symbols of power

• Aughust's real name was Gaius Octavius Thurinias, he bacame Caesar Aughustus
• At age 19 his great uncle julius caesar was assassinated so he changed hi name to gaius julius caesar octavianus and raised an army to avenge his adopted fathers death
• octavius marched his army on rome and forced the senate to make him consul, his first decree was to make brutus and cassius enemies of the state.
• octavian formed and alliance with mark antony and marcus Ledipus and formed the 2nd triumvirate. they travelled to greece and beat Brutus and Cassius at the battle of philippi
• Mark Antonys will was exposed at the temple of the vestals where he declared that he had left large parts of Rome to Egypt, this allowed Octavian to march on his former ally and defeat him in the battle of Actium
• August's new rome:

  • recreate the golden age of architecture
  • Pax Romana
  • Pax Deorum
  • Self and Family promotion
• Ara Pacis Alter

  • griffins on either side to represent protection
  • inside the inclosure the floor was sloped outwards so that water could be used to clean and drain it.
  • foliate volutes - pretty
  • frieze of sacrifice - instruction manual
• Ara Pacis inner enclosure

  • lower part represents a wooden fence swags or loops imitate the simple natural ornament
  • bucrania symbolising sacrifice
  • ritual bowl for collecting blood
  • hanging festoons include ears of wheat, berries and a variety of fruit and nuts, all underscoring the symbolic value of peace
• ara pacis west facade left hand frieze

  • lupercalia
  • mars
  • lupa
  • romulus + remus
  • faustulus
  • represents the origin stoory of rome, links augustus to the start of rome with the entrance to the lupercal cave. suggests that peace was attainable mainly through successful warfare and favour of the gods
• ara pacis west facade right hand frieze

  • aeneas doing a sacrifice of a sow with achates
  • told by the gods that where he found a sow with 30 piglets he would build rome.
  • augustus on the far far right of panel suggesting he is also a founder
• ara pacis east facade left hand frieze

  • tellus panel
  • represents the goddess of the earth amidst a scene of fertility and prosperity with twins on her lap
  • could be venus genetrix the mother of the julian family
  • naked women with swan represents the air and the other one represents the sea with earth in the middle
  • everything is balanced suggesting peace
• ara pacis east facade right hand frieze

  • Roma
  • goddess of rome sitting on a pile of war booty suggests victory in war - pax romana - the augustan belief that peace was only viable through successful warfare
• ara pacis north facade

  • procession of senators wearing togas and laurel wreaths(victory) and olive branches(peace). at the back is children emphasising the future of rome is important
  • friendly chatting
  • peace boxes - probably a sacrifice to pax
• ara pacis south facade

  • more children
  • augustus, not at the front to show he is one with the people
  • flamen - important priests - pax deorum
  • marcus agrippa
  • livia - wife of aughustus
• ara pacis was a monument to symbolise the end of the roman civil war and represent roman peace - pax romana
• prima porta - right arm now raised in a posture of a successful general addressing an army
• prima porta - clothing, breastplate suggests a soldier, toga suggests a senator. he has bare feat to show he is humble or a bit like a greek god, his hair style is recognisable. he also has a roman standard on his cuirass
• prima porta - statue of cupid on the back of a diving dolphin shows he has divine lineage to venus, and is also the son of the god julius caesar - aeneas's sons descendant. - the tugging on the toga is to remind him that hes just a mortal- dolphin represents battle of actium
• prima porta breastplate

  • sol top left
  • represents the fixing of rome's military by righting past wrongs, the gods represents augustus being aided by the gods and also nature and peace and a golden age
• prima porta breastplate

  • sphinx stands guard and symbolises victory over egypt
• prima porta breastplate

  • SPQR standard
  • parthian king
  • roman soldier
  • commemorating augustus' victory over the parthians retrieving the standards of rome after crassus' defeat - barbarian wearing tunic and baggy trousers
• prima porta breastplate

  • Image of Apollo + Image of Diana
  • Apollo to represent him being a perfect male, diana is there because apollo is there
• prima porta breastplate

  • images of Pax Romana represented by conquered women + image of tellus
  • both women represent barbarian women representing countries in mourning because they have been conquered by rome
  • tellus reclines and cradles two babies and a cornucopia full of fruits- same imagery as on ara pacis
• lapiths were a tribe of men that lived in thessaly and were initially ruled by ixion, who raped cloud hera
• centaurs were savage children of nephele and ixion. they were unskilled in arts, crafts, hospitality and religion, the opposite of the lapiths
• at pirithous and hippodamia wedding centaurs were invited because they were ancestors, however they dank too much and began taking the women, this lead to a battle where theseus helped out the lapiths and the centaurs were defeated and expelled from the country
• symbolism of centauromachy

  • civilisation vs barbarianism as uncivilised barbarians had no idea how to conduct themselves and unprovoked, attacked the lapiths who had innocently invited them to the wedding.
  • greek victory over persians as they sacked athens, so when pericles commissioned the rebuilding of the parthenon the inclusion of the centauromachy would symbolise athens not giving up
• 34 out of the 92 metopes at the parthenon were about the centauromachy
• how are the lapiths presented

  • cloaks woven civilised
  • chiselled detailed
  • sword and shield civilised
  • losing makes them look innocent and under attack, inducing pathos
• centaurs

  • barbaric mask like faces
  • using simple weapons
  • winning shown as aggressive
  • bearded - barbaric
  • naked
  • half horse
• lapith women

  • weak and afraid, shown cowering by statues of gods for protection or being carried away in wedding clothing
  • representing what the centaurs have ruined
• amazons were a mythical race of women who stayed clear of men until they needed to repopulate, sons would be killed girls would be raised
• 3 amazonomachy

  • between heracles and hippolyte after a misunderstanding caused by Hera on his ninth labour to retriever her belt
  • during the attic war when heracles gave hippolyte to theseus and the amazons become outraged and declare war on athens
  • during the trojan war the amazons came and fought for troy, achilles kills the queen Penthesilea but falls in love with her too late
• symbolism of amazonomachy

  • came to represent greece's triumph over foreigh people
  • showed when their hero fought the amazons
• temple of bassae

  • isolated on top of a hill
  • dedicated to thank apollo
  • frieze of amazonomachy ran around the inside of the naos so the viewer can see the whole frieze from spot