Ex amicis divi Augusti: P. Vedius Pollio

Abstract

The present article attempts a comprehensive overview of the career of P. Vedius Pollio, an equestrian and a close associate of Augustus at a time of the constitutional transformation of the Roman Republic. The issues under discussion include Pollio’s political career in the years immediately following the battle of Actium, not least the mission to Asia Minor that Augustus entrusted him with, as well as his business activities, which are better known to us after Pollio’s withdrawal from politics. Much space is devoted to his relationship with the princeps and the birth of the so-called black legend of Pollio, which disparaged him as a cruel and psychopathic.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5913/pal.2017.45650853