AUGUSTUS: Artistic Propaganda and the Pax romana Wk 3 Sbragia

OCTAVIAN--AUGUSTUS (GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR OCTAVIANUS) (63 BC—14 AD)

---great-nephew of Julius Caesar on his mother’s side adopted by
          Caesar becoming "son of the God Caesar" (DIVI CAESAR FILIUS)
-receives title of IMPERATOR CAESAR AUGUSTUS from Senate in 27 BC
--receives title of PATER PATRIAE in 2 BC

OCTAVIAN'S RISE TO POWER:

--ASSASSINATION OF CAESAR
(Dictator for Life and Popularis) on the Ides of March (March 15, 44 BC).
by Marcus Janius BRUTUS and Gaius CASSIUS Longinus and other senators

--CAESAR’s primary mistake:  overt disdain for senators and the traditional trappings
of the RES PUBLICA, open aspirations to absolute power.

44-43 gains military support of Caesar's veterans: Res gestae : “ At 19, I obtained an army
at my personal initiative and expense, through which I restored the state, which was oppressed
by the domination of a faction, to liberty. ” declares Caesar ’ s murderers to be outlaws

--SECOND TRIUMVIRATE:  Octavian, Marc Antony, Marcus Lepidus

--43 BC Octavian elected Consul [19 years old]

--42 BC defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Battle of Philippi in Macedonia. Caesar recognized as God

40 BCE: Pact of Brundisium: Lepidus=Africa; Anthony=East; Octavian=West

Octavian identified with Western Empire, especially Italy and Rome and traditional Roman ways
Marc Antony married in Egypt with Cleopatra, identified with Eastern rulers

--CIVIL WAR (32-31 BC) between Octavian (in the West) and Marc Antony (in the East)

--31 BC BATTLE OF ACTIUM (Greece): naval victory of Octavian and Marcus Agrippa over Marc Antony

Virgil, AENEID, Book VIII:    Battle of Actium, vv. 874-911

ACROSS THE CENTER OF THE SHIELD WERE SHOWN
THE SHIPS OF BRASS, THE STRIFE OF ACTIUM . . . .
ON HIS HIGH STERN AUGUSTUS CAESAR
IS LEADING THE ITALIANS TO BATTLE,
TOGETHER WITH THE SENATE AND THE PEOPLE,
THE HOUSEHOLD GODS AND GREAT GODS; HIS BRIGHT BROWS
POUR OUT A TWIN FLAME, AND UPON HIS HEAD
HIS FATHER’S JULIAN STAR IS GLITTERING . . . .
AND FACING THEM . . . . TOGETHER WITH BARBARIC RICHES, VARIED
ARMS—IS ANTONIUS HE BRINGS WITH HIM
EGYPT AND EVERY POWER OF THE EAST
AND FARTHEST BACTRIA; AND—SHAMEFULLY—
BEHIND HIM FOLLOWS HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE
AMONG ALL THIS THE QUEEN
CALLS TO HER SQUADRONS WITH THEIR NATIVE SISTRUM
EVERY KIND OF MONSTER GOD—AND THE BARKING GOD, ANUBIS, TOO—
STANDS READY TO CAST SHAFTS AGAINST MINERVA
AND VENUS AND AT NEPTUNE.
BUT ACTIUM APOLLO, OVERHEAD,
HAD SEEN THESE THINGS; HE STRETCHED HIS BOW;
AND ALL OF EGYPT AND OF INDIA, AND ALL
THE ARABS AND SABAEANS, TURNED THEIR BACKS
AND FLED FROM THIS TERROR.

--PRINCIPATUS (or Principate) 31 BC – 14 AD:

• 27 BCE — formally announces the restoration of the Republic and its traditions (res publica restituita)
• Restores traditional Republican political offices and returns nominal power to the Senate, in return takes title of
  PRINCEPS = “first citizen, first among equals” of the allegedly "restored republic
    (res publica restituita) -- avoids hated titles of Rex (King) or Dictator

· AUCTORITAS (authority) Res gestae, paragraph 34

• After I had extinguished civil wars, in charge of all affairs by universal consent, I transferred the state [res publica] from my power to the control of the Senate and People of Rome [Senatus populusque romanus]. For this service of mine I was called Augustus by decree of the Senate and the door posts of my house were clothed with laurel by the State and a civic crown was fixed about my door and a golden shield was placed in the Curia Julia, given to me by the Senate and People of Rome for my virtue [virtus] and clemency [clementia] and justice [justitia] and piety [pietas] as testified by the inscription on the shield. Thereafter, I excelled all in authority [auctoritas], but of power [potestas] I have had no more than those who have been my colleagues in each magistracy.

