Augustus's Accomplishments: Building Campaign, Public Works, the Arts

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RES GESTAE — AUGUSTUS’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS


The Res Gestae

The Res Gestae is a list of deeds performed by Augustus that in many cases affected the entire Roman Empire, and of the sums of money he spent upon the Republic and the Roman People. The historian William Stearns Davis wrote: The Res Gestae “is, perhaps, the most famous inscription left us by Antiquity. It is inscribed on marble in a building which was a temple of Augustus in Ankara, Asia Minor [today's Turkish capital]. The original of this document seems to have been set up in bronze before the great Emperor's mausoleum in Rome, and this is one of the copies distributed through the provinces. Only a fraction of the long inscription can be cited, and it is hard to abridge what is throughout of high historical value. It gives us what Augustus wished to have regarded as the leading glories of his reign, distorting and suppressing some facts, but adding much to our knowledge of others. [Source: Augustus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.): Res Gestae Divi Augusti, A.D. c. 14, William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, pp. 166-172]

The Res Gestae states: “In my twentieth year [44 B.C.], acting on my own initiative and at my own charges, I raised an army wherewith I brought again liberty to the Republic oppressed by the dominance of a faction. Therefore did the Senate admit me to its own order by honorary decrees, in the consulship of Gaius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius. At the same time they gave unto me rank among the consulars in the expressing of my opinion [in the Senate]; and they gave unto me the imperium. It also voted that I, as propreetor, together with the consuls, should "see to it that the state suffered no harm." In the same year, too, when both consuls had fallen in battle, the people made me consul and triumvir for the re-establishing of the Republic.

“The men who killed my father [Julius Caesar, who adopted his nephew as his son in his will] I drove into exile by strictly judicial process, and then, when they took up arms against the Republic, twice I overcame them in battle.

“I undertook civil and foreign wars both by land and by sea; as victor therein I showed mercy to all surviving [Roman] citizens. Foreign nations, that I could safely pardon, I preferred to spare rather than to destroy. About 500,000 Roman citizens took the military oath of allegiance to me. Rather over 300,000 of these have I settled in colonies, or sent back to their home towns (municipia) when their term of service ran out; and to all of these I have given lands bought by me, or the money for farms — and this out of my private means. I have taken 600 ships, besides those smaller than triremes.

“Twice have I had the lesser triumph [i.e., the ovation]; thrice the [full] curule triumph; twenty-one times have I been saluted as "Imperator." After that, when the Senate voted me many triumphs, I declined them. Also I often deposited the laurels in the Capitol, fulfilling the vows which I had made in battle. On account of the enterprises brought to a happy issue on land and sea by me, or by my legates, under my auspices, fifty-five times has the Senate decreed a thanksgiving unto the Immortal Gods. The number of days, too, on which thanksgiving was professed, fulfilling the Senate's decrees, was 890. Nine kings, or children of kings, have been led before my car in my triumphs. And when I wrote these words, thirteen times had I been consul, and for the thirty-seventh year was holding the tribunician power.

“The dictatorship which was offered me by the People and by the Senate, both when I was present and when I was absent, I did not accept. The annual and perpetual consulship I did not accept. Ten years in succession I was one of the "triumvirs for the reestablishing of the Republic." Up to the day that I wrote these words I have been princeps of the Senate forty years. I have been pontifex maximus, augur, member of the "College of Fifteen for the Sacred Rites" [and of the other religious brotherhoods].

“In my fifth consulship, by order of the People and the Senate, I increased the number of patricians. Three times I revised the Senate list. In my sixth consulship, with my colleague, Marcus Agrippa, I made a census of the People. [By it] the number of Roman citizens was 4,063,000. Again in the consulship of Gaius Censorinus and Gaius Asinus [8 B.C.] I [took the census, when] the number of Roman citizens was 4,230,000. A third time . . . in the consulship of Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Appuleius [14 A.D.], with Tiberius Caesar as colleague, I [took the census when] the number of Roman citizens was 4,937,000. By new legislation I have restored many customs of our ancestors which had begun to fall into disuse, and I have myself also set many examples worthy of imitation by those to follow me.

