This paper comparatively examines the Res Gestae of Augustus(r.27 BC–AD 14)and the stelae inscriptions of Qin Shi Huangdi(r.221–210 BC),the first emperors of Rome and China respectively.It shows how the two emperors...This paper comparatively examines the Res Gestae of Augustus(r.27 BC–AD 14)and the stelae inscriptions of Qin Shi Huangdi(r.221–210 BC),the first emperors of Rome and China respectively.It shows how the two emperors justified and consolidated their regimes by unifying the two antithetical themes of war and peace in their propagandistic self-portrayals.It argues that both emperors,due to the socio-political pressure of their milieus,depicted themselves predominantly as guardians of a peace that was constantly under threat by impious and immoral outside forces,against which only the emperors themselves could be victorious and sustain this new peace.展开更多
Soon after Roman mint masters began issuing the silver denarius （traditional date 187 B.C.）, they discovered that they could employ coinage as newspapers and PR by individualizing the imagery on each side of the coi...Soon after Roman mint masters began issuing the silver denarius （traditional date 187 B.C.）, they discovered that they could employ coinage as newspapers and PR by individualizing the imagery on each side of the coin with references to their ancestry, current events, and/or their religious offices to increase their name recognition in order to win votes. It should come as no surprise that the Divine Julius ordered his mint masters to issue coinage that advertised all of the above features to circulate his good reputation in what our modern political scientists would call propaganda. After Julius＇ enemies began to attack his reputation, some of his partisans boasted of their closeness to him on coinage by recycling specific coin images. What is surprising is how these partisans adopted the exact imagery Julius had used to advertise his own religious résumé on their coinage, even though these religious images could not and did not apply to them specifically. Apparently, Julius＇ religious résumé no longer demonstrated a religious portfolio, but had transformed into a badge of partisanship, however thinly it applied, so that the religious symbols themselves retained only the function of an association with Julius without their original and intrinsic meaning.展开更多
In his Annals(1.1-4),Tacitus highlights his own view on principes viri in different historical periods.During the period of kingdom,people had no freedom,hence the author holds a very negative stance on kingship.Right...In his Annals(1.1-4),Tacitus highlights his own view on principes viri in different historical periods.During the period of kingdom,people had no freedom,hence the author holds a very negative stance on kingship.Right from the start of the Roman Republic,people's freedom began to be dominated and tamed by the consuls.Other ruling authorities such as decemvirs and military tribunes did not exercise longer command,and the several commanders of the Late Republic who held military power failed to turn dominatio and potentia into auctoritas.Yet,in the Principate,people's freedom has begun to be directed by the princeps.Augustus eventually converted balanced rule within the framework res publica into imperium and dominatio centered on the emperor,the new core of the imperial res publica.And in this hereditary imperial rule,the princeps is the master of the state,similar to a king.Hence,the Principate perverted and degenerated into another form of regnum.Through Tacitus'comments on Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus,the identification of imperial authority as similar to kingship but on a more sophisticated level becomes visible and includes two interrelated aspects:great deeds and temperament of the ones exercising them.展开更多
文摘This paper comparatively examines the Res Gestae of Augustus(r.27 BC–AD 14)and the stelae inscriptions of Qin Shi Huangdi(r.221–210 BC),the first emperors of Rome and China respectively.It shows how the two emperors justified and consolidated their regimes by unifying the two antithetical themes of war and peace in their propagandistic self-portrayals.It argues that both emperors,due to the socio-political pressure of their milieus,depicted themselves predominantly as guardians of a peace that was constantly under threat by impious and immoral outside forces,against which only the emperors themselves could be victorious and sustain this new peace.
文摘Soon after Roman mint masters began issuing the silver denarius （traditional date 187 B.C.）, they discovered that they could employ coinage as newspapers and PR by individualizing the imagery on each side of the coin with references to their ancestry, current events, and/or their religious offices to increase their name recognition in order to win votes. It should come as no surprise that the Divine Julius ordered his mint masters to issue coinage that advertised all of the above features to circulate his good reputation in what our modern political scientists would call propaganda. After Julius＇ enemies began to attack his reputation, some of his partisans boasted of their closeness to him on coinage by recycling specific coin images. What is surprising is how these partisans adopted the exact imagery Julius had used to advertise his own religious résumé on their coinage, even though these religious images could not and did not apply to them specifically. Apparently, Julius＇ religious résumé no longer demonstrated a religious portfolio, but had transformed into a badge of partisanship, however thinly it applied, so that the religious symbols themselves retained only the function of an association with Julius without their original and intrinsic meaning.
文摘In his Annals(1.1-4),Tacitus highlights his own view on principes viri in different historical periods.During the period of kingdom,people had no freedom,hence the author holds a very negative stance on kingship.Right from the start of the Roman Republic,people's freedom began to be dominated and tamed by the consuls.Other ruling authorities such as decemvirs and military tribunes did not exercise longer command,and the several commanders of the Late Republic who held military power failed to turn dominatio and potentia into auctoritas.Yet,in the Principate,people's freedom has begun to be directed by the princeps.Augustus eventually converted balanced rule within the framework res publica into imperium and dominatio centered on the emperor,the new core of the imperial res publica.And in this hereditary imperial rule,the princeps is the master of the state,similar to a king.Hence,the Principate perverted and degenerated into another form of regnum.Through Tacitus'comments on Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus,the identification of imperial authority as similar to kingship but on a more sophisticated level becomes visible and includes two interrelated aspects:great deeds and temperament of the ones exercising them.
