DIGITZING THE IMAGE OF AUGUSTUS: Rome, Italy & the Western Empire

New South Wales Premier’s Westfield’s History Teachers’ Scholarship 2009

Dennis Lendon

Head Teacher History, Colo High School

Temples, arches, roads, theatres and sculptured heads may not enthuse many people, but when you connect their origins across the space of Europe and the time of millennia to one person, all roads lead to Rome.

That’s where this study tour took me.

From the Louvre to the Vatican museum and several in between, the busts of Octavian – Augustus emitted many feelings, but the most common one was a feeling of semper eadem – always the same, timelessness. Although there were obvious stylistic changes, he was always easily distinguished from those around him.

Very few whole sculptures of Augustus survive. Two are very striking: the Prima Porta housed in the Vatican, and the pontifex maximus in the National Museum of Rome. These two allow for a multitude of emotions and deconstructions by the audience.

After photographs were taken of the former I stepped back and watched the patrons. Interestingly it was the males who marvelled at it more than the females. To me, it gave off confidence, trust, safety, stability; yet, despite it being dressed in military cuirass[1], it did not exude virility. It was this statue that was copied and displayed in Orange and Rimini.

The latter was a different matter – it attracted more female admirers. Like the Prima Porta, its message was of calm control and priestly sanctity on a more human scale.

Some representations are idealisations of the real Augustus. What do we mean by the ‘real’ Augustus when everyone had their own set of expectations and interpretations of this man? By real do we mean the body politique, the common citizens or the personage known to his familia and amici? It is probably less problematic to keep to the princeps and therefore the image politique.

When taking the photographs it was easy to enhance and create an image of Augustus as either the parter patrae – strong, resilient, all knowing or divine-like – austere, dominating and omnipotent; depending on the angle the photograph. Perhaps, although the photograph doesn’t lie, the photographer might?

Like Napoleon Bonaparte’s passing out report from the Ecole Militaire (a school for the sons of impoveraged officers) stated “he could go far if the circumstances were right”, so to was the case with Octavian – son of a waning family, adopted by Caesar, having political acumen, he surrounded himself with men of talent and enterprise.

The constructions of Napoleon Bonaparte that adorn the public spaces of Paris: victory arches, civic infrastructure projects, additions or restorations of gardens, palaces, and so on and, later, circa 1840, the Dome Church at the Place des Invalides – housing his tomb, bear close resemblances to those strategically positioned by Augustus in Rome and throughout the empire. Examples from Augustus that seemed to have influenced Napoleon; the first emperor of the French Empire include, in the Fora Romanum and Augustum, the Campus Martius and the Palatine Hill, in Rimini the arch that celebrated his civic beneficence in repairing the Via Flaminia , Orange a victory arch celebrating his victories in Gaul, his religious construction of the Maison Carre preceninct in Nimes and his water supply infrastructure at Arles just to name a few small, but significant examples in the western half of the empire.

It begs the question, did Napoleon know his histories of Rome’s first imperator or is it just the formula that every successful leader must adopt to gain varying degrees of success and lasting, historical immortality?

When examining the reliefs around the circular crypt of Napoleon’s tomb, it is as if the creators were moved to direct unabashed imitation of Augustus’ Res Gestae. The themes are almost exact – the difference being that the latter’s accomplishments, were set down in prose before he died and the former’s were set down in friezes after he had died. The impact of both statesmen on their respective societies is undeniable. The comparison between time and space, however, is strongly unified by a common purpose, namely, an equation for establishing, maintaining and memorialising the self promotion of a leader’s legacies to their “country”.

The princeps being responsible for establishing concorde by eliminating civil strife and factionalism, encouraging every citizen; great and small, rich and poor, to engage in and carry out their civic responsibilities, educating the youth through the glorious literature past and present; restoring traditional values – especially of family; and then importance of women; restoring commerce and economic prosperity to the commonwealth; establishing equality and right of appeal before a simple, easy to comprehend and administer, standardized legal code throughout the empire; balancing the relationship between Church and State; and, finally, advancement by merit and ability rather than as a birth rite. All of these, Napoleon Bonaparte 1 seems to have imitated – albeit in baroque rather than neo-hellenistic style. However, the message is the same: One man set the ship of State back on a stable and better foundation when he left than what it was in when he arrived on the political career.

What is also obvious in this Augusto mania exhibited by past rulers of the French Empires from the Bourbons to Bonapartes is that these artistic creations in both paint and stone indicate that power was allocated and monitored by the princeps. The differences are barely discernable in the idealism and iconography of art but in reality the French experience required its players to be much less subtle about the fact that they moved rapidly with a counter-revolutionary procession back to monarchy than that of the Augustan paradigm.

It is possible that both men; who provided the link between republican and monarchic governments, professed similar sentiments with sincere intent which Augustus expresses in his Res Gestae[2] 34.1; he states that that whilst in public office he had no more power than his fellow magistrates, what made his position different from his fellow citizens was his auctoritas – his moral influence attained by virtue of his actions performed in the name of civic duty that made him princeps senatus and princeps civitatus. Fortunately or unfortunately – depending on one’s political perspective, hindsight gives us the last chapter, the end of one political society and the beginning of another.

The art, sculpture and architecture embued with an eerie Augustomania found throughout Paris is a strong indicator of the success of the image that the Augustan publicity machine constructed post 31 BC.

The Museums at Trier, Orange and Nimes were an unimagined bonus. They housed many artefacts that brought home the impact of Augustus on Romanisation of Lower Germania and Transalpine Gaul.

