Julius Caesar Propaganda Analysis

During an election year, we as Americans are bombard with campaign aids and media coverage for each presidential candidate running for office. Throughout the 90s we regularly saw the abundance of anti-smoking aids, and through high school history class, we’ve seen the posters with Uncle Sam or Rosie the Riveter during the times of the World wars. The point of this short history lesson is that while the concept of propaganda is treated as a new concept with only modern day uses, the employment of propaganda dates as far back as the Roman Empire. Roman emperors from the time of Augustus till the time of Emperor Constantine have used propaganda through many public works. Through these works, and through the works of some ancient Roman historians

He was given the name Augustus by the Roman senate and he used many outlets of propaganda during his reign. These outlets ranged from minor details found on construction projects, such as the symbol of fasces on the theater of Marcellus, to large monuments and works of art depicting Augustus’ various strengths a leader. One such work is a well-known Augustan monument called the Ara Pacis, or the altar of Augustan peace. The altar was dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of Peace, and was commissioned by the senate to honor Augustus’ return to Rome after three years abroad. The “Lupercal Panel” depicting the moment when Romulus and Remus are discovered by the Shepherd is considered to be a reminder of Augustus’ deified heritage. The other panel on the West wall of the altar has caused some recent debate. Originally thought to be a depiction from a scene from Virgil’s Aeneid, when Aeneas sacrificed a pig and her 30 piglets to Juno, now entertains the possibility of depicting Numa Pompilius, the Roman king associated with Peace and the Gates of Janus. Either scene can still be attributed to Augustan propaganda because like the previous panel, the scene being shown is acting as either a nod to

His own writing called the Res Gestae, meaning **Great Works**, was in its most basic form a list of all the great deeds, construction projects, and many other things that Augustus did for Rome. Augustus, like his predecessor before him, exploited the mythology that his family line is descended from the Trojan hero, Aeneas and his mother, the goddess Venus. He hired many Roman poets, such as Horace, Ovid, and Virgil. The Aeneid by Virgil is one of the best examples of literary propaganda, specifically in book 7 and 8. In book 7, Aeneas travels to the underworld. There he encounters many of his friends, who died either at Troy or during their travels. In this chapter while Aeneas is talking with his recently deceased father, he noticed a young man by the name of Marcellus who us destined to die young. Marcellus was Augustus’s nephew and one of his prospective heirs. In book 8, the shield Aeneas receives from Venus and Vulcan is another obvious aspect of Augustan propaganda. The shield is decorated with events from Roman history beginning with Romulus and Remus begin taken in by the she-wolf, Lupa. Next Horatius in standing at the bridge, where he will single-handedly holding off the forces of the Etruscans who want to make Rome bow to kings again. Finally, right in the center, is the Battle of Actium, showing Augustus Caesar in defeating the combined powers of Mark Antony and