Abstract

The preface of this volume begins quite hauntingly in the deserted colonnade of the early twentieth-century Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College, which houses bronze busts commemorating educators, authors, artists, scientists, and the like. Indeed, the idea of considering the summi viri of the Forum of Augustus as a hall of fame has much to recommend it, although this serves just as an initial framing device for an interpretation that is only hinted at in chapter 1, the introduction, but one which the author promises will "enable some valuable insights into the choices of heroes and their display in the Forum". For Geiger, these are "Augustus' choice of heroes," this was "the Republican Hall of Fame", and it was given to the Roman People for "their use and their edification".