“By decree of the Senate my name has been included in the hymn of the Salii [Davis: as if Augustus were a god], and it has been enacted by law that as long as I live I shall be invested with the tribunician power. I refused to be pontifex maximus in place of a colleague still living, when the people proffered me [that] priesthood which my father had held. [The temple of] Janus Quirinus, which it was the purpose of our fathers to close when there was a victorious peace throughout the whole Roman Empire — by land and sea — and which — before my birth — had been alleged to have been closed only twice at all, since Rome was founded: thrice did the Senate order it closed while I was princeps.

Public Works and Government Handouts Listed on The Res Gestae

The Res Gestae states: “To each of the Roman plebs I paid 300 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $172 in 1998 dollars] in accord with the last will of my father [Caesar]. In my own name in my fifth consulship [29 B.C.] I gave 400 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $229 in 1998 dollars] from the spoils of war. Again in my tenth consulship [24 B.C.] I gave from my own estate to every man [among the Romans] 400 sesterces as a donative. In my eleventh, twelve times I made distributions of food, buying grain at my own charges. And I made like gifts on several other occasions. The sum which I spent for Italian farms [for the veterans] was about 600,000,000 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $200,000,000 in 1998 dollars] and for lands in the provinces about 260,000,000 [Arkenberg: about $158,600,000 in 1998 dollars].... Four times have I aided the public treasury from my own means, to such extent that I furnished to those managing the treasury department 150,000,000 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $86,000,000 in 1998 dollars].

I built the Curia [the Senate house] and the Chalcidicum which adjoins it, the temple of Apollo on the Palatine with its porticoes, the temple of the Divine Julius, the Lupercal, the portico near the Flaminian Circus (which I suffered to be named the Octavian Portico, after the man who had built the earlier one at that same site), the shrine near the Circus Maximus, the temples of Jupiter Feretrius [FN 4] and Jupiter the Thunderer [FN 5] on the Capitoline, the temple of Quirinus, the temples of Minerva and of Queen Juno and of Jupiter of Liberty on the Aventine, the temple of the Lares at the top of the Sacred Way, the temple of the Divine Penates in the Velian district, the temple of Youth, the temple of the Great Mother on the Palatine.

At great expense I rebuilt both the Capitoline temple and the theater of Pompey, without inscribing my name on either. In many areas I repaired water channels which had fallen into disrepair with age, and I doubled the output of the Marcian aqueduct by introducing a new water source to its channel. I completed the Julian forum and the Julian basilica — the one between the temple of Castor and the temple of Saturn — both of which were begun and nearly completed by my father, and when this same basilica was destroyed by fire I enlarged its foundations and began to rebuild it in the name of my sons, with commands that, should I not have lived to complete the work, it should be completed by my heirs. In my sixth consulship [28 B.C.], on the authority of the senate, I rebuilt 82 temples of the gods in the city, with none omitted which at that time were in need of repair. In my seventh consulship [27 B.C.] I rebuilt the Flaminian Way from the city to Arminum [modern Rimini] and all the bridges with the exception of the Mulvian and Minucian bridges.

“Aqueducts which have crumbled through age I have restored, and I have doubled the water [in the aqueduct] called the Marcian by turning a new stream into its course. The Forum Julium and the basilica which was between the temple of Castor and the temple of Saturn, works begun and almost completed by my father, I finished.

“Three times in my own name and five times in that of my [adoptive] sons or my grandsons I have given gladiator exhibitions; in these exhibitions about 10,000 men have fought. [Besides other games] twenty-six times in my own name, or in that of my sons and grandsons I have given hunts of African wild beasts in the circus, the Forum, the amphitheaters — and about 3500 wild beasts have been slain...I gave the people the spectacle of a naval battle beyond the Tiber where is now the grove of the Caesars. For this purpose an excavation was made 1800 feet long and 1200 wide. In this contest thirty warships — triremes or biremes — took part, and many others smaller. About 3000 men fought on these craft beside the rowers.

Home Security and Empire Building Listed on The Res Gestae

The Res Gestae states:“I have cleared the sea from pirates. In that war with the slaves I delivered to their masters for punishment 30,000 slaves who had fled their masters and taken up arms against the Republic. The provinces of Gaul, Spain, Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia swore the same allegiance to me. I have extended the boundaries of all the provinces of the Roman People which were bordered by nations not yet subjected to our sway. My fleet has navigated the ocean from the mouth of the Rhine as far as the boundaries of the Cimbri where aforetime no Roman had ever penetrated by land or by sea. The German peoples there sent their legates, seeking my friendship, and that of the Roman people. At almost the same time, by my command and under my auspices two armies have been led into Ethiopia and into Arabia, which is called Felix ["The Happy"] and very many of the enemy of both peoples have fallen in battle, and many towns have been captured.

