Myth and Making a Difference - Augustus in Modern History

Myth and Making a Difference - Augustus in  Modern History


In today's lecture we talked about how myth could be used to benefit todays society. We looked at myth in relation to autism and how myth allows these children to relate to the world around them and get them asking questions. The lecture itself was so creative and interactive with Susan giving us some off the activities she gave the children, including colouring in the chimney piece panel that is present in the Adam Room in Grove house and using craft objets to bring aspects of this scene to life. It was truly a great lecture and we should defiantly do more colouring in our lectures as everyone really enjoyed it.

As interesting as this was it got my wondering if myth was ever used in a negative way as a way to condone or justify atrocities. This idea original stems form my Myth of White post where I discuss the fact that far right groups and the red pill community use the ‘whiteness’ of classical statues to justify their white supremacist views. Having previously studied Sparta Education for my EPQ at A-level and how people like Adolf Hitler used some of the spartan myth as justification for his views on creating a master race, I knew that it wasn’t unheard of for modern dictators/leaders to take some aspect of classical culture to justify/promote their position and ideals. Therefore, I wondered wether the image and myth of Augustus ever came to be used in this way?
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To make sure this post isn’t too long, I have decided to focus on two figures that shaped modern history (all be it negatively) Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini - 01 May 1941

Over the course of this post I think it will become increasingly clear that myth is not a static phenomenon and is constantly open to appropriation to do good or evil. As I disused in my post on the Prima Porta, via my definition of myth, myth is an act of doing rather than a thing. Below is I believe two perfect example of myth doing something, all be it doing something bad. Both of theses men have taken something and twisted it so that it reflects what they want in too raising an important issues around how myth is endlessly open to interpretation and reinterpretation.

Benito Mussolini

Born: July 29, 1883 in Predappio, Italy
Died: April 28, 1945, near Dongo)
Italian prime minister 1922–43 and the first of 20th-century Europe’s fascist dictators.

Throughout Italys modern history Rome had been an important and treasured part. Valentina Follo  (2013:6) says in her doctoral dissertation that “the study of ancient Roman history was emphasised and Italian history was viewed as its continuation, to the point that the terms “Rome” and “Italy” were used interchangeably in schoolbooks.” Jan Nelis (summer 2007:399) sums up this idea really well when she says “Rome has become Italy, Italy has become Rome.” In the period following the Great War Italy was at a cross roads Nelis (2007:296) says that “a skepticism arose which not only influenced people's views of the present, but also those of the past. A need for simplified history, for simple stories, was voiced.” Something Mussolini was able to provide.

Mussolini became enamoured with classics from an early age but his "knowledge of classical Rome was very narrow and influenced by eighteenth-century enlightenment and nineteenth-century revolutionary thinking” (Nelis 2007:296). This influence meant that his understanding was oversimplified and he often saw Roman history as more mythical than factual. This lack of understanding is by no means an excuse for his actions and beliefs but it does offer some insight into how these beliefs were reached.

A stamp depicting Augustus distributed under Mussolini 
1937 marked the bi-millennium of Augustus birth and thus was of extreme social and political significance in Italy. This historic event was marked by all manner of events including the excavation of the Mausoleum of Augustus and the Ara Pacis as well as the creation of a series of postage stamps depicting Augustus’ image (Arthurs, J 2013:92). These excavations under Mussolini were of huge importance as Mussolini was able to present himself as following in Augustus’ footsteps. Péter György says in his 2008 book that  “both the Mausoleum and the Ara Pacis were destined to play a grand role in creating the Augustus mythos and they were made to perform their act on the “stage” constructed by Mussolini around the relics he had brought together”(p121).



Poster advertising the Exhibition 
Despite the extreme importance of Augustan archaeology under Mussolini I believe that the most important and striking use of the Augustan image and myth was the exhibition  “Mostra Augustea Della Romanita” put on by Mussolini in 1937. This was a huge exhibition that was designed to indoctrinate the Italian people with a sense of national pride, just like Augustus used his buildings  and divine heritage to do the same thing. Augustus beautified Rome with his buildings to create a sense   of Roman pride and win over the people. The exhibit allowed Mussolini to achieve the same thing by showing of Italys glorious past and just like Augustus good deeds it also had a political motive as it allowed Mussolini to link himself and his regime to Augustus and his principate, and thus legitimise it. When Mussolini came to power Italy was of little global importance struggling with the outcome of the Great War, Mussolini offered an alternative, a way for Italy to rise again as a world power, just like Augustus did when he came to power. Augustus offered a time of peace and prosperity as opposed to the decades of Civil war that people had faced before his principate. Both of the men cleverly used Rome’s/Italy’s past to achieve their goals, Augustus used his father’s legacy and his connection to the founding fathers of Rome and Mussolini used the blurring of the lines between Rome and Italy. The exhibition in 1937 broadcast to the Italian people that Mussolini could restore Italy. In essence the exhibition was saying ’look how good the past was, look how strong Italy was and I am the knew Augustus so we can be like that again.’

