Bibliographie complète

Known to the scholarly milieu of historians, Roman history reached the general public during the 20th century in various forms: cinema, literature, schools and museum exhibitions. The emperor Augustus is important in Roman history for his transformative role of the Roman world. Born in 63 BC and died in 14 AD, Augustus became the founder of a new political regime, the Principate, replacing the Roman Republic, and making Augustus the first Emperor. He thus marks the history of the Roman Empire until its fall, and will still influence the entire European and Western world twenty centuries later. In 1937, the Mostra Augustea della Romanità is an Italian exhibition organized under the fascist regime celebrating the “idea of Rome” – the Romanità –, and wanting to amalgamate Augustus with Mussolini. This exhibition is analyzed in comparison with two other exhibitions (Kaiser Augustus und die verlorene Republik, Berlin, 1988; and Augusto/Moi, Auguste, Empereur de Rome, Rome/Paris, 2013/2014). The research focuses on the museum representation of Augustus and on the relation of the historiography still evolving with each exhibition. The exhibition catalogs are the main source for exhibited artifacts, themes, research, and storytelling. Each exhibition is put in its context and compared to their contemporary historiography, centered on outstanding works of their time. Thus, these exhibitions are tinted by their time, but in turn influence contemporary and future popular historical culture and as for academia. Museological work is not only popularization of historical discourse for the general public, but also participatory work in historiography.