Similarities Between Augustus And Cyrus

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Augustus and Cyrus overlap in positively promoting their efforts to reform and restore the cultural institutions of their Kingdoms and Empires, to improve the livelihoods of their peoples. Both Cyrus in Babylon and Augustus in Rome, ascend to power following upon times of destruction and deterioration. In both first person accounts, the men employ the positive strategy of restoring the culture and in turn the faith of their societies in order to reestablish support for their kingships. Cyrus is poignant in choosing to emphasize, “Daily, I supplied (the temple) [with offerings of x gee]se, two ducks, and ten turtledoves above the former (offerings) of geese, ducks, and turtledoves.” His phrasing shows his desire to place himself above all previous …show more content…

Cyrus follows up on his self promotion to restore faith and culture in Babylon by highlighting, “the wall Imgur-Enlil, the great (city) wall of Babylon, I strove to strengthen its fortifications… which no King before me had done.” Cyrus is again emphasizing his importance as a different king, and in making this acknowledgement he is letting readers know, that while he is still a foreign conqueror, he is truly deserving of the divine favor Marduk, because he cares more than any King before to fully complete the fortifications, thus reaffirming his strategies to establish power by appeasing Babylonian hardships as well as striving to go above and beyond all previous kings in his efforts to protect and make Babylon a great city again. The wall is intended to keep Babylon safe and maintain the peace installed by Cyrus, thus the wall is Cyrus’s legacy, and stands as a positive representation of his over Babylon. Homogenously, in Res Gestae Divi Augusti Augustus his achievements include how he sought to bring “peace to the Gaelic and Spanish provinces as well as to Germany” , and while these lands are not a direct part of Rome, they are concessions of expansion, reflecting his desire to spread his idea of Roman peace. Hence reinforcing why “the Senate decreed that an altar of the Augustan Peace (Ara Pacis Augustae) should be consecrated in the Campus Martius in honor of [his] return” Augustus’s choice to use these achievements as examples to be remembered by fulfill his initial strategy for securing power, he paints himself not as tyrannical dictator and persecuting conqueror, but as a just and fair Emperor spreading peace on the behalf of all people. In his final achievement, Augustus reminds readers that “in my thirteenth consulship (2 BCE), the Senate, the equestrian order and

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