Monuments and Memory: The Aedes Castoris in the Formation of Augustan Ideology

Sumi, Geoffrey S.

doi:10.1017/s0009838809000135

Cited by 52 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Comitium continued to be used regularly as a venue for public assemblies down to the second century BCE, when some officials, plebeian tribunes, began to speak from the back of the Rostra, with their backs to the Comitium proper and to the Curia. From the second century on, some assemblies met in front of the Temple of Castor, which may have formed a separate, popular pole of political activity in the Forum, a deliberate contrast to the aristocratic area formed by Curia and Comitium (Sumi 2009). In 117 BCE a platform was attached to that temple for use by speakers.…”

Section: Political Spaces: the Roman Forum And Roman Foramentioning

confidence: 99%

Art, Architecture, and Space in the Roman Participatory Context

Perry

2014

A Companion to Greek Democracy and the Roman Republic

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Political Spaces: the Roman Forum And Roman Foramentioning

confidence: 99%

Art, Architecture, and Space in the Roman Participatory Context

Perry

2014

A Companion to Greek Democracy and the Roman Republic

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“… 73 For a discussion of how the transvectio equitum became associated with the commemoration of this event, sources, and bibliography, see Latham (2016) 81–2; Sumi (2009) 179–81; Poulsen (1991) 122–3.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Commemorating the Past and Performing Power: Parades of Ancestors on Caligula's Coinage

McIntyre

2023

Antichthon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores the interconnection between Caligula's rehabilitation of his family and the performance of imperial power through processions as presented on three of his coin types. It argues that Caligula used the depictions of processions in connection with coin types celebrating his father, mother, and brothers to create a ‘parade of ancestors’. These coins served as portable visual reminders (monumenta) of Germanicus’ pompa triumphalis of 17 CE, the inclusion of Agrippina's image into the pompa circensis as part of the honours granted to Caligula's family members upon his accession, and the likely inclusion of Nero and Drusus’ images at the head of the transvectio equitum during the early years of Caligula's reign. By parading his family members on his coins in this way, Caligula was able to propel himself forward by looking to and commemorating the past, thereby creating permanent monumenta of these public performances of power.

show abstract

“… 8 The use of the Dioscuri for dynastic propaganda is discussed by Champlin (2011) 73-99 and Sumi (2009) 167-86. In most cases, the Dioscuri together celebrate concordia between the pair of chosen successors.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Maxentius, the Dioscuri, and the Legitimisation of Imperial Power

McIntyre

2018

Antichthon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mythological twin brothers played key roles in the establishment and preservation of the city of Rome. This article examines the use of one particular set of brothers, Castor and Pollux, by rival forms of government in the early fourth century ce. In his work on the representations of the Dioscuri on Roman coinage, Gricourt argues that the Dioscuri symbolise the same ideas on Maxentius’ coins as on other such imperial coinage, namely their role in maintaining the eternal order of the universe and their roles as protectors of soldiers.1 More recently, however, Marlowe and Hekster have successfully argued that Maxentius’ ideology was a counterclaim to that presented by the Tetrarchy.2 Developing this notion further with respect to Maxentius’ coinage, this article argues that, for the Tetrarchs, Castor and Pollux served as the ideal figures to symbolise the importance of concordia in the collective rule of like-minded individuals. Maxentius, however, used Castor and Pollux in connection with other symbols of the city of Rome (such as Romulus, Remus, and the she-wolf) on his coins to promote his restoration of the city of Rome (in conjunction with titles such as princeps and conservator urbis suae). The examination of this ideological conflict between Maxentius and the Tetrarchy, through their use of Castor and Pollux on their coinage, sheds light on the mutability of myth and its role in the promotion of particular aspects of mythological narratives and figures to support an individual’s own claims to power.

show abstract

Monuments and Memory: The Aedes Castoris in the Formation of Augustan Ideology

Abstract: 183-4; she points out that Tacitus here exploits (as he does elsewhere) the 'symbolic power' of the event and location; see also Edwards (n. 4), 77. 12 On this temple in general, see I. Nielsen and B. Poulsen (edd.

Cited by 52 publications

References 5 publications

Art, Architecture, and Space in the Roman Participatory Context

Art, Architecture, and Space in the Roman Participatory Context

Commemorating the Past and Performing Power: Parades of Ancestors on Caligula's Coinage

Maxentius, the Dioscuri, and the Legitimisation of Imperial Power

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About