“I added Egypt to the Empire of the Roman People. When the king of Greater Armenia was killed I could have made that country a province, but I preferred after the manner of our fathers to deliver the kingdom to Tigranes [a vassal prince].... I have compelled the Parthians to give up to me the spoils and standards of three Roman armies, and as suppliants to seek the friendship of the Roman people. Those [recovered] standards, moreover, I have deposited in the sanctuary located in the temple of Mars the Avenger.

“In my sixth and seventh consulships [28 and 27 B.C.] when I had put an end to the civil wars, after having obtained complete control of the government, by universal consent I transferred the Republic from my own dominion back to the authority of the Senate and Roman People. In return for this favor by me, I received by decree of the Senate the title Augustus, the door-posts of my house were publicly decked with laurels, a civic crown was fixed above my door, and in the Julian Curia [Senate-house] was set a golden shield, which by its inscription bore witness that it was bestowed on me, by the Senate and Roman People, on account of my valor, clemency, justice, and piety. After that time I excelled all others in dignity, but of power I held no more than those who were my colleagues in any magistracy. [A kind of supplement to the inscription adds]: The sum of money which he gave into the treasury or to the Roman People or discharged soldiers was 600,000,000 denarii [Arkenberg: about $1,372,000,000 in 1998 dollars] [and names many other public works].

Arts and Culture Under Augustus


Ara Pacis Augustae

Augustus promoted learning and patronized the arts. Virgil, Horace, Livy and Ovid wrote during the “Augustan Age," Augustus also established what has been described as the first paleontology museum on Capri. It contained the bones of extinct creatures. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “During the reign of Augustus, Rome was transformed into a truly imperial city. By the first century B.C., Rome was already the largest, richest, and most powerful city in the Mediterranean world. During the reign of Augustus, however, it was transformed into a truly imperial city. Writers were encouraged to compose works that proclaimed its imperial destiny: the Histories of Livy, no less than the Aeneid of Virgil, were intended to demonstrate that the gods had ordained Rome "mistress of the world." A social and cultural program enlisting literature and the other arts revived time-honored values and customs, and promoted allegiance to Augustus and his family. [Source: Department of Greek and Roman Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2000, metmuseum.org \^/]

The emperor was recognized as chief state priest, and many statues depicted him in the act of prayer or sacrifice. Sculpted monuments, such as the Ara Pacis Augustae built between 14 and 9 B.C., testify to the high artistic achievements of imperial sculptors under Augustus and a keen awareness of the potency of political symbolism. Religious cults were revived, temples rebuilt, and a number of public ceremonies and customs reinstated. Craftsmen from all around the Mediterranean established workshops that were soon producing a range of objects—silverware, gems, glass—of the highest quality and originality. Great advances were made in architecture and civil engineering through the innovative use of space and materials. By 1 A.D., Rome was transformed from a city of modest brick and local stone into a metropolis of marble with an improved water and food supply system, more public amenities such as baths, and other public buildings and monuments worthy of an imperial capital.” \^/

“Encouragement to Architecture: It is said that Augustus boasted that he “found Rome of brick and left it of marble.” He restored many of the temples and other buildings which had either fallen into decay or been destroyed during the riots of the civil war. On the Palatine hill he began the construction of the great imperial palace, which became the magnificent home of the Caesars. He built a new temple of Vesta, where the sacred fire of the city was kept burning. He erected a new temple to Apollo, to which was attached a library of Greek and Latin authors; also temples to Jupiter Tonans and to the Divine Julius. One of the noblest and most useful of the public works of the emperor was the new Forum of Augustus, near the old Roman Forum and the Forum of Julius. In this new Forum was erected the temple of Mars the Avenger (Mars Ultor), which Augustus built to commemorate the war by which he had avenged the death of Caesar. We must not forget to notice the massive Pantheon, the temple of all the gods, which is to-day the best preserved monument of the Augustan period. This was built by Agrippa, in the early part of Augustus’s reign (27 B.C.), but was altered to the form shown above by the emperor Hadrian (p. 267). [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

