Augustan literature beyond the canon

Catalog description

This seminar examines the literature associated with Rome's first emperor, Augustus. What aesthetic and political perspectives did the Augustan writers express and embody? How did they engage with the Greek classics and the Latin literature of the Republic? In what ways did Augustan literature reflect, contribute to and/or undermine the development of a new monarchical culture in Rome and its empire? What does it mean to call literature 'Augustan'? Our starting point will be traditional scholarly treatments of Augustan literature, which typically discuss the works of just six highly canonical Latin authors: Vergil, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid and Livy. But we will focus on how the narratives we tell about this cultural moment are enriched and complicated by other contemporaneous texts that have received much less scholarly attention, including those written in Greek. We will explore how expanding the corpus of 'Augustan' literature can help us better understand this pivotal historical period and think more broadly about literature and its place in the ancient world, returning to canonical texts with fresh eyes.