In this talk to Chinese high school students Jiang Xueqin explains why Vergil’s “The Aeneid” is such brilliant propaganda.
In 27 BCE, the Roman Senate declared Octavian “Augustus,” making him effectively the first emperor. But Augustus Caesar still had three problems.
First, he needed to establish his legitimacy and authority. To do so, he promoted the myth that his Julii family were descendants of Aeneas, and thus Rome’s very first family.
Second, he needed to establish a new Roman cultural identity that emphasized “piety” over “liberty.” He promoted Aeneas as the epitome of piety.
Third, he was worried about the corrupting influence of Greek culture. Although the Romans had conquered Greece militarily, it seemed that the Greeks had conquered Rome culturally.
To solve all three challenges, Augustus Caesar sponsored the writing of “The Aeneid.” Vergil’s epic imitated and appropriated the Homeric epics to engineer a new Roman soul.
