Augustus and the Principate: The Evolution of the System (Arca, 35) - Hardcover

Lacey, W. K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 090520591X ISBN 13: 9780905205915

Publisher: Francis Cairns (Publications) Ltd, 1996

Synopsis

Updating and enlarging on a lifetime's work on Augustus and his `constitutions' Lacey discusses the process of gradual encroachment whereby Augustus unobtrusively and with minimal opposition accumulated more and more power, whilst outwardly retaining the facade of a republic. Chapters examine the constitutional settlements of 27 and 23 BC, to which Lacey attributes less importance than most, the nature of the role given to Agrippa, the evolution of tribunician power, his religious prominence and dynastic arrangements. This all adds up to a very thorough and incisive study of how under Augustus the republic finally died and the principate was born.

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Review

The book is well documented with footnotes on each page and ample citation of ancient and modern evidence. The view of Augustus that emerges is one that would find general acceptance today: a man determined to hold on to power but intent on exercising that power with a style that the Republican principes would have recognised as their own. (Joint Association of Classical Teachers Review n.s. 22 (1997) 12) -- Joint Association of Classical Teachers Review n.s. 22 (1997) 12

Edition details

• Publisher: Francis Cairns (Publications) Ltd
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 090520591X
• ISBN 13: 9780905205915
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 245