AUGUSTUS AS PATERFAMILIAS by ANNE KATHRYN O’KEEFFE (Under the direction of Robert Curtis) ABSTRACT This paper examines the ways in which Augustus became the “Father of His Country” in more than just title. Through the legislation passed under his administration and through his building program, Augustus portrayed himself as the father of all of the citizens of Rome. He fulfilled for the country the duties and obligations once relegated to the paterfamilias, including moral, monetary, and religious responsibilities. Augustus fulfilled all of these duties so that he could protect the upper class family unit. He also portrayed himself as the pious leader whose religious devotion would lead to divine protection and success for Rome. On monuments such as the Ara Pacis and the Forum of Augustus, his family was depicted as the torchbearers of the new generation of Roman leaders. Over the course of his reign, Augustus firmly established his image as pater patriae, the “Father of his Country.” INDEX WORDS: Augustus, Pater patriae, Paterfamilias, Sumptuary laws, Lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus, Lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis, Ara Pacis, Forum of Augustus, Julia, Domus Augusta AUGUSTUS AS PATERFAMILIAS by ANNE KATHRYN O’KEEFFE A.B., Princeton University 1990 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 Anne K. O’Keeffe All Rights Reserved. AUGUSTUS AS PATERFAMILIAS by ANNE KATHRYN O’KEEFFE Major Professor: Robert I. Curtis Committee: Keith Dix Richard LaFleur Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2003 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all of those who have supported me in this endeavor. Primarily, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and love to my family and friends who have been so patient while I have been working on this project. I am especially appreciative of all of the advice and encouragement that I received from fellow graduate students Berkeley Brown and Joan Tucker. My brilliant colleagues in the Classics Department at Kent School, Joel Kelly and Robert DesMarais, have also been most helpful. I would like to thank the Classics Department and its support staff at the University of Georgia, especially committee members Dr. Richard LaFleur and Dr. Keith Dix. Most of all I am grateful to Dr. Robert Curtis, whose professionalism and tenacity compelled me to complete this project. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 THE TITLE PATER PATRIAE AND THE ROLE OF THE PATERFAMILIAS ................................................................................9 The Title Pater Patriae...................................................................................9 The Role of the Paterfamilias in Regal and Republican Rome....................21 2 CENSORIA POTESTAS AND THE MORAL RESTORATION OF THE ROMAN NOBILITY.........................................................................40 Censoria Potestas and Sumptuary Legislation............................................40 Augustus’ Marriage Legislation ..................................................................51 Augustus’ Legislation Curbing Adultery.....................................................71 3 IMAGES OF AUGUSTUS AS PATER AND THE DOMUS AUGUSTA..........................................................................................80 The Restoration of Traditional Worship......................................................80 The Vestal Virgins and Augustus ................................................................86 The Worship of the Genius..........................................................................92 The Ara Pacis Augustae...............................................................................94 The Forum of Augustus .............................................................................100 v The Imperial Family ..................................................................................106 4 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................125 5 BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................128 v i INTRODUCTION One of the key elements in Augustus’ successful principate was his ability to depict himself as the leader of the Roman state in its religion, its art and its literature.1 Augustus was an intelligent manipulator of images. As Colin Wells, in his work The Roman Empire, says, “Augustus understood the power of images. The mythology of the new regime and its related iconography, heavy with religious symbolism and austere moral overtones, was an integral part of his programme of cultural renewal.”2 Augustus rebuilt temples, revived traditional ceremonies, restored priestly organizations and made himself the primus inter pares, involved in nearly all facets of Roman life.3 Paul Zanker has already examined specifically the prevalence of Augustan images in The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus.4 Yet surprisingly few scholars have analyzed the process by which Augustus promoted his paternal image in paving the way to attaining full titular status as pater patriae in 2 B.C.5 This thesis will examine legal, literary and artistic evidence illustrating how Augustus came to assume the title of “Father of His Country” both by fulfilling the role of moral arbiter and by portraying on a national scale the image of himself as paterfamilias. The introduction to Chapter One will lay the foundation for the study by examining the derivation of the title pater patriae. The questions which will be raised include the following: 1 Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, trans. Alan Shapiro (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1990); Colin Wells, The Roman Empire, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999); Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Augustan Rome (London: Bristol Classical Press, 1998). 2 Wells, 93. 3 Aug. Anc. 4.19-21. 4 Zanker, 3. 5 Meret Strothmann, Augustus -Vater der res publica (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2000), examines several aspects of this phenomenon. See also Dio Cass. 55.10.10 and Suet. Aug. 58. 1 What was the origin of the expression pater patriae? Upon whom had the title pater patriae been bestowed previously and why? Was the title formally or informally granted to Augustus’ predecessors? Chapter One will focus on the duties and responsibilities of the paterfamilias from early Rome through the late Republican Period. Every member of a Roman Republican family lived under the potestas of the oldest living male in the family, the paterfamilias.6 The paterfamilias possessed ultimate control over family members and family property, had the authority to make and enforce moral standards and wielded the power to render legal decisions for individual family members, including matters of life and death.7 A son remained under the direct power of the paterfamilias unless he was emancipated or adopted; a daughter stayed under her father’s manus for life, unless she transferred to a husband’s manus through marriage.8 The paterfamilias played an integral role in choosing a spouse for his son or daughter, in approving a marriage, or even dissolving an undesirable one. On a more pragmatic level, the paterfamilias was responsible for the education of his dependents. He took action, either personally or through tutors, to ensure that his children were educated, academically as well as morally. The children, in turn, learned to show deference to the paterfamilias through devotion and pietas. Chapter One will examine literary evidence for the application of all of these powers, and the degree to which a father employed them. Chapter Two will focus on the moral legislation promulgated by Augustus and his administration. Through this legislative program of cultural renewal, Augustus became the 6 John Crook, Law and Life of Rome (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967), 107. 7 William V. Harris, “The Roman Father’s Power of Life and Death,” in Studies in Roman Law (Leiden: E. Brill, 1986), 81. Harris states: “The accepted doctrine tells us that a Roman citizen father could put his children to death with impunity, even his adult sons.” 8 Crook, Law and Life of Rome, 108. 2 moral arbiter of all Roman families just as the paterfamilias had traditionally been for individual families. While the paterfamilias served as judge in matters of the home, Augustus wielded power, through his tribunicia potestas (23 BC) and his censoria potestas (19 BC), to dictate and to enforce moral legislation throughout the Roman world. Augustus enacted his legislative program because there was a perceived decline in the traditional standards of morality in Rome at the time. In addition, in the preceding decades the civil wars had depleted the noble population. Augustus attempted to restore social stability by passing a series of laws to suppress monetary and sexual excess and to promote the creation of large, upper-class families. The lex Iulia sumptuaria of 22 BC sought to curb licentious behavior in an economic sense.9 First and foremost it limited the amount a citizen could spend on banquets. This concept of limiting the spending of individual citizens was not without precedent in the