Triumphs in the Age of Civil War

Carsten Hjort Lange is Assistant Professor of Ancient History in the Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark. His extensive writing on the Roman Republic and triumphal practice includes Res Publica Constituta: Actium, Apollo and the Accomplishment of the Triumviral Assignment (2009) and (as co-editor) The Roman Republican Triumph (2014).

• ContentsAcknowledgementsList of FiguresIntroductionChapter 1: A Voice from No Man’s Land: Approaches to Civil War and TriumphChapter 2: Triumph, Ovation, Alban Mount triumph and Naval triumphChapter 3: The Fasti Triumphales and Triumphal HousekeepingChapter 4: The Late Republican Triumph: Continuity and ChangeChapter 5: Triumph and Civil War in the Late Republic: Constructing the EnemyChapter 6: Augustus, Triumph, Civil War, and the Victory Monument at Actium: a ReconsiderationChapter 7: Triumphal Topography: Augustus’ Triumphal and Triumph-like ReturnsEpilogue: Civil War and Triumph. The Casa di Pilatos ReliefAppendix: Triumphal Arches. Bibliography

This is an important monograph for scholars, but students too will profit from reading chapter 1, where Lange (Aalborg Univ., Denmark) gives a sensible critique of recent revisionist scholarship that has minimized the notion of a Roman revolution—a view at odds with all the surviving literary sources. For Lange, the ancient view of a republic in crisis since 133 BCE explains why Romans transformed their unique ritual of the triumph, a celebration over defeated foes, into the glorification of commanders (imperatores) who won battles over fellow citizens in civil wars. The Romans blurred distinctions by turning the losers in the civil war into allies of foreign foes (who usually had been compelled to take sides in a Roman civil war). Lange expertly reviews the sources on the Roman triumph, ovation, and private parade known as the Alban triumph (chapters 2–5). Most incisive is his analysis of the value of the fasti triumphales. Lange then turns to his main thesis (chapters 6–8), explaining persuasively how Octavian, the future emperor Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE), completed this shift, which culminated in his triple triumph of 29 BCE. The plates and bibliography are excellent. For scholars and serious students of the Roman Republic. Summing Up: Highly recommended.