Bhatt, S;
(2017)
The Augustan Principate and the Emergence of Biopolitics: A Comparative Historical Perspective.
Foucault Studies
, 22
pp. 72-93.
10.22439/fs.v0i0.5244.
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Abstract
This paper uses Foucault’s concepts “discipline” and “biopower” to expose the complexity of power relations in Augustan Rome and its historiography. Focusing on Augustus’ Res Gestae and Tacitus’ Annales, I argue that the absolute sovereignty of the emperor did not preclude the advancement of techniques to classify, hierarchize and normalize individuals, nor did Imperial sovereignty work against the development of a discourse about the enhancement and protection of the population. By demonstrating the conceptual and historical relevancy of Foucault’s modern power triad of “sovereignty-discipline-government” to first century CE Rome, the paper suggests that biopolitical societies have a far more extensive history than the one said to have started around the turn of the eighteenth century.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Augustan Principate and the Emergence of Biopolitics: A Comparative Historical Perspective |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.22439/fs.v0i0.5244 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i0.5244 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Sovereignty; Augustus; Tacitus; Agamben,; Auctoritas; Biopolitics; Security |
| UCL classification: | UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10022701 |
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