“I transferred the Republic from my power to the control of the Senate and the People of Rome.” Was there more to Augustus’ claim than mere propaganda? He concept of “Republica restituta” has been much disputed, both at the time that Augustus coined the phrase, up until the modern day. Within this question there are…
Tacitus has one message: look beneath the surface. Discuss with reference to Annals 1 It is no secret that the Annals written by Tacitus were at least to some extent a criticism of the new regime that was instituted by Augustus, this is clear from the first chapters of the first book of the Annals.…
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people”. Is this a realistic description of Athenian democracy? When Abraham Lincoln first pronounced these words at the Gettysburg address in 1863, he was not describing what the Ancient Greeks would call a democracy, in fact he wasn’t describing democracy at all. But let us put…
Whatever purpose for which one is writing, and for every text that has been produced, one aspect of the writing never changes, and that is the necessity to be persuaded. Whether it is in convincing the readers that your version of a history is more correct, or whether the philosophical argument that you are trying…
Comparing the Heraion at Olympia and the Temple of Hera One at Paestum The pan-Hellenic site of Olympia and the town of Paestum are both multi-temple sites. The former contains two and the latter, three huge temples. This demonstrates that a lot of money went towards these temples. However, although these two temples were both…
This particular chapter in Annals of Tacitus is very interesting, especially because it is largely made up of a speech placed in the mouth of anonymous crowds, introduced by “dicebantur contra” in which Tacitus proposes an alternative view of the events leading to the ascension of Augustus to the imperial purple. There also certain themes…
To what extent do we have sympathy for Dido? Dido has often been viewed as the tragic heroine in the Aeneid. Book four is where we see an in depth and extensive change in our character but also the first true and last insight to what Dido was like. Dido suffers from something that no…
Why do Greek stelai leave the viewer with all the work to extrapolate information? Are they portraits or standard representations of Athenian views of death? To commemorate the life of a dead individual in Ancient Greece, richer families commissioned the production of a stele, which was then placed to mark the grave of the prominent…
What motivated the building of the Parthenon? The Parthenon has long been an object of observation and admiration but also one of indifference and even contempt. It has been described as “so large… so strong… so triumphant” by Virginia Woolf, and yet Pausanias, on his many travels, writes that on his trip to Athens he…
What considerations does an architect have to take into account when planning a temple? A building as important or as big as a temple must have been a huge undertaking especially in Ancient Greece due to the fact that a lot of money was spent on buildings, as well as their significance within a deeply…
In what ways does Ovid exploit myth in Ars Amatoria 1? The employment of stories from mythology, or variations of those stories, is very common in love elegy. Poet-lovers from Catullus to Propertius have used myths to embellish their work while simultaneously illustrating an important point that they are trying to make. Ovid, while using…
Explain how the sculptures of the 5th Century BC aspire to be lifelike, historical, aspirational and athletic The fifth century BC saw the transition from the Archaic era in sculpture, to the Classical period, including the High Classical period. This century saw some of the greatest works of sculpture and sculptors of the ancient world.…
Pantheon Presentation
A short presentation Roman Tax, Trade and Economy
In what respect is Aeneas a good Roman model of behaviour in book 2? In order to evaluate what type of character and how good of a Roman role model Aeneas was in book 2 of Aeneid and we must first establish what exactly a good Roman was. Augustus during his reign and redefined what…
Classics is for Everyone 