“Patronage of Literature: But more splendid and enduring than these temples of marble were the works of literature which this age produced. At this time was written Vergil’s “Aeneid,” which is one of the greatest epic poems of the world. It was then that the “Odes” of Horace were composed, the race and rhythm of which are unsurpassed. Then, too, were written the elegies of Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. Greatest among the prose writers of this time was Livy, whose “pictured pages” tell of the miraculous origin of Rome, and her great achievements in war and in peace. During this time also flourished certain Greek writers whose works are famous. Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote a book on the antiquities of Rome, and tried to reconcile his countrymen to the Roman sway. Strabo, the geographer, described the subject lands of Rome in the Augustan age. The whole literature of this period was inspired with a growing spirit of patriotism, and an appreciation of Rome as the great ruler of the world.

Games and Shows Under Augustus

The Roman historian Suetonius wrote: “He surpassed all his predecessors in the frequency, variety, and magnificence of his public shows. He says that he gave games four times in his own name and twenty-three times for other magistrates, who were either away from Rome or lacked means. He gave them sometimes in all the wards and on many stages with actors in all languages,a and combats of gladiators not only in the Forum or the amphitheatre, but in the Circus and in the Saepta; sometimes, however, he gave nothing except a fight with wild beasts. He gave athletic contests too in the Campus Martius, erecting wooden seats; also a seafight, constructing an artificial lake near the Tiber, where the grove of the Caesars now stands. On such occasions he stationed guards in various parts of the city, to prevent it from falling a prey to footpads because of the few people who remained at home. [Source: Suetonius (c.69-after 122 A.D.): “De Vita Caesarum-Divus Augustus” (“The Lives of the Caesars – The Deified Augustus”), written A.D. c. 110, “Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum,” 2 Vols., trans. J. C. Rolfe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1920), pp. 123-287]


Circus Maximus

“In the Circus he exhibited charioteers, rumlers, and slayers of wild animals, who were sometimes young men of the highest rank. Besides he gave frequent performances of the game of Troya by older and younger boys, thinking it a time-honoured and worthy custom for the flower of the nobility to become known in this way. When Nonius Asprenas was lamed by a fall while taking part in this game, he presented him with a golden necklace and allowed him and his descendants to bear the surname Torquatus. But soon afterwards he gave up that form of entertainment, because Asinius Pollio the orator complained bitterly and angrily in the Senate of an accident to his grandson Aeserninus, who also had broken his leg. He sometimes employed even Roman knights in scenic and gladiatorial performances, but only before it was forbidden by decree of the Senate. After that he exhibited no one of respectable parentage, with the exception of a young man named Lycius, whom he showed merely as a curiosity; for he was less than two feet tall, weighed but seventeen pounds, yet had a stentorian voice. He did however on the day of one of the shows make a display of the first Parthian hostages that had ever been sent to Rome, by leading them through the middle of the arena and placing them in the second row above his own seat. Furthermore, if anything rare and worth seeing was ever brought to the city, it was his habit to make a special exhibit of it in any convenient place on days when no shows were appointed. For example a rhinoceros in the Saepta, a tiger on the stage and a snake of fifty cubits in front of the Comitium. It chanced that at the time of the games which he had vowed to give in the circus, he was taken ill and headed the sacred procession lying in a litter; again, at the opening of the games with which he dedicated the theatre of Marcellus, it happened that the joints of his curule chair gave way and he fell on his back. At the games for his grandsons, when the people were in a panic for fear the theatre should fall, and he could not calm them or encourage them in any way, he left his own place and took his seat in the part which appeared most dangerous.

“He put a stop by special regulations to the disorderly and indiscriminate fashion of viewing the games, through exasperation at the insult to a senator, to whom no one offered a seat in a crowded house at some largely attended games in Puteoli. In consequence of this the Senate decreed that, whenever any public show was given anywhere, the first row of seats should be reserved for Senators; and at Rome he would not allow the envoys of the free and allied nations to sit in the orchestra, since he was informed that even freedmen were sometimes appointed. He separated the soldiery from the people. He assigned special seats to the married men of the commons, to boys under age their own section and the adjoining one to their preceptors; and he decreed that no one wearing a dark cloak should sit in the middle of the house. He would not allow women to view even the gladiators except from the upper seats, though it had been the custom for men and women to sit together at such shows. Only the Vestal virgins were assigned a place to themselves, opposite the praetor's tribunal. As for the contests of the athletes, he excluded women from them so strictly, that when a contest between a pair of boxers had been called for at the games in honour of his appointment as pontifex maximus, he postponed it until early the following day, making proclamation that it was his desire that women should not come to the theatre before the fifth hour.

