Description
Book SynopsisTraces Tacitus' development of this fingere/credere dynamic both backward and forward from the crucial year A D 69. This book offers insights into the conditions of historical knowledge and into the psychic logic of power and its vicissitudes, from Augustus through the Flavians.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Belief and Make-Believe 1. An Anatomy of Make-Believe Otho Bids Rome Farewell Fingere/Credere The Empire of the Cave Historiography and Ideology 2. Nero: The Specter of Civil War Galba versus Nero The Adoption of Piso Nero and Otho 3. Power and Simulacra: The Emperor Vitellius The Look of the Principate Impersonations Simulacral Entries...and Exits 4. Vespasian: The Emperor Who Succeeded Looking Backward, Moving Forward: Religio versus Superstitio Fortuna and Fatum: The Narrative of Superstitio The Miracle at Alexandria 5. A Civil Disturbance: The Batavian Revolts "Us" versus "Them" Eprius Marcellus and Petilius Cerialis on Libertas at Home and Abroad Batavians Take Out the Roman Trash Conclusion Notes References Index
