L’utilisation de la religion dans la légitimation du pouvoir : quelques pistes de recherche pour les années 44-42 av. J.-C.

From 44 to 42 BC, no less than six main contestants were fighting for power : Marcus Antony, Octavian, Lepidus, Brutus, Cassius and Sextus Pompey. They relied on military resources, but they also resorted to carefully crafted discourse in order to assertain and legitimise their power. The relationsh...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Raphaëlle Laignoux
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Anthropologie et Histoire des Mondes Antiques 2011-07-01
Series:Cahiers Mondes Anciens
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/mondesanciens/360
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Summary:From 44 to 42 BC, no less than six main contestants were fighting for power : Marcus Antony, Octavian, Lepidus, Brutus, Cassius and Sextus Pompey. They relied on military resources, but they also resorted to carefully crafted discourse in order to assertain and legitimise their power. The relationship with the sacred is one of the arguments they put forward in their strategies of legitimation. Drawing on literary and iconographic sources, this article gives a full analysis of the religious references that are used in the political debate between the contestants during the years 44-42. I show that religious references are much more numerous in the coins that were circulating at the time, than in any other medium. I also prove that, although the Republicans tend to use religious references more widely, the difference between Republicans and Cesarians is not as clear as one would expect, in so far as some references are used by all six contestants.
ISSN:2107-0199