"The Mostra [exhibition] worked to solidify a fascist and Italian identity by means variously identified as 'the nationalisation of the masses' and 'the invention of tradition'. The massification [opening up] of the March on Rome implied in the exhibition aspired to turn the fascist assumption of power into a shared 'public cult'. The ritualisation of the day on which fascism took the reins of government tied the participant to the experience on an emotional level, using the mystification of the historical event to create a common community” (Stone, M 1993:229).

Augustus attempted to do something similar with the Res Gestae. In the Res Gestae he presented his version of his rise to power and his subsequent principate to the masses. Mussolini in the exhibition is presenting the rise of his regime through the lens of Augusta Rome.

Many historians have compare Mussolini to Augustus. Andrea Giardina says that “the exaltation of Augustus / Mussolini became paroxysmic” (2008:65). Some of the things historians have compared about the two is that they “both pacified Italy, putting an end to a serious social and political crisis, expurgated the Senate, re-dimensioned the popular assemblies, promoted the demographic growth, defended morality and family, re-launched the agriculture, transformed the party militia in national militia, valued the ancestors’ religion” (Giardina, A 2008:65 & Cagnetta, 1977, p.185-207)

I believe that Mussolini wanted to reinstate Italys position on the world stage through the countries glorious past and present himself as the restorer of the countries fortune just like Augustus did. He used the image of Augustus and the myth of Rome to establish his position, just like Augustus used figure like Aeneas, Romulus and Remus to legitimise his rule (see post on use foundation myths).

Adolf Hitler

Born: April 20, 1889, Braunau am Inn, Austria
Died: April 30, 1945, Berlin, Germany.
Leader of the Nazi Party from 1920/21 and chancellor and Führer of Germany (1933–45)

Hitler attended the “Mostra Augustea Della Romanita” on the 6th May 1937 and he is said to have returned the next morning to “inhale” the breath of history (György 2008:120).

During Augustus’ principate he did his upmost to present the republic as restored and unchanged despite his extraordinary powers. Augustus’ power was carefully hidden behind republican positions. The strategy of hiding power behind traditional institutions is one that modern-day dictators and tyrants have taken directly from the Augustan playbook.

Firemen attempt to quell the flames at the Reichstag
Hitler himself use this tactic: after blaming an arson attack on the Reichstag by the communists. Hitler pressured President Hindenburg to bequeath him emergency powers. Just like Octavian did when Mark Antony attacked Brutus and again when Octavian wanted the consulship for the following year. Hitlers emergency powers allowed him to transfer power to his own Nazi-led government (Octavian transferred power to the second triumvirate and later to trusted members of his family). Hitler used these powers to get rid of political rivals and people he felt threatened the Nazi regime. Again just like Octavian, when a member of the second triumvirate, he used the practice of proscriptions to systematically execute anyone that could oppose him. Hitler, after this purge passed laws that meant he no longer need the Reichstag’s permission to enact new laws effectively by passing the system. Octavian did this as well, when designing his constitute he gave him self ‘Tribunica Potestas’ (power of the tribunes) which meant that they he could Veto any law he didn’t like and pass new ones without the permission of the senate (although they were unlikely to ever say no to him). The senate effectively became obsolete only serving as an advisory body no longer holding any power. Hitler cleverly used Augustus political playbook to help establish himself in power with little to no opposition.
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In conclusion both men took cues from how Augustus conducted himself. Mussolini presented himself as a new Augustus one who could restore Italy to its former greatness and importance, much like how Augustus linked himself to past Republican heroes and founders. Hitler, took cues direct from Augustus’ political play book in order to secure his regime and power.

Throughout researching this blog post I have been struck and troubled by with the similarities between Augustus who I have always viewed as this incredible political mind who helped end conflict throughout Rome, in essence a good man and these two dictators who committed countless atrocities and plunged the world into another world war. It has really made me think about how easily our opinions are influence. All the way through my schooling whilst studying Augustus, he has always been presented as someone who saved Rome, someone to admire and possibly even emulate and yet here are two inherently evil men who did just that. What does that say about my opinion of Augustus? Can a good man influence such evil? Honestly, I don’t know this post has left me with more questions than answers at this point.


Bibliography

Stone, M. (1993). Staging Fascism: The Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution. Journal of Contemporary History, 28(2), 215-243.

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/rome-s-augustus-and-the-allure-of-the-strongman

György, P. (2008). Museum of Ara Pacis, Rome. In Spirit of the Place: From Mauthausen to Moma (pp. 119-128). Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press.

Follo, V (2013) The Power of Images in the Age of Mussolini. Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 858. http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/858

Flavia Marcello (2011): Mussolini and the idealisation of Empire: the Augustan Exhibition of Romanità, Modern Italy, 16:3, 223-247

Nelis, J (summer 2007) Constructing Fascist Identity: Benito Mussolini and the Myth of “Romanità" The Classical World, Vol. 100, No. 4, pp. 391-415. The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States

Stone, M (Apr. 1993) Staging Fascism: The Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution. Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 215-243. Sage Publications, Ltd.


Giardina, A (2008) The Facist myth of Romanity. Studos Avançados 22 (62),


Joshua, (2012) Excavating modernity : the Roman past in fascist Italy. New York, Cornell University Press


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/27/day-1933-fire-reichstag-provides-fuel-adolf-hitlers-rapid-rise/

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