Bimillennium File
The bimillennium of Augustus’ death on August 19, 2014, provided a global platform for evaluating his posthumous significance.
Earlier in the 20th century, the "Bimillennium Vergilianum" (the 2,000th anniversary of Virgil’s birth in 1930) set the precedent for these celebrations. bimillennium
Scholars used the occasion to ask how Augustus’ "equivocal and contradictory career" has been received across different cultural contexts. The bimillennium of Augustus’ death on August 19,
Programs like Commemorating Augustus aimed to help educators find "new practical tips" for teaching his complex history in schools. Programs like Commemorating Augustus aimed to help educators
Contemporary readings of Ovid's exile poetry have shifted to look at the "disfiguration" of his career—a "real and abominable" event that tore his life apart, rather than just a literary trope.
The 2,000th anniversary of Ovid's death saw the first professional meeting in China dedicated to the poet, titled "Globalizing Ovid," which explored his influence on 18th-century Chinese porcelain.
A bimillennium is more than a chronological marker; it is a "purely notional" yet powerful opportunity for systematic reassessment. The early 21st century has witnessed a cluster of these anniversaries, most notably the 2,000th anniversary of the death of Augustus (AD 14–2014) and the death of Ovid (AD 17–2017). These milestones have sparked a "wave of new and creative scholarly interest," prompting historians and classicists to move beyond traditional hagiography toward more complex, "disfigured," or "globalized" interpretations of Roman legacy. The Augustan Bimillennium (2014)