In the former; among the many items too numerous to list here, was an inscription not usually cited that illustrates how Augustus publically demonstrated who was to succeed him. This was similar to that which was positioned across the Maison d’ Carre in Nimes. In these temple inscriptions these adopted grandchildren were put up as leaders of the youth.

In the Italian town of Rimini (south of Venice) there stands a substantial commemorative arch that terminates the Via Flaminia – one of the many military roads restored by Augustus as a role model to encourage other wealthy citizens to use their fortunes to contribute to the up-keep of public infrastructure. It was thrilling to look down from the arch whilst in Rimini, then; once in Rome past the Vatican on the opposite side of the Tiber to look north knowing that the two gazes collided under that arch.

Additionally at this town I experienced an eerie revelation. The main street of the town had four Julian points of irony: the Augustan arch; a statue of Caesar commemorating his crossing of the Rubicon; a dilapidated arch of Marius who fought the Social War in the 90s BC: and the Tiberian Bridge. It could almost have been called the Via Familia Iulia. In fact it was called the Corso d’Augusto.

The strength, power and longevity of the individual elements contained within Augustus’ propaganda machine were striking. Considering he died in AD 14, the omnipotent characteristics allowed Augustus to establish and maintain his position in the State. This iconography was later adopted by all European monarchies in order to substantiate and legitimize their status and position within the nation-states.

He; Augustus, used art, architecture, literature, honorific titles & traditional Roman values to:

·  re-imagine the res publica[3] in an ideal form by re-setting standards

·  construct the self and re-strain the evils of the past

·  remove the toxicity of the past

·  develop a pedagogy of supervised competition and paternalism

·  re-conceptualise and plunder the past in terms of the present needs as the

situations arose

·  re-introduce values through visual coercion (although the elements of his products where not essentially different, just omnipotent)

·  shape and impose a specific kind of conformity on all who wished to be included in the new old Rome, and

·  encourage imitation and, consequently, exclude non conformists.

The Palatine Hill is the site that contains three vital structures – The so-called House of Livia (Augustus’ second wife), House of Augustus and the Temple of the Palatine Apollo.

It is considered that the first two were separate dwellings, however, when we examined the two with the Commune di Roma archaeological guide, it became obvious that they were one and the same “house”. Archaeological reports at the British School Of Rome mention that lead pipes inscribed with the word “IULII” on them. This is the family name of the Julii (Caesar’s family) NOT Livia’s as she was of another patrician gens.

Both parts are amazing to see. Augustus’ section has the most spectacularly restored frescoes – especially in the upstairs “study”. The downstairs examples are very similar to those found in the Campanian region of Italy.

“Livia’s” house is the Italic style with peristyle garden and dining rooms. These rooms have frescoes less decorative than in the former house, yet they reflect the garlanded sculptures of the Ara Pacis[4].

CARDANINI & BRUNO suggest that:

·  there existed a domus publica[5] AND a domus privata[6]

·  the so-called separate houses of Livia and Augustus may not have been that separate

·  both houses were indeed “modest” compared to the contemporary dwellings in Rome and elsewhere in the empire, and

·  it’s not so much the house of The Family, but the precinct in which they were part of and all the associated messages that is important.

K. MILNOR suggests that:

·  the Palatine Complex was an articulation of their social & political roles, and

·  Rome and the Empire was Augustus’ household (echoed by Beth Severy).

Tracking down the Egyptian obelisks brought back after the battle of Actium against Antonius and Cleopatra proved an exciting adventure and allowed time to explore the back blocks of Rome. It was ironic to see that the Catholic Church has used these obelisks in the same way Augustus had done. They have incorporated their own laudatory, papal inscriptions under his and they have re-positioned them to advance the prestige of the Church as Augustus did to enhance his own position.

Merkelbach; when hypothesising why he chose the ones he did suggests that those erected outside the Mausoleum and as the spina (turning points) in Circus Maximus offers these suggestions.

[1] RE-CONQUEST – XIXTH DYNASTY Seti and I Ramses II (tradition)

[2] CULTURE – XXVITH DYNASTY Psammeticus II- first relations and

cultural influences between Greece and Egypt (learned patricians)

[3] THE GREAT CONQUEROR – Nectanebo I & II – worshipped Amon

at Siwa just as Alexander had done.

In Rome, the Ara Pacis certainly earns its name. In its entirety, is exudes peace and security. Just they way Augustus had intended. He and his circle were master manipulators. This structure, more than any of the others around Rome really sum up his position in the Empire and especially in Rome.

E.U.R. was another great find. Its full title is the Museum of Roman Civilisation. It has far too much to see in one session. However, because the exhibits are all copies, there are not as many over vigilant guards. Additionally, they have many scale models of many of the Roman structures so that one can see them in all of their former glory.

With the exception of actual sites visited (the Palatine Hill, Napoleon’s Tomb, Chateau Versailles, Augustus’ Mausoleum, Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, the theatres of Nimes, Orange and the in-situ triumphal arches at Orange, Nimes and Rimini) most of the venues containing images of Augustus and his associates were housed in museums and stately buildings arranged like museums.

Having taught History Extension since its introduction to the NSW HSC in 2000, it has become difficult not to pose provocative questions which always contain elements of relativity of perspective.

Given the predominating theme of this study; the image of Augustus in Rome, Italy and the western areas of the empire (Gaul and Lower Germania), I began thinking about the roles, nature and values expressed in museums.

Here are some thoughts.

A museum is an intentionally constructed environment, contrived to carry out any or all of the following purposes.

Ø  To display objects of a specific culture across a time and space continuum in order to show that society’s progress in technology (civilian and / or martial), the arts and everyday life perhaps across different social groups.