03-23-2016, 01:41 PM
Hello
Sorry to reignite this thread after so long, but I also have a question about addressing the emperor. Obviously as has been pointed out by Epictetus, we have evidence that Marcus Aurelius was addresses as "my lord", and presumably this was the case with most emperors of the principate?
However, calling someone, "my lord", in my opinion, conjures notions of more modern (post Norman conquest) nobility, when Dukes and Earls were addressed as such. Lord, seems to me to be anachronistic in a Roman setting (I even thought so as a child when I watched Cleopatra and heard them refer to "My Lord Caesar" and "My Lord Admiral Agrippa"). I realise that this comes from historical evidence so cannot be argued with, but as a modern reader, is there perhaps something else I could use instead?
I had toyed with the idea of using a title instead, maybe. One would address a consul as "Consul", or a praetor as "Praetor", a centurion would be addressed as "Centurion" for example. So could the emperor perhaps be addressed by his title? "Augustus" springs to mind as the obvious choice, but I'd hesitate to use this as it may bring to mind the original rather than a successor. Instead, as a compromise, do you think addressing the emperor as "Princeps" would work; using the derivate of principate?
Many thanks
Sorry to reignite this thread after so long, but I also have a question about addressing the emperor. Obviously as has been pointed out by Epictetus, we have evidence that Marcus Aurelius was addresses as "my lord", and presumably this was the case with most emperors of the principate?
However, calling someone, "my lord", in my opinion, conjures notions of more modern (post Norman conquest) nobility, when Dukes and Earls were addressed as such. Lord, seems to me to be anachronistic in a Roman setting (I even thought so as a child when I watched Cleopatra and heard them refer to "My Lord Caesar" and "My Lord Admiral Agrippa"). I realise that this comes from historical evidence so cannot be argued with, but as a modern reader, is there perhaps something else I could use instead?
I had toyed with the idea of using a title instead, maybe. One would address a consul as "Consul", or a praetor as "Praetor", a centurion would be addressed as "Centurion" for example. So could the emperor perhaps be addressed by his title? "Augustus" springs to mind as the obvious choice, but I'd hesitate to use this as it may bring to mind the original rather than a successor. Instead, as a compromise, do you think addressing the emperor as "Princeps" would work; using the derivate of principate?
Many thanks
David Hobday
