During the Republic period of Rome's history, there were a number of images which represented power and authority. These include:
|
Read and look through the images below and make a summary in your books.
|
standardsAn aquila (Latin for eagle) was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome, especially as the standard of a Roman legion. A legionary known as an aquilifer, or eagle-bearer, carried this standard. Each legion carried one eagle.
The eagle was extremely important to the Roman military, beyond merely being a symbol of a legion. A lost standard was considered an extremely grave occurrence, and the Roman military often went to great lengths to both protect a standard and to recover it if lost; for example, see the aftermath of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, where the Romans spent decades attempting to recover the lost standards of three legions. No legionary eagles are known to have survived. |
SPQRSenatus PopulusQue Romanus - The Roman Senate and People", or more freely as "The Senate and People of Rome"; refers to the government of the ancient Roman Republic. It appears on Roman currency, at the end of documents made public by inscription in stone or metal, and in dedications of monuments and public works.
|
statues and bustsPortraiture is a dominant genre of Roman sculpture, growing perhaps from the traditional Roman emphasis on family and ancestors; the entrance hall (atrium) of a Roman elite house displayed ancestral portrait busts. During the Roman Republic, it was considered a sign of character not to gloss over physical imperfections, and to depict men in particular as rugged and unconcerned with vanity: the portrait was a map of experience. During the Imperial era, more idealised statues of Roman emperors became ubiquitous, particularly in connection with the state religion of Rome.
|
laurel wreathsA laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel(Laurus nobilis), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen. It is a symbol of triumph and is worn as a chaplet around the head, or as a garland around the neck. The symbol of the laurel wreath traces back to Greek mythology. In Rome they were symbols of martial victory, crowning a successful commander during his triumph.
|
ingenui |
liberti |
servus |
|
|
|
‘Thus most Roman political figures were dependent for their political power on a network of alliances and friendships. Some were born into this network, but others had to establish themselves from scratch, carefully cultivating powerful friends. The system advantaged a hereditary aristocratic group …the system encouraged conservatism and created a close knit political elite, some of whom regarded political power as almost a birthright’
-Richard Alston 'Aspects of Roman History'
Physical images of Augustus' personal power and authority include:
|
Institutions which represented Augustus' power and authority include:
|
|
|
'In my sixth and seventh consulships, when I had extinguished the flames of civil war, after receiving by universal consent the absolute control of affairs, I transferred the republic from my own control to the will of the senate and the Roman people. For this service on my part I was given the title of Augustus by decree of the senate, and the doorposts of my house were covered with laurels by public act, and a civic crown was fixed above my door, and a golden shield was placed in the Curia Julia whose inscription testified that the senate and the Roman people gave me this in recognition of my valour, my clemency, my justice, and my piety. After that time I took precedence of all in rank, but of power I possessed no more than those who were my colleagues in any magistracy.' - Augustus' Res Gestae
Prima Porta |
Togate/ Labicana |
'Politically it may have been motivated by the discovery (made when Augustus illegally opened Antony’s will) that his opponent wished to be buried alongside Cleopatra in Alexandria… Octavian’s tomb - for he perhaps began it even before Actium and at any rate before he consolidated his power and received the title of Augustus - would have declared his allegiance to Italian soil, in contrast to his besotted rival in Egypt.… it must have been a towering presence advertising the new ruler’s power, wealth and pre-eminence, whether visible up close during a stroll in the park that surrounded it, or spotted afar by those approaching the city from the north and by those doing business elsewhere in the Campus Martius.
In addition to a statue of Augustus on the pinnacle of the tomb, two bronze columns or tablets were located at its entrance containing the long inscription known as the “Res Gestae”, which was Augustus’ own summation of his achievements for the Roman state.'
- 'Rome Alive', Peter J Aicher