The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures) Paperback – September 21, 1990

I was simply amazed by this. It was recommenddd by a Berkeley classics Prof as a sympathetic treatment of Augustus’ neoclassism. And that it is in spades. It goes into maticulus detail on how Augustus reflects the new peace and prosperity in a revived idealizing Athenian Classism. The iconography consistently uses images of fertility, domestic peace, and Augustus’ benign rule after decades of brutal civil war. It also shows how the images, including that of Augustus, varied around the empire depending on local conditions. And what’s most outstanding is Zanker’s ability to show the deep, universal appeal of Classism. A better defense of Athenian Classism simply can’t be found today. And the Berkeley Prof confirmed this.

When Mary Beard recently reviewed, in the TLS, the book/ catalog for the recent exposition in Rome commemorating 2000 years of the death of Caesar Augustus she again praised Dr. Zanker's book based on the Jerome Lectures of 1983 & 1984. Dr. Zanker's book is considered the best exposition of the changes in public and private art which coincided with the creation of the Empire and of the role which Octavius Caesar played both in promoting the change and being the beneficiary of the change. For me the most fascinating parts where the conscious selection Octavius Caesar & his supporters made of different elements of Greek & Roman art to convey the message they wanted promulgated and the rapid spread of the resulting " Augustan" style throughout the Mediterranean, a style which had and continues to have profound influences on public art & architecture throughout the world. This is art history at its best.

"The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus" provides, first, a review of Roman history during the transition from Republic to Empire, a matter full of tangled details, and, second, a reminder that we in our own day have exactly the same need as the ancient Romans, a story of national creation by which to identify as Americans.

Outstanding!

good

My introduction to art history was a tedious parade of provenance. Zanker shows what can be done when visual culture intersects with political and social history. One of the most memorable and intellectually satisfying books I have ever read.

This is an an extraordinary book and quite relevant to analyzing our own cultural images and how they shape our thinking, beliefs, values, attitudes and most of all our behavior. Zanker shows how a culture can be radically transformed incrementally and over time by its visual images which includes art, architecture, dress, patterns of human interaction, and public entertainment. What's relevant here to our own day is how Rome was transformed from a Republic to the rule of one man and the role of visual images in that process.John F. Gilligan, Ph.D.

Perfect everything!!! No complaints!