From: Nick_Brooke@deloitte.touche.co.uk
Date: Fri 13 Dec 1996 - 17:23:33 EET
Before I forget, here's another bit of Roman propaganda trivia to amuse and
edify you all. The first known representation of the symbolic/patriotic
figure "Britannia" in art is as a subjected woman, being trampled upon by
the militarily-garbed emperor Clau-Clau-Claudius, on a relief commemorating
his conquest of that remote island (found somewhere in Asia Minor IIRC).
(Her contemporary manifestation, with helmet, shield, trident, swathed in
the Union flag, arose from a fancy-dress costume devised by one of King
Charles the Second's many mistresses, though with slightly more covering
the bosom -- Charles was a *very* Merry Monarch...)
And, spin control: Augustus negotiated with the Parthian Empire for many
years over the precise degree of influence the Romans and Parthians were to
enjoy in the neighbouring kingdom of Armenia. A compromise was fudged out,
which in all honesty was satisfactory to neither side, but Augustus had
"ARMENIA CAPTA" (Armenia Captured!) inscribed on a celebratory coin and
issued throughout the Empire. A lot more memorable than the real story...
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Nick
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