“He himself usually watched the games in the Circus from the upper rooms of his friends and freedmen, but sometimes from the imperial box, and even in company with his wife and children. He was sometimes absent for several hours, and now and then for whole days, making his excuses and appointing presiding officers to take his place. But whenever he was present, he gave his entire attention to the performance, either to avoid the censure to which he realized that his father Caesar had been generally exposed, because he spent his time in reading or answering letters and petitions; or from his interest and pleasure in the spectacle, which he never denied but often frankly confessed. Because of this he used to offer special prizes and numerous valuable gifts from his own purse at games given by others, and he appeared at no contest in the Grecian fashion [i.e., those given at Rome in the Greek language and dress, sometimes by Greek actors] without making a present to each of the participants according to his deserts. He was especially given to watching boxers, particularly those of Latin birth, not merely such as were recognized and classed as professionals, whom he was wont to match even with Greeks, but the common untrained townspeople that fought rough and tumble and without skill in the narrow streets. In fine, he honoured with his interest all classes of performers who took part in the public shows; maintained the privileges of the athletes and even increased them; forbade the matching of gladiators without the right of appeal for quarter; and deprived the magistrates of the power allowed them by an ancient law of punishing actors anywhere and everywhere, restricting it to the time of games and to the theatre. Nevertheless he exacted the severest discipline in the contests in the wrestling halls and the combats of the gladiators. In particular he was so strict in curbing the lawlessness of the actors, that when he learned that Stephanio, an actor of Roman plays, was waited on by a matron with hair cut short to look like a boy, he had him whipped with rods through the three theatres and then banished him. Hylas, a pantomimic actor, was publicly scourged in the atrium of his own house, on complaint of a praetor, and Pylades was expelled from the city and from Italy as well, because by pointing at him with his finger he turned all eyes upon a spectator who was hissing him.

Secular Games of Augustus


Nina C. Coppolino wrote: “In 17 B.C. Augustus celebrated the Secular Games which marked the close of a saeculum or epoch of a human life-span, defined in the Republic at one- hundred years, but celebrated elastically in Augustus's day at one-hundred- and-ten. In the new spirit of prosperity, the traditional deities of dread, including warlike Mars, and underworld Pluto and Persephone, were absent; sacrifices were made in honor of the Fates, the goddess of childbirth, Earth Mother, Jupiter and Juno, and Apollo and Diana. The poet Horace was commissioned to write a hymn which was sung by twenty-seven boys and twenty-seven girls.” [Source: Nina C. Coppolino, Roman Emperors]

William Stearns Davis wrote: “The "Secular Games" was “a peculiarly solemn event, supposedly permitted only once in a century. The occasion was one of general jubilation over the notable peace and prosperity of the age. The "Secular Hymn" by the court poet Horace is perhaps the most successful poem of occasion ever written. It fits admirably into the spirit of the occasion with its references to the old divinities and the contemporary rulers and their triumphs. It was probably sung on the third day of the festival at the temple of Apollo on the Palatine by a choir of twenty-seven noble boys and maidens.” The hymn is regarded as an encomium — a speech or piece of writing that highly praises someone or something. [Source: Horace (65-8 B.C.): Secular hymn, Augustan Encomiums, William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, pp. 174-179]

Horace’s Hymn for Augustus’s Secular Games

Horace “Secular Hymn” for Augustus’s Secular Games goes:
“Phoebus! and Dian, you whose sway,
Mountains and woods obey!
Twin glories of the skies, forever worshiped, hear!
Accept our prayer this sacred year
When, as the Sibyl's voice ordained
For ages yet to come,
Pure maids and youths unstained
Invoke the Gods who love the sevenfold hills of Rome.

