These events often involved community features beyond lectures, such as "posture parodies" and musical solos, showing how classical anniversaries were used to engage the broader public in the early 20th century. Conclusion
A bimillennium is more than a chronological marker; it is a "purely notional" yet powerful opportunity for systematic reassessment. The early 21st century has witnessed a cluster of these anniversaries, most notably the 2,000th anniversary of the death of Augustus (AD 14–2014) and the death of Ovid (AD 17–2017). These milestones have sparked a "wave of new and creative scholarly interest," prompting historians and classicists to move beyond traditional hagiography toward more complex, "disfigured," or "globalized" interpretations of Roman legacy. The Augustan Bimillennium (2014) bimillennium
The Bimillennium: Echoes of the Augustan Age in the 21st Century Introduction These milestones have sparked a "wave of new
Programs like Commemorating Augustus aimed to help educators find "new practical tips" for teaching his complex history in schools. The Ovidian Bimillennium (2017) The 2,000th anniversary of
Investigations during this period highlighted how Augustus was often "Christianized" in later legends, such as the report of an oracle prefiguring the birth of Christ, which eventually linked him to the foundation of the Santa Maria in Aracoeli . The Ovidian Bimillennium (2017)
The 2,000th anniversary of Ovid's death saw the first professional meeting in China dedicated to the poet, titled "Globalizing Ovid," which explored his influence on 18th-century Chinese porcelain.
Contemporary readings of Ovid's exile poetry have shifted to look at the "disfiguration" of his career—a "real and abominable" event that tore his life apart, rather than just a literary trope.