Augustus, First Roman Emperor: Power, Propaganda and the Politics of Survival

Focuses on Augustus' rise to power and on the ways in which he then maintained authority throughout his reign. It examines the importance of his chief political advisor Maecenas and his military commander Agrippa, as well as the contrasting fates of the reign's main poets, Virgil and Ovid. Augustus claimed that he "found Rome brick and left her marble;" public monuments, as much as poetry, served to shape his reputation. It is often assumed that the close relationship between power and subtle presentation ("spin") is a modern phenomenon. Augustus, however, emerges as consummate master of the political process, using propaganda to fashion his own historical legacy.