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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