Gemma Augustea and the Roman Stoicism

The article is devoted to the problem of so-called Roman Stoicism - the final stage in the development of Stoic philosophy and school. The starting point is the scene of the crowning of Octavian Augustus by the goddess Oikumene on the so-called Gemma Augustea, a beautiful cameo that dates from the early reign of Emperor Tiberius. The presence of the figure of Oikumene there is puzzling because, as is well known, the term was used in Hellenistic philosophy (Stoic and Cynic) to denote the inhabited world. The fact that the figure of Oikumene was included in the imperial programme of Emperor Augustus shows that the Romans gave the concept a different meaning: in their understanding, Oikumene now meant the Roman world stricto sensu. It was a symbolic way of expressing Roman rule over the world. Thus, the figure of Oikumene on the gemma is evidence that the Romans did not passively repeat Stoic teaching, but used some of its elements to describe their rule over the world. More importantly, the very fact of having such a vast empire defined, as it were, the nature of Roman Stoicism in passing.