“All bounteous Sun!
Forever changing, and forever one!
Who in your lustrous car bear'st forth light,
And hid'st it, setting, in the arms of Night,
Look down on worlds outspread, yet nothing see
Greater than Rome, and Rome's high sovereignty.
You Ilithyia, too, whatever name,
Goddess, you do approve,
Lucina, Genitalis, still the same
Aid destined mothers with a mother's love;


“Prosper the Senate's wise decree,
Fertile of marriage faith and countless progeny!
As centuries progressive wing their flight
For you the grateful hymn shall ever sound;
Thrice by day, and thrice by night
For you the choral dance shall beat the ground.

“Fates! whose unfailing word
Spoken from lips Sibylline shall abide,
Ordained, preserved and sanctified
By Destiny's eternal law, accord
To Rome new blessings that shall last
In chain unbroken from the Past.
Mother of fruits and flocks, prolific Earth!
Bind wreaths of spiked corn round Ceres's hair:
And may soft showers and Jove's benignant air
Nurture each infant birth!

“Lay down your arrows, God of day!
Smile on your youths elect who singing pray.
You, Crescent Queen, bow down your star-crowned head
And on your youthful choir a kindly influence shed.
If Rome be all your work — if Troy's sad band
Safe sped by you attained the Etruscan strand,
A chosen remnant, vowed
To seek new Lares, and a changed abode —
Remnant for whom thro Ilion's blazing gate
Aeneas, orphan of a ruined State,
Opened a pathway wide and free
To happier homes and liberty: —
Ye Gods! If Rome be yours, to placid Age
Give timely rest: to docile Youth
Grant the rich heritage
Of morals, modesty, and truth.
On Rome herself bestow a teaming race
Wealth, Empire, Faith, and all befitting Grace.

“Vouchsafe to Venus' and Anchises' heir,
Who offers at your shrine
Due sacrifice of milk-white kine,
Justly to rule, to pity and to dare,
To crush insulting hosts, the prostrate foeman spare
The haughty Mede has learned to fear
The Alban axe, the Latian spear,
And Scythians, suppliant now, await
The conqueror's doom, their coming fate.
Honor and Peace, and Pristine Shame,
And Virtue's oft dishonored name,
Have dared, long exiled, to return,
And with them Plenty lifts her golden horn.

“Augur Apollo! Bearer of the bow!
Warrior and prophet! Loved one of the Nine!
Healer in sickness! Comforter in woe!
If still the templed crags of Palatine
And Latium's fruitful plains to you are dear,
Perpetuate for cycles yet to come,
Mightier in each advancing year,
The ever growing might and majesty of Rome.
You, too, Diana, from your Aventine,
And Algidus= deep woods, look down and hear
The voice of those who guard the books Divine,
And to your youthful choir incline a loving ear.

“Return we home! We know that Jove
And all the Gods our song approve
To Phoebus and Diana given;
The virgin hymn is heard in Heaven.”

Temple Construction Under Augustus


model of an Augustus Temple

Nina C. Coppolino wrote: ““In 27 B.C. in the Campus Martius Agrippa built the Pantheon, but he was not allowed to fashion it as an overt 'Augusteum'; instead the temple was dedicated to the divine ancestry of Augustus through Venus, Mars, and the deified Julius. In 25-24 B.C. work began on the Temple of Mars Ultor, which Augustus had vowed at the battle of Philippi in vengeance for his father's murder, and which later housed the standards returned by the Parthians. In 22 B.C. the temple of Juppiter Tonans was dedicated on the Capitoline Hill by Augustus who had escaped being struck by lightning during the Spanish campaign. After 20 B.C. the Prima Porta Augustus was commissioned, a statue of the emperor on whose cuirass is depicted the return of the standards by Parthia, in the presence of Mars, Apollo, and Venus. [Source: Nina C. Coppolino, Roman Emperors ]

“In 13 B.C. at the return of Augustus from Spain and Gaul, the senate decreed the Ara Pacis to be built near the Campus Martius. This altar was to be used by magistrates and priests for annual sacrifices. Reliefs on the altar depict the symbols and fruits of peace in juxtaposition with figures of war by which peace was gained, and there are processions perhaps representing the major priesthoods in Rome, with Augustus himself portrayed in religious attire. Near this altar was a sundial associated with Augustus's patron, the sun-god Apollo. In 12k2 in the western province of Gaul, Drusus set up an altar at Lugdunum dedicated to Roma and Augustus.

