Was Augustus' image of himself and Rome promoted by the poetry of the Augustan era?

Answer 1

What do you understand Augustus' image of himself was? For instance it is debated whether he actually saw himself as being a god. Some say his successor elevated him to divinity after his death.
Did the poetry of his time influence his image of himself? or did it respond to it? As in the case of celebrities today, probably a bit of both.

Answer 2

Virgil's Aeneid is a virtual paean to Augustus. I can't say what the man himself thought, but his certainly wanted to uses the top Roman poets of the era to spread propaganda favorable to him. Propaganda has become a dirty word, although originally, it just meant promoting one's own point of view. I think Augustus must have been a pretty savvy politician to accomplish what he did. He mistake was not adopting a decent heir, like four of the five "good" emperors did a century later. Marcus Aurelius made the same mistake bringing Comodus to the throne and ruining the Pax Romana.

Answer 3

Augustus believed he was the descendant of a god. his reign was also full of propaganda through the use of his image. his image was very strong in Rome during his rule.

I'm not familiar with roman poetry, but i would assume that is why his image was used by poets.

Answer 4

I don't know. Was it? An encyclopedia might have some good information about that. Wikipedia.org would be a good place to look.

But more than likely, your History or English teacher could tell you what assignments you missed that will give you the answer.

So here's a question for you: Which will gain you more respect; admitting to your teacher that you haven't done the assignments that will give you the answers, or trying to get someone on the internet to do the assignment for you?

Answer 5

Very much so. He enlisted Virgil to do poetic propaganda on the part of his family. He had Virgil and two other poets write and distribute ditties about Julius.