1. SOURCE OF THE DAY: THE RES GESTAE ‘THE QUEEN OF INSCRIPTIONS’ SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

2. Author: Augustus, 1 st emperor of Rome (63 BCE-14 CE) Title: Res Gestae Divi Augusti/Autobiography of the Divine Augustus/Monumentum Ancyranum Date: written before 14 CE, unless Augustus dictating from beyond grave Subject: an account of all the amazing things he did during his life for the Roman people and state Location: Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome; Ankara, Galatia, and other locations around the empire (?) Languages: written in Latin, translated into Greek: extant in both languages: copies are close, but not identical. Latin version only in Rome. Extant copy: from Ankara, Turkey (former Galatia: it had not been a Roman province for long. It was also not heavily Hellenized.)

3. Ancient source on the inscription: Augustus had made a will in the consulship of Lucius Plancus and Gaius Silius on the third day before the Nones of April, a year and four months before he died, in two note-books, written in part in his own hand and in part in that of his freedmen Polybius and Hilarion. These the Vestal virgins, with whom they had been deposited, now produced, together with three rolls, which were sealed in the same way. All these were opened and read in the senate…. In one of the three rolls he included directions for his funeral; in the second, an account of what he had accomplished, which he desired to have cut upon bronze tablets and set up at the entrance to the Mausoleum Suetonius, Augustus I01

4. Mausoleum of Augustus, Rome

5. Reconstruction of the Mausoleum

6. Opening words of the Latin copy: Below is a copy of the acts of the Deified Augustus by which he placed the whole world under the sovereignty of the Roman people, and of the amounts which he expended upon the state and the Roman people, as engraved upon two bronze columns which have been set up in Rome. Rerum gestarum divi Augusti, quibus orbem terrarum imperio populi Rom. subiecit, § et inpensarum, quas in rem publicam populumque Romanum fecit, incisarum in duabus aheneis pilís, quae sunt Romae positae, exemplar subiectum.

7. Ankara, Galatia

10. Greek translation of the Res Gestae

11. What would the first emperor of Rome mention in such an inscription? Before answering, consider: -He is the first emperor of Rome: he could not know if transition to the next in line (Tiberius) would be easy or difficult -Augustus is not a king: he is primus inter pares: first among equals* -This is a public representation of his rule -It is also a public representation of the Roman state to anyone who can read Latin or Greek -It must reflect Roman values and show that his rule is in line with tradition and also good for Rome -Figures could be checked against other records in Rome -His primary audience are Romans; his secondary audience is the rest of the empire -The Greek translation is not exactly the same as the Latin original, but it is close * yes, everyone knew this was a fiction, but it was an important fiction.