--POLICY: RENOVATION AND INNOVATION

POLITICS: 
--renovation: retains and restores traditional Republican political offices as part of plan to restore the republic.
--innovation: acquires (usually by vote of the Senate) an entire set of new, largely unprecedented powers
which give him virtual control of political and military situation at home and abroad.

IMPERIUM PROCONSULARE MAIUS ET INFINITUM = power of imperium or power of life and death
held by military commander or Proconsul (governor) in provinces under his control (Empire at large)

TRIBUNICIA POTESTAS: (Tribune’s powers); power to call Assemblies of People to vote new laws;
able to veto decisions of consuls; personal immunity.

 ARMY:
--renovation: removes control of army from hands of a few individuals (the powerful generals)
--innovation: provides permanent treasury for payment of soldiers [financed largely with his own money],
institutes reforms to make military service more attractive;
                  starts Praetorian Guard to protect person of emperor in Rome

LAW:
--renovation: restores and reinforces the rule of law (private property rights in particular)
--innovation: in contrast to the Republican period, appeals may now be made to the emperor,
who in certain cases assumes the role of judge and jury

RELIGION:
--renovation:revives moribund religious practices and encourages and legislates return to traditional
Roman values (MOS MAIORUM) restores 82 temples
--innovation: with office of PONTIFEX MAXIMUS (chief priest) and emperor joined in one person
Augustus exerts unprecedented control over Roman religious life and enacts social morality legislation.

ELEMENTS IN AUGUSTAN VISUAL AND LITERARY PROGRAM:

1)  PIETAS—Attitude Toward Julius Caesar
2) UNION OF RES PRIVATA AND RES PUBLICA (Family History and National History)
3)  PAX ROMANA (Roman Peace):  Through military strength and victory
4)  GOLDEN AGE—AUREA AETAS--SAECULUM AUREUM (themes of prosperity and abundance)
5)  COSMIC ORDER GUARANTEED BY DIVINE WILL (PAX DEORUM)—
Romans look to their empire filled with a sense of mission
6) A CLASSICIZING TENDENCY in art

The Aeneid — Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro], 79-19 BCE
                 Latin epic : adapts the Homeric epics to the founding story of Rome (written between 29-19 BCE)
Aeneas embodies Latin virtues of virtus and pietas; on a mission to found Rome
                                1 st 6 books [hero ’ s travels as in Odyssey]: 2 nd 6 books [war between two peoples as in Iliad],
Aeneas battles and defeats Latin warrior Turnus to found Lavinium

We can get a sense of the visual propaganda the Augustan regime used to promote the above elements by looking at two sites: 
1) The Roman forum with the adjoining fora of Julius Caesar and Augustus;
2) The Ara Pacis complex in the Campus Martius erected by the Roman Senate to Augustus in 13-9 BCE.

1) THE FORUM AS SHOW PLACE OF THE GENS IULIA –Transformation of Forum Romanum is a remarkable example of
the way Octavian after his victory slowly took visual possession of the city through his restoration and building projects.  
In August of 29 BCE he celebrated a triple triumph (Illyrium, Egypt, Actium) dedicating Temple of Divus Iulius in the Forum
(which he had planned as early as 42), as well as the new Curia or Senate House.   Prows of Egyptian ships set up on Rostra
nearest to temple as well as on columnae rostrata.  Senate put up an arch next to temple to Julius Caesar to honor Augustus’
Victory at Actium.  Augustus and his family also restored, enlarged or beautified many of the monuments of the Forum including
Basilicas Iulia and Aemilia and the Temples of Castor and Pollux and of Concord rebuilt in marble at great expense.  In the end,
what had once been the political center of the old Republic became the showplace of Augustus and Julii family.   

FORUM OF CAESAR AND FORUM OF AUGUSTUS: Augustus also completed Caesar’s forum, inaugurated by Caesar in 46 BCE
although not completed.  It contained a temple to Venus Genetrix (Goddess of the Julian family) with an equestrian statue of Caesar.

Both Caesar’s forum and Augustus’s consist of a rectangular space surrounded on 3 sides by colonnaded porticoes, with open space,
and temple in rear.  Venus Genetrix in Caesar’s temple, Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger) in Augustus’s forum.  Venus was the Aenean
parent of both the Gens Iulia and the Romans, and Mars was the Romulean parent of the two.  Mars guaranteed virtus, and Venus
fertility and prosperity. Family History and National History are merged.

