Thursday, June 7, 2012

Ara Pacis: Augustus' Altar of Peace



     Today we visited the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) which is a monument commissioned by Augustus to commemorate peace after his wars abroad in Spain and Gaul.  The altar served several important functions for Augustus.  First, its most obvious reason for construction was to celebrate peace and the now stable empire in Augustus’ control.  It also is a long lasting physical reminder of the Julian family’s claim to being descended from Venus because one panel of its west wall contains a scene about Aeneas who was her son.  Aeneas’ offspring became the Julian dynasty so Augustus can claim to be descended from a goddess.  This raises him to a divine status.  Finally, the altar is a form of political propaganda because it asserts Augustus’ power as emperor as a grand monument showing his victories in war and peace as a result.                                           
     I had studied the Ara Pacis in a class a while ago before visiting the actual monument, so I somewhat knew what to expect when we actually saw it.  I expected it to be fairly small because it is not a huge building like the Colosseum and also to be in a fairly bad physical condition.  Upon arriving, I was surprised to see it was larger than I thought.  For the most part, it also is very well preserved apart from some of the friezes adorning one wall.
     Augustus placed the altar in conjunction with his mausoleum and an obelisk.  The obelisk was placed so that on Augustus’ birthday the sun caused a shadow to fall directly in front of the altar.  It was located on the Via Flaminia where Augustus came back from his war in Spain. 
     The altar has friezes on all four sides.  The front side displays the scene with Aeneas and also the image of the she wolf suckling the infants Romulus and Remus.  This establishes the creation myths of Rome.  The back facade portrays the earth goddess suckling two children that shows the importance of the earth sheltering the Roman people.  The sides show processions of people, although one has mostly worn away.  The one that almost fully remains portrays Augustus and the imperial family.  These images are all important to the monument because they portray Augustus as pious and powerful.  The extensive imperial family shown also conveys the future stability and absolute power of the emperor. 
     I also found it very interesting to watch the video that the museum provided.  It detailed the history of the Ara Pacis and its location.  It was commissioned in 13 BCE and finished in 9 BCE.  In the Middle Ages, it was buried by layers of silt.  It was not until 1903 that archeologists began recovering fragments of the altar.  Serious digging around it occurred under Mussolini in the 1930s which was finished in 1938.  Due to it being outside, the weather and climate affected the altar so it was moved and placed inside of its current museum in 2006.  The Museo dell’Ara Pacis now houses this monument and maintains the proper humidity and temperature necessary to preserve the Ara Pacis for future generations to appreciate the legacy of Augustus.

~Trevor Dinsmoor


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