There Can Be Only One: Roman Conceptions of Twins in the Augustan Succession
Date
2015-08-04
Authors
Cardona Luciano, Saúl Omar
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Abstract
This thesis describes the way in which Augustus appropriated the imagery of twins for the creation of an ideology that would make dynastic succession acceptable to the traditional nobility and populace of Rome. In the presentation of his grandsons Gaius and Lucius as twins, Augustus manipulated ideas and concepts resonant with archaic Roman culture which allowed him to add the two boys to the pantheon of other twin pairs already present in the Roman psyche, including Castor and Pollux, Romulus and Remus, the Lares, and the Penates. In the process, however, Augustus was beholden to the tension which existed in the display of twins, namely the preeminence of one twin over the other. Because of this, the portraiture of Gaius is visually connected to the portraiture of Augustus, a reflection of his preeminent status as the favored heir and successor. Although the untimely deaths of both Gaius and Lucius meant neither would be emperor, Augustus reused the formula to present future twin pairs, thus perpetuating his regime.
Description
This work was embargoed by the author and will not be publicly available until April 2020.
Keywords
Gemini, Dioscuri, Roman twin pairs, Romulus and Remus, Augustan succession, Gaius and Lucius Caesar