Month: June 2023

Ancient Rome I. Ara Pacis Augustae

Ara Pacis Augustae (the Altar of Peace of Augustus)

The Ara Pacis is maybe my favorite surviving structure from Ancient Rome. It is an ope air altar commissioned by the Senate of Rome and built/carved between 13 and 9BCE. It was the Senate’s gift to Caesar Augustus to commemorate his successful campaigns that expanded the Roman Empire into France and Spain. I think we’re lucky to have it. Built on a flood plain, over the millennia after the fall of Rome, it slowly sank into the mud. Pieces of it occasionally surfaced and were claimed by the Catholic Church or private collectors. In 1903, Friedrich von Duhm, a German archaeologist, figured out that these pieces came from the Ara Pacis (noted in the memoirs of Augustus). von Duhm initiated the excavation and reconstruction.

The purpose of the altar was propaganda. The sculpted friezes that decorate inner and outer walls celebrate the founding of Rome, its religious traditions, and the “peaceful,” “agricultural” nature of Roman culture (the benefits of which they were bringing to barbarians at the point of sword or spear). Nonetheless, the sculptures are beautiful and the impact of the altar is breathtaking.

This is the so-called Tellus panel, one of the most intact. Note how idyllic life in Rome is- babies, farm animals, swans, abundant edible plants, goddesses- what’s not to like.
Of course back in the day (about 9BCE), the altar would have been painted. I think the marble is spectacular but the Romans thought it should be painted. The procession in the top panel on the left includes depictions of Caesar Augustus, his family, and political allies. It is thought that this panel was to get Roman citizens accustomed to the idea that the traditions of Rome include rule by a single person, the Caesar, rather than the Senate; Caesar Augustus would get Rome back on track by resurrecting autocratic rule.