Ancient Rome: Power, Values, and Propaganda
This section covers the Ancient Rome domain of NCEA Level 3 Classical Studies. The exam tests analysis of Roman ideas and values, the significance of individuals and works, and the lasting impact of Roman institutions - with evidence from texts, inscriptions, coins, art and architecture.
Core concepts
- Res publica and imperium: power shared among magistrates, Senate and assemblies; dictatorship and the principate changed the balance.
- Values: virtus (courage/moral excellence), pietas (duty to gods, family, state), fides (trust), gravitas (seriousness), dignitas, gloria; patronage and clientela.
- Sources: Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Augustus' Res Gestae; inscriptions, coins, triumphal arches, fora, baths, amphitheatres.
- Art/architecture as propaganda: Ara Pacis, Prima Porta Augustus, Column of Trajan, Pantheon, Colosseum; materials, placement, imagery.
Worked example
Question: Analyse how Augustus' Res Gestae and the Ara Pacis construct imperial authority. Reasoning: identify a claim - Augustus presents a restored republic and personal auctoritas, not monarchy. Evidence: Res Gestae lists offices, donations and the claim that he transferred the state to the Senate and people; the Ara Pacis shows a procession of family and magistrates, fertility motifs and pietas. Explain significance: the combination claims continuity with republican tradition while making the princeps central; visual and textual media reinforce each other. Context: after civil war, legitimacy depended on peace, prosperity and divine favour; compare Tacitus' hostile view.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling Augustus "king" or "emperor" without explaining how he masked power; use princeps.
- Describing Ara Pacis reliefs without linking them to peace, fertility, family or Augustan ideology.
- Assuming Res Gestae is objective; it is a self-authored funerary inscription.
- Confusing Roman values with Greek ones: pietas and fides are relational, not just personal.