[Usyd_Classics_Events] Reminder: USYD Classics Research Seminar: Aug 29, Dr Elisabeth Slingsby

[Lila Daly]

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
School of Humanities (SoH)

Classics and Ancient History
[The University of Sydney]
[Quadrangle]

Classics and Ancient History Seminar Series

USYD Classics Research Seminar: Aug 29, Dr Elisabeth Slingsby, 4pm AEST (UTC +10)

Dear Friends of Classics and Ancient History,
You are cordially invited to the fourth Classics and Ancient History research seminar of semester 2, 2024.

Thursday August 29, 4pm AEST (UTC+10)
V. Gordon Childe Centre Boardroom, Level 4, Madsen Building and Zoom: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/82326237855<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/yQVeCANpgjCrAM56MIGfJuGzIlS?domain=t.e2ma.net>

Elisabeth Slingsby (University of Sydney)
Basking in Reflected Glory? Saluting the Sailors and Soldiers of Actium

Abstract:
In his account of the Battle of Actium, Velleius Paterculus gives the impression that the outcome of this conflict was decided before the fleets commanded by Octavian, and M. Antonius and Cleopatra VII, even took to sea. According to Velleius, the Romans under the eventual victor Octavian were spirited and strong, while their counterparts in the opposing camp were forlorn and fatigued. These contrasting characterisations are clearly not intended to paint a precise portrait of the sailors and soldiers who clashed at Actium. Rather, these men serve merely as symbols, holding up a mirror both to the degeneracy that had come to be associated with Antony, and to the glory of Octavian and his victory soon to come. Is this the only way in which Actian combatants were recalled? My proposed answer to this question rests on an examination of the extent to which tales about the troops who fought at Actium reflect the narrative promulgated by Octavian, that his campaign against Antony was justified and the peace he secured in its wake was worthy of celebration. I contend that this narrative casts a long shadow over literary and epigraphic accounts about Actian combatants. Time and again, sailors and soldiers are lauded not for some feat of bravery, but simply for serving under Octavian. Frequently too, those who fought under Antony are disparaged or denounced. This constitutes a significant departure from the manner in which troops who fought in prior battles in the Triumviral civil war were recalled, where it was consistently a combatant's conduct, not his commander, that determined the way in which he was remembered. Tales of this kind about Actium, I will argue, are rare. During Augustus' lifetime, the model of celebrating Octavian's troops and condemning Antony's was set aside on just two occasions, to lament the human cost of civil war on both sides. It was only after Augustus' death that Romans who had survived serving under Antony began to be praised, and later still, those under Octavian maligned. By tracking the ways in which all levels of Roman society sought to come to terms with the legacy of the sailors and soldiers who fought for Antony and Octavian, I will demonstrate that in a reunited Rome, a combatant's factional loyalty at Actium remained central to whether his service was deemed worthy of commemoration.

Biography:

Dr Elisabeth Slingsby is an adjunct lecturer, tutor, and marker in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney. She graduated with a PhD in Classics from the University of Cambridge earlier this year. Her doctoral research explored the recollection of the late Republican civil wars in Latin and Greek literature, with a particular focus on the parallels which were drawn between civil war exempla, and exempla drawn from non-Roman history. Elisabeth's broader research interests include the political and cultural impacts of warfare, ancient biography, and the history of memory. She is currently undertaking a project on the memorialisation of low-ranking soldiers and sailors in Republican and early Imperial Rome, from which this paper stems.

Papers this semester will be presented on campus live streamed via Zoom (unless otherwise indicated). The on-campus location will either be the V. Gordon Childe Centre Boardroom, Level 4, Madsen Building, or the School of Humanities Common Room (Room 822, Mungo MacCallum Building).
The Zoom address for this and all sessions during semester 2 is: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/82326237855<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/WEPFCBNqjlCP53N63H6hpu2rA-I?domain=t.e2ma.net>

For further information, email: benjamin.brown at sydney.edu.au<mailto:benjamin.brown at sydney.edu.au>

All best,
Lila, on behalf of Dr Ben Brown


DR BEN BROWN
Senior Lecturer, Classics and Ancient History
Honours Coordinator, School of Humanities (SoH)
Co-director Critical Antiquities Network
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY NSW 2006

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