“After Actium, when Augustus was given the power of creating new patricians, the supply of men for priesthoods was increased. Augustus himself became a member of the Fratres Arvales, an elite fraternity which performed time-honored, public sacrifices for the prosperity of the state- family. In 12 B.C. Augustus became pontifex maximus; in 11 B.C. , a new high priest of Jupiter, the flamen dialis, was appointed. When Augustus in 8 B.C. divided Rome into fourteen regions, the humble worship by the poor of the gods of the crossroads, the Lares Compitales, was elevated to official stature; this worship was promoted throughout the regions of Rome and Italy in association with the worship of the genius of Augustus. At this time the genius of Augustus was probably included in official oaths.

“Less than one month after his death in 14 A.D., divine honors were decreed to Augustus at Rome, and the precedent was set there for the posthumous deification of successive emperors.

Did Augustus Really Leave Rome As a City of Marble

According to Suetonius, Augustus bragged that he had found Rome a city of mudbrick and left it a city of marble: “Marmoream se relinquere, quam latericiam accepisset,” in his words. Jason Urbanus,wrote in Archaeology magazine: It has become one of the first emperor’s better known quotes, and has seemingly been corroborated by historical and archaeological evidence. The Forum of Augustus, the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, the Theater of Marcellus, the Baths of Agrippa, and the Ara Pacis are just some of the religious buildings, monuments, and infrastructure that were completed under his reign. But just how accurate was his declaration that he transformed Rome into a city of marble? A recent project led by Diane Favro, of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has reinvestigated the topography of Augustan Rome using digital technology. “As an architectural historian, I wanted to examine the literal impact of Augustan interventions on Rome’s ancient residents,” she says. The results are surprising — Rome may not have been as visibly clad in marble as Augustus claimed. [Source: Jason Urbanus, Archaeology magazine, July-August 2015]


The 3-D model of Rome below illustrates how the city changed during the building campaign of Augustus; Between 44 BC (top) and AD 14 (bottom). More monumental structures clad in marble (shown in red) appear, alongside buildings under construction (yellow) and those made of mudbrick (brown); According to the model, however, those changes may not have been especially visible from ground level (from Archaeology magazine and the Experiential Technologies Center, UCLA, ©Regents of the University of California)


“Favro and her team from UCLA’s Experimental Technology Center re-created Rome using procedural modeling, a rule-based technique commonly employed by contemporary urban designers. Relying on archaeological, literary, and historical data, the project researchers created a dynamic database of architectural information that includes the construction dates, measurements, materials, and locations of 400 known Augustan-era buildings. They then added the hypothetical designs and distribution of more than 9,000 additional infill structures, such as houses and shops. The result is a 3-D, Google Earth–type map and model that also demonstrates changes over time. Marble buildings are depicted in red, brick buildings in brown, and buildings under construction in yellow. Users can also view how Rome changed between Augustus’ rise to power in 44 B.C. and his death in A.D. 14. The interactive experience allows users to view Augustan Rome from a variety of perspectives, from street level to high above, from the pyramid of Cestius to the Mausoleum of Augustus. A click of the mouse over an individual building reveals associated information and underlying metadata. It is even possible to assess how light and the angle of the sun affected Rome’s appearance at different times of day.

The digital model has led Favro to conclude that the marble structures of Augustus’ building program actually had little visual impact for Romans walking the streets of the ancient city. The hilly terrain and density of Rome’s urban topography interfered with sight lines and made many of Augustus’ new marble structures difficult to see. Rather, the sights and sounds of incessant construction, as opposed to the completed buildings themselves, may have given the illusion of a newly marble-clad city. “Marble blocks piled high at the city’s edges, showy processions of large building blocks, and the noise and dust raised by the continuous working of hard marble stones at building sites compelled urban residents to believe a pan-urban material transformation was, indeed, under way,” says Favro.

“Some scholars have argued that Augustus’ statement was meant to be more metaphorical than literal, and refers to his political transformation of Rome and the foundation of the empire. But there is no doubt that he consciously initiated a building campaign to celebrate Rome’s rebirth. This new digital model provides a cutting-edge way to see, through the eyes of the average Roman citizen, the changing cityscape over which Augustus presided.

