1. 1. The Mausoleum of Augustus, 2. The Temple of Mars Ultor,
The Augustan Building Programme A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF AUGUSTAN ART & ARCHITECTURE
1. The Mausoleum of Augustus,
2. The Temple of Mars Ultor,
3. The Forum Augustum,
4. The Ara Pacis Augustae &
5. The Prima Porta Statue

2. 1. The Mausoleum of Augustus (Campus Martius)

3. The Mausoleum of Augustus
Political Propaganda Warfare against Antony:
illegal publication of Antony's will: his desire to be buried beside Cleopatra
charges that Antony intended to transfer the capital to Alexandria
mausoleum as expression of Octavian's loyalty to Rome and Italy
On Augustus' Funeral (AD 14):
"...an ex-praetor actually swore that he had seen Augustus' spirit soaring up to Heaven through the flames. Leading knights, barefoot, and wearing unbelted tunics, then collected his ashes and placed them in the family Mausoleum. He had built this himself during his sixth consulship...at the same time converting the neighborhood into a public park"
~ Suetonius: Divus Augustus, 100

4. Location of the Mausoleum

5. The Mausoleum in relation to other Augustan Buildings

6. Position of the Mausoleum

7. The Mausoleum today from the air

8. Ruins of Augustus’ Mausoleum

9. Reconstruction of the Mausoleum

10. Model of the Mausoleum

11. Cross-section of the Mausoleum

12. 2. The Temple of Mars Ultor (“Mars the Avenger”)

13. Temple of Mars Ultor (in the Forum Augustorum)
Coin celebrating dedication of the Temple

14. 3. The Forum of Augustus

15. Location of the Forum

16. Plan of the various Fora

17. Historical Reconstruction: The Augustan Forum
Exedrae and Colonnades flanking the Temple.
On the left: statues of Augustus' family and the Aeneas group
On the right: statues of famous generals from the Roman Republic, of Romulus and the kings of early Rome
"The juxtaposition of the two portrait galleries. . . justified the position of the Princeps’ family in the new Rome by proclaiming its unique historical importance. The reality of competition between Rome's leading families stretching back for centuries...and the relative insignificance of the Julii from the fourth to second centuries BC were all thereby obscured. In this version, the Julii had always been Rome's most important family, for this family would produce her saviour."
~ P. Zanker, Power of Images

18. Ground Plan of the Forum Augustum

19. Ground Plan (continued)

20. The Forum of Augustus today

21. The Forum of Augustus today (continued)

22. Model of the Forum of Augustus

23. Model of the Forum of Augustus (continued)

24. Model of the Forum of Augustus (continued)

25. 4. The Ara Pacis (“Temple of Peace”)

26. The Ara Pacis Museum

27. The Ara Pacis in all her beauty

28. The Ara Pacis
Dedicated 30 January, 9 BC on the Campus Martius to celebrate Augustus' subjugation of Spain and Gaul
West Face: Romulus & Remus; Aeneas sacrificing to the Penates (mythological)
East Face: Roma and Tellus (Mother Earth) or Venus (mythological)
North and South Faces: Foundation and Inauguration (constitutio) of Temple in July, 13 BC (historical)
"Through ritual, profane time and space are transcended into mythical or, rather, sacred-time and space Each time the rites which are described on the small altar frieze were enacted, the diachronic passage of time was suspended: the cycle of profane time was regenerated with the dawn of an aurea aetas; the Augustan Peace was renewed“~ P.J. Holliday

29. Plan of the Ara Pacis

30. West Face of the Ara Pacis

31. East Face of the Ara Pacis

32. South Face (procession) of the Ara Pacis

33. Aeneas Sacrificing (West Face)
The Ara Pacis
Aeneas Sacrificing (West Face)

34. An Augustan ‘Golden Age’: Images of Fecundity
“There are two main ways in which…maps and moralities could be constructed out of a living ethnic past…
The first way was through a return to ‘nature’ and its ‘poetic spaces’. This nature and these spaces are quite specific; they constitute the historic home of the people, the sacred repository of their memories. They have their own historical poetry, for those whose spirits are attuned to them.
The homeland is not just the setting of a national drama, but a major protagonist, and its natural features take on historical significance for the people.”

35. Images of Fecundity (continued)
“The basis of…commitment is a belief in the importance of residence and propinquity…
‘Living together’ and being ‘rooted’ in a particular terrain and soil become criteria for…the bases of political community.
Often such criteria are wedded to notions of return to agrarian simplicity and self-sufficiency and to the rustic virtues corrupted by urban luxury.”
~Anthony D. Smith, National Identity (1991)

36. The Ara Pacis
Tellus (West Face)

37. 5. The Prima Porta Statue

38. The Prima Porta Statue Augustus as Imperator
Republican General: military garb
Augustus as Man & God
Associations with Venus: bare feet (Hero)
Return of the Parthian Standards (cuirass)

39. Detail of Cuirass, Prima Porta Statue

40. Detail of Head and Cupid at Augustus’ feet