Volume 1: Roman Emperors: Augustus with Dr. Dimo Kosmopoulos

According to Suetonius, Augustus "found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble". This conversation is part one of our Roman Emperor series and will take us to explore life in Rome after 27 BC when a new era of Roman history began: Octavianus became Augustus. We'll discuss how he begins by building an Empire ruling from his house on the Palatine hill (the same hill where, according to the myth, Rome was founded by the first king of the city, Romulus). We'll go on to discuss the long period of cruel battles under Augustus. We'll talk about the defeat of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra which brought to an end the civil wars along with a new period of peace, the Pax Augusta which enlightened the Roman world. However, it was not easy to transform a Republican system into an Empire, and, in a matter of fact, Augustus never accomplished that goal - officially.

We'll discuss how Augustus consolidated his power working behind the scenes, carefully using all the available instruments: literature, politics, and of course architecture, the language of power. We'll talk about how he displayed power through architecture, particularly in Rome: temples, arches, altars, an obelisk used as a sundial, his own majestic tomb (Mausoleum) which he built while he was still alive.

Led by archaeologist Dimosthenis Kosmopoulos, this interactive seminar will tell the story of Rome through Augustus. It is part of a series on Roman Emperors created by Dimo. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with a better understanding of Rome as a result.

This conversation is the first in a five-part series. Each seminar can be joined independently and in any order.