ENGLISH

Politics and Divinization in Augustan Poetry

Book information

Publisher
OUP OXFORD
Year
2022
ISBN
0192855972, 9780192855978, 9780191946288, 2021951883
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1958396 bytes)
Edition
online
Pages
256\262
Topic
Literature
Time added
2023-01-31 11:53:54

Description

Politics and Divinization in Augustan Poetry offers a new interpretation of one of the most prominent themes in Latin poetry, the divinization of Augustus, and argues that this theme functioned as a language of political science for the early Augustan poets as they tried to come to terms with Rome's transformation from Republic to Principate. Examining an extensive body of texts ranging from Virgil's Eclogues to Horace's final book of the Odes (covering a period roughly from 43 BC to 13 BC), this study highlights the multifaceted metaphorical force of divinizing language, as well as the cultural complications of divinization. Through a series of close readings, this book challenges the view that poetic images of Augustus' divinization merely reflect the poets' attitude towards Augustus or their recognition of his power, and puts forward a new understanding of this motif as an evolving discourse through which the first generation of Augustan poets articulated, interrogated, and negotiated Rome's shift towards authoritarianism.

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