FORUM OF AUGUSTUS: An example of how Augustus sought to drawn legitimacy from Rome’s past history.  Following the example
of Caesar, Augustus lays out his own forum (built at no expense to the state, on private property with spoils of war).  The temple is
dedicated to Mars Ultor (Mars, the Avenger) in accordance with a vow made before the Battle of Philippi (42 BCE) in which Brutus and
Cassius were killed, but not completed until 2 BCE (inside were kept Julius Caesar’s sword and the legionary standards lost to the
Parthians in 53 BC and later restored by Augustus in 20 BC—symbols of Augustan military prowess or virtus).  This temple became
the holy shrine associated with military functions.  Statues in the exedras and porticoes of the forum to Aeneas, Romulus, the Julian
family and the great men (summi viri) of the Republic emphasized the family-national history connection.  In Temple itself we have
statues to Mars, Venus, and Divine Julius. Since Augustus’s project was supposedly one of “restoration,” wherever possible he
evoked Rome’s forefathers.  Thus the Empire under Augustus was the logical and destined development in Rome’s history.  Augustus
presided over the space in a bronze quadriga (chariot drawn by four horses) in middle of forum with the inscription Pater Patriae below. 

2)   THE AUGUSTAN PRESENCE IN THE CAMPUS MARTIUS was begun with the construction of a large MAUSOLEUM for the burial
of Augustus and his family dedicated in 28 BCE and emphasizing that Augustus was to be buried in Rome, unlike Marc Antony who
had requested in his will that he be buried in Egypt.  It was larger than any such structure in Rome and was perhaps inspired by the
tomb of Alexander the Great in Egypt, one of the seven wonders of the world (but it is also reminiscent of Etruscan tumuli).  It is estimated
to have been 120 feet high with two concentric cylinders, each sheathed in marble or travertine, between which trees were planted on the
sloping terrain and was topped with bronze statue of Augustus himself.  Augustus’s Res Gestae and Egyptian obelisks placed at the front.

A monumental SUN DIAL (Horologium) was erected in 10 BCE whose pointer was an obelisk imported from Egypt (Aegypto capta)
about one hundred feet height.  On September 23 (Augustus’s birthday) the shadow fell directly on the center of the Altar of Peace.

ARA PACIS: --Erected by the Senate between 13 and 9 BCE and dedicated to Augustus by to commemorate the Augustan Peace
after military campaigns in Gaul and Spain.  Its overall message is that Augustus, descendant of Aeneas, had ushered in an era of
prosperity and peace for Rome and the world.  The artists are Greek but message is Roman.

--The front of Altar has to do with foundings.  Facing the Altar on your left, Romulus and Remus in the wolf’s cave with Mars in background.
On the right,  Aeneas veiled as a priest and sacrificing a sow to Penates or household Gods who are represented in a shrine atop a hill.   

--Turn corner and you see a veiled Augustus doing a similar sacrifice at head of a procession of priests and the  Imperial family
(note the importance of family has both the women and children of the family are depicted). 

--REAR: On one side the warlike goddess Rome sitting on her armor (as the guarantor of peace) and on the other an image of
Tellus (earth) or Pax (peace):  Peace comes from military virtue.   The Tellus relief represents the golden age of peace and prosperity
in a cosmological setting.  Mother Earth with two babies in her lap to emphasize her fertility.  A peaceful and contented sheep and cow
rest below her and personifications of air, water, and sea surround her indicating the Augustan prosperity spanned the globe.    

Along the lower register of the altar Acanthus tendrils and leaves are yet another symbol of peace and plenty.  Small animals are
interspersed among the foliage.  Inside the altar bucrania (bull’s skulls), sacrificial bowls (paterae) and garlands hang.  The fruit in the
garlands represent all four seasons and are all blooming at once to remind the viewer that Augustus’ peace and prosperity spanned the entire year. 

Statues and busts of Augustus were manufactured and revered throughout the empire.  He is typically represented as eternally youthful
(unlike the representations of the aged Roman senators of the late Republican period).  The most famous statue of August is known as
the statue of Prima Porta in which he his represented in armor addressing a crowd.  His cuirass (breast plate) represents the return of the
Roman standards by the Parthians under the god of the sky and above the goddess of the earth who is shown with a horn of plenty (cornucopia). 
The message is once again world peace based on the military strength of the Roman Empire.