Consider whether Augustus created a successful state or an unsuccessful state. Include both his impacts during his lifetime but also anything you think is a consequence of his reign in the Empire up to 284 C.E. but not beyond that date. You can weigh both specific actions and structural changes.

Preparation: Read the Unit Announcement and the chart on qualities of Greek and Roman heroes. This post may help you with your writing this week as we consider how the Romans romanized conquered peoples by changing their cultures. What can the products of culture tell us? This is good preparation for your papers as well as for learning to use literature and mythology as sources of data about a culture. If you are not sure about historians using images of heroes as evidence, you can read the full explanation I’ve posted below. It’s optional reading.

For your second post:

Here’s the second question which has two parts:

Part a. Did Augustus manifest the ideals and flaws of the Romans or the Greeks? You can see that this may be presented as a response to a colleague or as a stand-alone post.

Part b. Some scholars suggest that our heroes and monsters reflect our norms and those boundaries that scare us or that make us uncomfortable. For example, you might say that zombies reflect our anxiety regarding the boundary between life and death.

Choose one hero or monster from our popular culture and not actual people. These can be drawn from our own childhood stories, myths, movies, comics literature that you read in school or elsewhere, etc. By weighing historical evidence and using the chart, explain whether that hero or monster seems to reflect Greek or Roman values most. So you will be offering two evidenced opinions – one on Augustus and one on the representation of a monster from stories told/filmed in our times. Why? Please see post below on one of the most influential forces in the world, Romanization. To what extent are we still Romanized or Hellenized? Please answer all questions