does not think a connection between the chapters was important for Augustus. Chapter 28 is thus misplaced because the mentioning of colonies should not be part of the section on foreign politics. This might seem rather unimportant, but that is far from the case. Heuss dismisses information instead of trying to find out why the information is in the chapter in question. This article will try to focus on the colonies of chapter 28 and the problem of why colonies are mentioned in this chapter; this will be the key to understanding that, apart from expansion and war, a subject of the RG, is the return to normality after civil war. In RG 3.3 foreign and civil wars are mentioned, as are indeed colonies; there is right from the outset a clear connection between civil war and colonies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | E. Bragg, L. I. Hau & E. Macaulay-Lewis (eds.), Beyond the Battlefields: New Perspectives on Warfare and Society in the Graeco-Roman World |
| Place of Publication | Cambridge |
| Publisher | Cambridge Scholars Press |
| Publication date | 2008 |
| Pages | 185-204 |
| Publication status | Published - 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |