Pyramus and Thisbe

Ovid’s production period coincides with one of the most prosperous eras in Roman history: the Pax Romana, a time of unprecedented stability enabled by Rome’s first emperor, Augustus. But this halcyon age came at heavy cost to the Roman people. In the decades before Ovid’s birth, a series of destructive civil conflicts had nearly torn the Roman republic in two. Various political parties vied for supremacy until finally, a climatic civil war between the populist Julius Caesar and the senatorial faction, led by Pompey the Great, ended in sound defeat for the Senate (49-45 BCE). In 44 BCE Julius Caesar assumed the mantle of dictator perpetuo, “dictator-in-perpetuity,” transforming Rome from a constitutional republic into an empire.

While Julius Caesar was soon assassinated by conspirators in the Senate in 44 BCE, his heir and successor, Octavian Augustus, proved more adept at playing the political game. Augustus took a step back from Caesar’s inflammatory verbiage; tyranny was a highly distasteful concept to the Romans, who prided themselves on their devotion to liberty. In contrast to his adoptive father, Augustus situated himself as the princeps, or “first citizen,” of Rome. He perpetuated an illusion of working with the Senate while in reality, he ruled the state single-handedly—and with an iron fist.