Celestial Inclinations: A Life of Augustus

Description

Celestial Inclinations provides a new perspective on the life and career of the first Roman emperor Augustus (63 B.C.-A.D. 14). It presents the case that Augustus used his knowledge of the celestial sphere to confirm for himself and convey to others that the heavens supported his activities on earth and his inevitable greatness. The book is based on fresh assessments of ancient historical, literary, astronomical, astrological, and artistic sources for the years prior to and during the life of Augustus. Anne-Marie Lewis combines these sources with astronomical sky maps and astrological diagrams to offer fresh interpretations of critical events in the life of Augustus at a time when the celestial sphere had come to play an important cultural and political role. Some of those events involve the identification of the celestial object that appeared at the ludi in honor of Caesar in 44 B.C.; the Battle of Actium; the iconography of the Tellus Relief Panel on the Ara Pacis Augustae; the Ludi Saeculares; Augustus' major building projects in Rome; and Augustus' interactions with major figures of the period such as Cicero, Caesar, Agrippa, and Antonius. Cover Page Half Title Title Page Copyright Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Methods and Materials 1. Nigidius Figulus and the Birth of a Future Dominus for the World: 63 b.c. 2. Celestial Display and Cicero’s Consular Year: 63–​60 b.c. 3. Celestial Venus, Caesar’s Victories, and the Julian Calendar: 59–​45 b.c. 4. Cicero’s Aratea and the Education of Octavius in the Fixed Constellations: 46–​45 b.c. 5. Theogenes of Apollonia and the Geniturae of Agrippa and Octavius: 45–​44 b.c. 6 Octavianus and the Sidus Crinitum: 44 b.c. 7. Conflict, Alliance, and the Stella Comans: 44–​42 b.c. 8. Antonius, Octavianus, and the Egyptian Mathematicus: 39 b.c. 9. Octavianus, Antonius, and the Banquet of the Twelve Gods: 38 b.c. 10. From Naulochus to Actium: 37–​31 b.c. 11. Triumphs and Temples after the Battle of Actium: 30–​28 b.c. 12. A New Name for Octavianus and the Ludi Saeculares: 29–​17 b.c. 13. Deaths in the Family and the Ara Pacis Augustae: 16–​9 b.c. 14. Consolidation and Transition in the Final Years of Augustus’ Rule: 8 b.c.–​a.d. 14 15. The Death, Funeral, and Deification of Augustus: a.d. 14 Notes Select Bibliography Index