The Flavian Cultural Revolution

Abstract This chapter discusses the influence of Pergamene culture in Flavian Rome by focusing on two case studies: Statius’ poem on the Pergamene eunuch Earinus and the display of the Pergamene Gauls in Vespasian’s Templum Pacis. The case of Earinus shows that Roman intellectuals exploited the literature of the Hellenistic courts to erase formerly active dichotomies and negotiate ongoing transformations of imperial ideology. The investigation of the Pergamene Gauls suggests that the display of these famous statues was aimed at appropriating the ideology of Hellenistic Celtomachies (the idea of a divinely sanctioned victory against an impious foe) but also at reframing Vespasian’s triumph in civil war through the lens of legendary fights against barbarians. The chapter’s third section addresses the broader question of the role played by Hellenistic royal ideology in helping Flavian practitioners forge a more capacious version of Roman imperial ideology.