Season 8 · Episode 655
S8 Ep655: 4. Roman Exceptionalism and the Complexity of Power Guest Authors: Scott McGill and Susanna Wright (7) The final discussion addresses the *Aeneid* as a document of Roman exceptionalism, justifying Augustus’s empire as a divinely ordained destiny. Howeve
The John Batchelor Show · John Batchelor
March 29, 20266m 2s
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Show Notes
4. Roman Exceptionalism and the Complexity of Power Guest Authors: Scott McGill and Susanna Wright (7)
The final discussion addresses the *Aeneid* as a document of Roman exceptionalism, justifying Augustus’s empire as a divinely ordained destiny. However, McGill and Wright argue the poem transcends mere propaganda by emphasizing the human scale and showing sympathy for Aeneas’s adversaries, Dido and Turnus. They interpret Virgil’s portrayal of weak or coercive kings as a potential critique of the era’s shifting power dynamics. Ultimately, the work reflects the "veneer of Republicanism" Augustus maintained while establishing absolute rule, making the *Aeneid* a complex exploration of political transition and the hazards of individual power. (8)
1915 AENEID
The final discussion addresses the *Aeneid* as a document of Roman exceptionalism, justifying Augustus’s empire as a divinely ordained destiny. However, McGill and Wright argue the poem transcends mere propaganda by emphasizing the human scale and showing sympathy for Aeneas’s adversaries, Dido and Turnus. They interpret Virgil’s portrayal of weak or coercive kings as a potential critique of the era’s shifting power dynamics. Ultimately, the work reflects the "veneer of Republicanism" Augustus maintained while establishing absolute rule, making the *Aeneid* a complex exploration of political transition and the hazards of individual power. (8)
1915 AENEID