University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 7-13-2014 AUGUSTAN TRIUMPHS: DISHONORABLE LAURELS IN OVIDS AMORES AND METAMORPHOSES Matthew iW lkens Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds Recommended Citation Wilkens, Matthew. "AUGUSTAN TRIUMPHS: DISHONORABLE LAURELS IN OVIDS AMORES AND METAMORPHOSES." (2014). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/33 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Matthew C. Wilkens Candidate Foreign Languages and Literatures Department This thesis is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Thesis Committee: Professor Osman Umurhan, Chairperson Professor Monica Cyrino Professor Lorenzo F. Garcia, Jr. ii AUGUSTAN TRIUMPHS: DISHONORABLE LAURELS IN OVID’S AMORES AND METAMORPHOSES by MATTHEW C. WILKENS B.A., CLASSICAL STUDIES, RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE 2011 THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May 2014 iii Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the following people who were instrumental in completing this thesis. Without your support, encouragement, and belief in me, this project could not have been possible. To my Thesis Committee, for your collective inspiration, and the countless hours dedicated to helping me achieve my goals. Your tireless dedication to your students and high standards as scholars and professionals serve as a paradigm I look up to and will strive to replicate in my own career. To Dr. Osman Umurhan, my advisor, you pushed me to limits I never thought possible, and thank you for being there every step of the way. I could not have hoped for a more devoted advisor who would sacrifice so much of your own time and effort to guide every aspect of my thesis experience. To Dr. Monica Cyrino, for your keen editorial eye and helping me transform my prose from “punchy” to polished. More importantly, thank you for taking a leap of faith. You saw potential and gave me the opportunity to achieve goals I never imagined. To Dr. Lorenzo F. Garcia, Jr., for teaching me how to read a text and think outside of the box. You constantly helped me see the bigger picture and channeled my thought process in the right direction. To Dr. Gregory Daugherty and Mrs. Daugherty, for inspiring my love for Classics, and having faith in me. Without you, I would never have been able to embark on this journey. I can only hope that I have merited your confidence. To the Classics Cohort at the University of New Mexico, for your patience, understanding, and endurance. Thank you Scott, Jessie, Caley, Dan, Hong, Dannu, Sam, and Makaila for all your support, and a special thanks to Trigg for being the spur that goaded me to become a better graduate student. iv Augustan Triumphs Dishonorable Laurels in Ovid’s Amores and Metamorphoses By Matthew C. Wilkens B.A., Classical Studies, Randolph-Macon College, 2011 M.A., Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, University of New Mexico 2014 Abstract Over the course of an extraordinary life, Augustus amassed an unprecedented collection of honors and accolades for his service to Rome. The wealth of extant literature during his lifetime offers a rich opportunity to investigate the circumstances in which Augustus flourished. This project analyzes Ovid’s Amores and Metamophoses to reveal the trajectory of intensifying criticisms aimed at specific accolades attributed to Augustus. My thesis begins with an examination of Book 1 of the Amores and its representations of the triumphal procession in order to trace the foundations of Ovid’s nuanced censure of Augustus’s honors or “triumphs”. Then, in chapter 2, I illuminate the culmination of these same critiques expressed in the Metamorphoses, where Ovid’s disapproval becomes more explicit. This project demonstrates how Ovid manipulates Augustan iconography in order to present the achievements of Augustus as dishonorable. v Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………… 1 The Manipulation of Augustan Iconography…………………………… 6 Chapter One: Challenging Triumphal Celebrations in the Amores………… 13 Identifying Cupid as Augustus…………………………………………. 17 Divine Malevolence…………………………………………………….. 20 The Roman Populace as Captives………………………………………. 28 Early Signs of Transformation………………………………………….. 37 Conclusion………………………………………………………………. 46 Chapter Two: Confronting Augustan Honors in the Metamorphoses………. 49 The Golden Age of Augustus…………………………………………… 53 The Palatia Caeli………………………………………………………... 61 The New Race…………………………………………………………… 73 Dishonorable Laurels……………………………………………………. 