Greece and the Augustan cultural revolution / A.J.S. Spawforth.

• Superior document: Greek culture in the Roman world
• Author: ProQuest (Firm); Spawforth, Antony.
• TeilnehmendeR: ProQuest (Firm)
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Series: Greek culture in the Roman world.
• Physical Description: viii, 319 p. :; ill.
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 9781107012110 (hbk.); 9781139186131 (electronic bk.)
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: A.J.S. Spawforth.

"This book examines the impact of the Roman cultural revolution under Augustus on the Roman province of Greece. It argues that the transformation of Roman Greece into a classicizing 'museum' was a specific response of the provincial Greek elites to the cultural politics of the Roman imperial monarchy. Against a background of Roman debates about Greek culture and Roman decadence, Augustus promoted the ideal of a Roman debt to a 'classical' Greece rooted in Europe and morally opposed to a stereotyped Asia. In Greece the regime signalled its admiration for Athens, Sparta, Olympia and Plataea as symbols of these past Greek glories. Cued by the Augustan monarchy, provincial-Greek notables expressed their Roman orientation by competitive cultural work (revival of ritual; restoration of buildings) aimed at further emphasising Greece's 'classical' legacy. Reprised by Hadrian, the Augustan construction of 'classical' Greece helped to promote the archaism typifying Greek culture under the principate"--