August, writing the Index Rerum a se gestarum, did not mention of the cult of his genius that was vital at the compita in Rome, nor of the veneration of the domus Augusta, or of the institution of sevirate in Italian towns, nor he makes any reference to the worship addressed to him – together with the goddess Roma - in the provincial koina and concilia. Yet he had involved in the worship of his person the plebeians, slaves and freedmen in Rome, freedmen in Italian towns and provincial people at the periphery of the empire, by creating institutes that had a fortune centuries after him. The silence was not overall. It was broken by building a mausoleum in the Campus Martius and delivering to the Vestal Virgins the roll containing the res gestae and the mandata de funere, which included (as it can be assumed) his relatio in numerum divorum. Therefore, it is possible to believe that so many silences in the Res gestae were part of a coherent and comprehensive project. Augustus knew that the Roman political culture and the senatorial mos were incompatible with the recognition of the divine nature of the emperor as long as he was alive, but he understood that a chance to repeat the experiment of Caesar and the recognition of the title of divus after death have been possible. It was not necessary to have prophetic gifts. It was enough to remember what Cicero had written in De republica on the fate destined omnibus qui patriam conservaverint, adiuverint, auxerint. Augustus’ caution and the many silences of the Res gestae are elements of a political and ideal design that was projected into the future, offering exempla imitanda posteris. Three centuries of imperial history proved him right.
Il silenzio di Augusto sul culto imperiale
BONAMENTE, Giorgio
2017
Abstract
August, writing the Index Rerum a se gestarum, did not mention of the cult of his genius that was vital at the compita in Rome, nor of the veneration of the domus Augusta, or of the institution of sevirate in Italian towns, nor he makes any reference to the worship addressed to him – together with the goddess Roma - in the provincial koina and concilia. Yet he had involved in the worship of his person the plebeians, slaves and freedmen in Rome, freedmen in Italian towns and provincial people at the periphery of the empire, by creating institutes that had a fortune centuries after him. The silence was not overall. It was broken by building a mausoleum in the Campus Martius and delivering to the Vestal Virgins the roll containing the res gestae and the mandata de funere, which included (as it can be assumed) his relatio in numerum divorum. Therefore, it is possible to believe that so many silences in the Res gestae were part of a coherent and comprehensive project. Augustus knew that the Roman political culture and the senatorial mos were incompatible with the recognition of the divine nature of the emperor as long as he was alive, but he understood that a chance to repeat the experiment of Caesar and the recognition of the title of divus after death have been possible. It was not necessary to have prophetic gifts. It was enough to remember what Cicero had written in De republica on the fate destined omnibus qui patriam conservaverint, adiuverint, auxerint. Augustus’ caution and the many silences of the Res gestae are elements of a political and ideal design that was projected into the future, offering exempla imitanda posteris. Three centuries of imperial history proved him right.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