77 Conclusion………………………………………………………………. 85 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………… 89 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………. 95 1 Introduction Literature in Rome flourished throughout Augustus’ rise and consolidation of sole political authority, spanning his decisive victory at Actium in 31 BC to his death in 14 AD and beyond. Many authors during this period – Livy, Horace, Vergil, Propertius and, especially, Ovid – experienced the brutality of civil war firsthand, its effects, and its end under the leadership of Augustus. It is no surprise then that Augustus, his achievements, and his honors became the material of much literary output, including the princeps’ autobiographical Res Gestae. This autobiography, which was posted on his mausoleum for public viewing at Rome, declares the vast achievements and subsequent honors accumulated during his service to Rome.1 As he brings his extensive record of accomplishments to a close, Augustus writes (for the years 28 and 27 BC): “After I had extinguished all civil wars, when I obtained control of all affairs by universal consent, I transferred the republic from my power to the control of the Senate and the Roman people. For my service, I was named Augustus by decree of the Senate and the door-posts of my house were publicly wrapped with laurel garlands and a civic crown was placed above my door and a golden shield was placed in the curia Iulia, which, as is attested by an inscription on this shield, was given to me by the Senate and the Roman people on account of my virtue, clemency, justice, and piety.”2 Augustus Res Gestae 34 Augustus condenses into two brief sentences the result of several years of political maneuvering and savage conflict. This is hardly a comprehensive picture and, therefore, begs the question: what does the rest of the literary record during the tenure of Augustus 1 Eck (2003) 2 points out that Augustus’ text “provides a self portrait… as he [italics mine] wished himself and his achievements to be remembered.” Eck also notes that the publication of the Res Gestae was not limited to Rome and its citizens, but was circulated throughout the entirety of the empire. 2 Augustus Res Gestae 34. “…postquam bella civilia exstinxeram, per consensum universorum potitus rerum omnium, rem publicam ex mea potestate in senatus populique Romani arbitrium transtuli. Quo pro merito meo senatus consulto Augustus appellatus sum et laureis postes aedium mearum vestiti publice coronaque civica super ianuam meam fixa est et clupeus aureus in curia Iulia positus, quem mihi senatum populumque Romanum dare virtutis clementiaeque et iustitiae et pietatis caussa testatum est per eius clupei inscriptionem.” Latin citation of the Res Gestae comes from Cooley (2009). All translations are my own unless otherwise cited. 2 offer concerning his deeds, achievements, and honors? Moreover, does the view of contemporary Roman authors coincide with that of the princeps? The ancient sources and modern scholarship on the Augustan Age are vast. Sources include not only the variety of authors who composed in multiple genres (elegiac and epic), but also the wealth of art and architecture whose rare combination offers one of the most comprehensive views of Rome’s evolution in a time of turmoil and chaos. Scholars, seduced by this abundance of ancient material, persistently attempt to refigure the feelings, attitudes, and emotions of Roman writers and their authorial intentions to better understand their motives for writing what and as they did. For example, one of the major trends of scholarship informing our understanding of Augustan Age literature attempts to categorize the intention of authors and their works as either “Augustan” or “anti-Augustan.” Sir Ronald Syme’s influential history, The Roman Revolution (1939), still remains a foundational text for the “anti-Augustan” approach. Using an array of ancient historians, Syme constructs a picture of a Roman world seized by the brutal and aggressive tactics of a calculating individual, Augustus.3 Others follow in this vein, most notably Paul Zanker. In The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (1990) Zanker discusses the material culture of the age and the way Augustus deployed a complex web of visual imagery to promote and legitimize his ascension to sole authority in Rome. On the pro-“Augustan” side, and perhaps most ardently, Karl Galinsky (1996) illustrates the benevolent qualities of Augustus. By combining a wide variety of textual evidence alongside material culture,