[Usyd_Classics_Events] Reminder: USYD Classics and Ancient History Online Research Seminar, 2021, #3 This Thursday

[Ben Brown]

Dear Friends,

We are looking forward to seeing you at our next USyd Classics and Ancient History/CCANESA online research seminar for Semester 1:


Thursday April 15th (4pm for 4.15pm, AEDT UTC/GMT +11)


Andrew Stiles (Oxford)


Historiography and Censorship in the Early Principate
Abstract:
‘Censorship’, or some restriction of freedom of speech and literary expression, typically plays an important role in modern narratives of the transition from the late Roman Republic to the early Principate. The tale often recounted is well known: the novus status rei publicae developed after the civil wars, with Augustus emerging from the bloodshed to occupy an almost-monarchical position within the state, in which he promoted his own political and moral agenda and version of Roman history through a diverse range of media, with Tiberius eventually following in his wake. Those who dared to compose literary works that challenged the Augustan or Tiberian narratives of triumph, the exceptional virtues of the princeps and his domus, and the resulting restoration of order without carefully employing ‘figured speech’ or the ‘art of safe criticism’ could face the consequences – in the latter decades perhaps prosecution for maiestas. Authors incurring the wrath of the regime were, at worst, banished from Rome or even killed. Among other things, this oppressive atmosphere contributed to the particular characteristics of Tiberian historiography about the civil wars, since one was forced to write like Velleius Paterculus to avoid meeting the same fate as Cremutius Cordus.

This paper will seek to dispel a few persistent myths about ‘censorship’ in this period by examining some factors that have led to this impression in modern scholarship, discussing how and why key individual authors were targeted, and how they sit within a wider literary and historical context.


Zoom Invitation and Protocols for Participation
This Thursday (15/4), login @ 4pm for 4.15: Our seminars begin promptly at 4.15pm. We please ask you to enter the meeting from 4pm onward to assist with ensuring the prompt commencement of the paper.

Meeting ID: 83697607681

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android:

https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/83697607681?pwd=OEI0TDV5cVZad1VNVTdlQ1pSbjlQUT09

Password: 423822


This seminar will not be recorded

All best, Ben


DR BEN BROWN
Classics and Ancient History
School Undergraduate Curriculum Coordinator (SOPHI)
Research Seminar Coordinator (CAH)
School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI)
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY NSW 2006
Ph.: 9351 8983; Office: Main Quad J6.07
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