Table Of ContentTh e Semiotics of Caesar Augustus
Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics
Semiotics has complemented linguistics by expanding its scope beyond
the phoneme and the sentence to include texts and discourse, and their
rhetorical, performative, and ideological functions. It has brought into focus
the multimodality of human communication. Advances in Semiotics publishes
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creativity, and clarity of exposition. Th ese works apply semiotic approaches
to linguistics and non-verbal productions, social institutions and discourses,
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Series Editor : Paul Bouissac is Professor Emeritus at the University
of Toronto (Victoria College), Canada. He is a world-renowned fi gure
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[www.semioticon.com/semiotix] which has a global readership.
Titles in the Series:
A Buddhist Th eory of Semiotics, Fabio Rambelli
Computable Bodies , Josh Berson
Critical Semiotics , Gary Genosko
Introduction to Peircean Visual Semiotics, Tony Jappy
Semiotics and Pragmatics of Stage Improvisation , Domenico Pietropaolo
Semiotics of Drink and Drinking, Paul Manning
Semiotics of Happiness, Ashley Frawley
Semiotics of Religion, Robert Yelle
Th e Language of War Monuments, David Machin and Gill Abousnnouga
Th e Semiotics of Clowns and Clowning, Paul Bouissac
Th e Semiotics of Che Guevara, Maria-Carolina Cambre
Th e Semiotics of Emoji, Marcel Danesi
Th e Semiotics of Light and Shadows, Piotr Sadowski
Th e Semiotics of X, Jamin Pelkey
Th e Visual Language of Comics, Neil Cohn
Th e Semiotics of Caesar Augustus
Elina Pyy
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
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trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2018
Paperback edition fi rst published 2019
Copyright © Elina Pyy, 2018
Elina Pyy has asserted her right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. vii constitute
an extension of this copyright page.
Cover images (centre, then clockwise from top): Poster by Wettach © Getty Images/
swim ink 2 llc, Vintage Illustration © Getty Images/Popperfoto, Bust © iStock/diane39,
Story of Caesar © Getty Images/DEA/A. DAGLI ORTI, Statue © iStock/Crisfotolux,
Gold coin with eagle © Getty Images/De Agostini/A. De Gregorio,
Macro Leaves © iStock/portishead1
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Contents
List of Figures vi
Acknowledgements vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Man of Many Faces: Appropriations of Augustus through the Ages 27
3 Pater patriae, Pax Americana: Augustus’ Empire in
God Bless You, Mr Rosewater 53
4 Augustus the Tyrant: Ancient History, Modern Anxieties 79
5 Augustus in Historical Fiction 109
6 Augustus on Screen 143
7 Conclusion: What’s in a Name? Semiotics of “Caesar Augustus” 169
Notes 180
Bibliography 199
Index 206
Figures
2.1 Silver Denarius of Augustus from Colonia Patricia, Spain, 19 BC
© Th e Trustees of the British Museum 28
3.1 Bronze “Meroë Head” of Augustus, 27 BC to 25 BC
© Th e Trustees of the British Museum 54
5.1 First-century marble portrait bust of Augustus
© Th e Trustees of the British Museum 110
6.1 Octavian from HBO’s Rome © HBO 2005 165
Acknowledgements
Writing this book has been a long, compelling, and at times challenging process
with which I have been fortunate to get help and assistance from many wise and
encouraging people. First and foremost, I want to thank the Kone Foundation
for funding my research for the past two and a half years, thus making it
possible for me to work as a full-time researcher. My most heartfelt thanks
to the organizers and the participants of the A uguste à travers les âges (2014)
conference – Professor Paul Bouissac in particular, who gave me the idea and
encouragement for this book, and without whose support this project would
never have got started. I am in great debt of the School of Classics, University of
St Andrews, and of each and every colleague there with whom I discussed this
project during my stay in Scotland, and who offered me their insight and help. In
Finland, my colleagues and friends across different disciplines have been of great
help to this project not only because of their expertise in most various topics,
but also because of the peer support and encouragement they have offered me.
In particular, I thank Dr Reima Välimäki for taking the time to read a former
version of a part of this book, as well as Paula Rajala and Dr Maijastina Kahlos
for pointing me to the right direction in my search for source material. Last but
not least, I want to express my greatest gratitude to my family and my closest
friends, who have patiently put up with my endless monologues about Augustus
for the past three years, as well as with the inexcusable neglect and stress on my
part during the last six months of the writing process. I imagine they must be
at least as happy as I am that S emiotics of Caesar Augustus has finally come to a
conclusion. In particular, my unending gratitude and respect go to my partner
Tim Dieltiens, who not only understands and supports but indeed cherishes my
obsession, and who has welcomed Augustus into our family in a way I could not
have imagined possible.