A Stroll Through Augustus's Rome — Once the Home of 82 Temples and Thousands of Statues

Harry Mount wrote in The Telegraph: Augustus restored 82 temples in the city, finished the forum of his adoptive father, Julius Caesar, built his own forum and imported a thicket of obelisks from Egypt into Rome’s piazzas. He also filled every corner of the empire with versions of his own image – up to 50,000 statues of Augustus are said to have been erected [Source: Harry Mount, The Telegraph, March 3, 2021]

Ara Pacis is Latin for “the Altar of Peace”. Dedicated to Augustus by the Senate in 9 B.C., it was built in honor of the peace established across the empire after Augustus’s campaigns in Spain and Gaul. The height of Augustan art, it survives today – in good condition – in a vast glass box, designed by Richard Meier, on the banks of the Tiber. The carving, in pristine Luni marble, is crisp and delicate, with scenes showing the origins of Rome. On either side of the building, there are panels depicting the actual consecration of the altar. Government officials, priests and members of the emperor’s family March in a procession led by Augustus himself. Look out for pudgy, imperial infants clutching their parents’ hands as they struggle to keep up with the stiff walking pace.

Outside the altar, you can see Mussolini’s 1938 tribute to Augustus: the bronze letters of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, or “the Achievements of the Divine Augustus”. The Res Gestae, written by Augustus, were an early form of celebrity autobiography, with copies erected across the empire. The text tells the story of Augustus’s political career, his benefactions to Rome and his military triumphs. As you will see, the Latin word, “triumphus”, crops up pretty regularly. Emperors didn’t go in for modesty much.

Piazza di Montecitorio (10-minute walk south-east from the Ara Pacis) was designed by Bernini during the Renaissance and is now home to the Italian parliament. In the middle of the piazza is the obelisk whisked from Egypt to Rome by Augustus after he’d defeated Cleopatra. First placed in the Campus Martius, it acted as the gnomon – or pointer – of a gigantic sundial. Augustus plucked it from its original site, Heliopolis in Egypt, where it had been erected in 590 B.C. by Psammetichus II. The hieroglyphics look like they were carved only yesterday by an Egyptian scribe.

Forum of Augustus (15 minute walk south-east from the Piazza di Montecitorio) is the sprawling complex of the imperial fora. Augustus’s Forum was built to commemorate another triumph, the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C., when Augustus – then called Octavian – defeated Caesar’s killers, Brutus and Cassius. As a result, Augustus’s huge temple was dedicated to Mars Ultor: “Mars, the Avenger”. It was originally crammed with military paraphernalia, including Caesar’s sword and the Roman standards Augustus retrieved from the Parthians. Three towering Corinthian columns stand on a broad platform, raised on a steep flight of steps. The forum floor still has generous patches of vividly coloured marble. In one corner, you can make out the imprint of the foot of a mammoth, 40-foot statute of Augustus. Fragments of the statue survive in the neighbouring market of the Emperor Trajan.

House of Augustus (five minute walk from the Forum of Augustus) is in the lies main Roman Forum. Augustus restored or built much of the Forum, including the Basilica Julia, the Senate, the Arch of Augustus and the Temple of Julius Caesar. This was where the Emperor Tiberius gave the funeral speech over Augustus’s body before it was taken to his mausoleum. Up on the Palatine Hill beyond lies the House of Augustus, who was born just the other side of the hill in 63 B.C. Here were his two libraries, his private chambers and ceremonial rooms. Some charming Augustan interiors retain frescoes, in bright yellow, red and black pigments, with pretty botanical, architectural and theatrical references.

Palazzo Massimo alle Terme: the National Museum of Rome (20-minute walk north-east of the Forum, by Termini train station) contains the best collection of Augustan sculpture in Rome. The museum’s collection includes moving sculptures of Augustus’s sister, Octavia, his wife, Livia, and his successor, Tiberius. One of the best statues shows Augustus veiled in a toga, in his religious role as high priest, or pontifex maximus – a title later appropriated by Renaissance popes. There are pristine frescoes from an Augustan villa in Trastevere, too, and a complete painted triclinium, or dining room, from a villa belonging to Livia. The walls look freshly painted with scenes of doves and blackbirds flitting from oak saplings to orange trees. You don’t need much imagination to zoom back through two millennia to the imperial feasts of Rome’s greatest emperor.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) ; “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932); BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history/ ; Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, The New Yorker, Wikipedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia.com and various other books, websites and publications.

Last updated October 2024


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