Rome, a city that thinks in millenniums, is going through a bout of "Augustus fever" to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the death of its first emperor, who left his mark on Rome and Western civilization like few others.
The Eternal City is staging shows, exhibitions, debates and seminars on Augustus, who died on Aug. 19, A.D. 14, at the age of 75 after a 41-year reign that was the longest in Roman history.
The celebrations will also explore the dark side of a legacy that inspired modern-day dictators, including Italy's Benito Mussolini, who followed Augustus in using monumental architecture as propaganda to buttress their rule and studied his techniques of gaining, consolidating and masking power.
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