Indeed, his name – Augustus – has a distinctly religious ring to it, and many portraits intended for public consumption tended to present him as a civilian or dressed like a priest (since he also officiated). There were a number of reasons for that.įirst of all, Augustus carefully presented an image of himself as restraint and sober, as well as pious. My erstwhile teacher of Mediterranean archaeology disagreed with that assertion, since Augustus had been very careful not to have himself depicted as a military leader – at least not in public. Some believe it may have been a copy of a bronze statue that celebrated his victory over the Parthians in 20 BC. The marble statue was made shortly after Augustus’ death. The statue features references to Augustus’ descent and his political achievements. The Augustus of Prima Porta, a marble statue probably made shortly after Augustus’ death. It depicts Augustus in an unusual way: equipped as a general, with bare feet, and one hand outstretched in a pose familiar from portraits of orators. The statue was found in the villa of Augustus’ wife Livia at Prima Porta, a few kilometres north of Rome. He was fortunate to reign for a long period of time, from 27 BC to AD 14, as he had to chance to pass important reforms and to establish a dynasty of his own. While he would never have been designated as such in his own time, Augustus was nonetheless the first of a long line of monarchs that we refer to as emperors. In reality, of course, Augustus ensured that the power of the Republic rested firmly in his hands. Making sure that he would not be perceived as a monarch, he was presented as merely the primus inter pares, i.e. They also referred to him as the Princeps (“First Head”, i.e. In 27 BC, the Senate awarded him the name Augustus (“Exalted One”). He presented himself as the protector of the Roman Republic. But he was careful not to make the same mistakes as his maternal great-uncle. Octavian was now free to rule the Roman Republic as its sole leader. Mark Antony went to Egypt, where he famously cavorted with Queen Cleopatra, and was ultimately driven to suicide after their defeat at the hands of Octavian at the Sea-Battle of Actium in 31 BC. They remained united until they quashed their opponents at the Battle of Philippi (Greece) in 42 BC, after which the three ambitious men turned on each other. Together with Mark Antony, who had been a good and loyal friend of Caesar’s, and Marcus Lepidus, another close ally, he formed a triumvirate and vowed to defeat Caesar’s assassins. In Caesar’s will, Gaius Octavius had been named as his adopted son and heir. the fifteenth of that month) in 44 BC, plunging the Republic once again into disorder. When he was appointed dictator for life, the time was ripe for his political opponents, who feared a return to the days of kingship, to cut him down: Caesar was famously stabbed to death on the Ides of March (i.e. The position was always intended to be temporary, but Caesar showed little sign of ever wanting to relinquish his powers. In times of crisis, a dictator would be appointed to bring order to chaos. Now, a dictator was actually an official position within the Roman Republic. He emerged victorious after a bloody civil war, and was appointed dictator. Caesar himself, of course, was a central figure in the troubles that the Roman Republic experienced in the second half of the first century BC. His maternal great-uncle was known other than the famous general Julius Caesar. The emperor AugustusĪugustus was born Gaius Octavius (“Octavian”) in 63 BC. Examining the statue itself, its various figurative elements, and indeed the location where it was found give us a glimpse into the many possible uses and meanings of ancient Roman art. material culture, including statues, are “actively employed as part of social strategies” (as per his own website).Īnd this statue of Augustus is definitely a good example of a piece of material culture that was used as part of a social strategy. One of the writers I really got into was Ian Hodder, a prominent archaeologist, who argues that material culture is “meaningfully constituted”, i.e. Later, I read lots of stuff on archaeological theory that helped me look even better at ancient objects. It hammered home, to me, the idea that objects are not simply neutral, but are in fact imbued with meaning. I still remember the talk that one of my teachers in Mediterranean archaeology gave about this statue. 27 BC–AD 14) is a statue referred to as the “Augustus of Prima Porta”. One of the more interesting monuments made during the reign of Rome’s first emperor Augustus (r. This article was originally published on the defunct Ancient World Magazine website and is now re-published here.
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