symbols of power

• Myths

  • Explains certain traditions/practices
  • Gave reasons to natural phenomena
  • Form of entertainment
  • Part of their identity
  • Promoted power/propaganda
• Civilisation vs Barbarism


  • The Greeks viewed anyone foreign and who did not live in the Greek way to be 'barbaric'
• Centromachy


  • The battle between the Lapiths (race of Greeks) and centaurs
  • Symbolised the Greeks (Lapiths) defeating barbarism (centaurs)
• Lapiths


  A tribe of man that lives in Thessaly
• Ixlon


  Was tricked and coupled with a cloud that looked like Hera and gave birth to the centaurs
• Pericles


  Rebuilt the Parthenon in 449 BC
• Phidias


  The builder who designed the Parthenon and Centauromachy
• Centaurs


  • They lived in caves and hunted
  • They couldn't conduct themselves
  • Couldn't drink wine properly
  • Did not act properly at the wedding
• Amazonomachy


  Battles between the Amazons and Greeks
• Amazons


  • Mythical race of women from Asia Minor
  • They were uncivilised because they would kill their babies if they were sons
• Bassae


  • The Temple of Apollo at Bassae - built in 450 BC by Iktinos (an architect of the Parthenon)
  • Dedicated to Apollo 'Epikourios' (helper) → after the citizens were delivered from a plague
  • A frieze was contained on the inside of the naos and featured the centauromachy and the amazonomachy
• Bassae Frieze


  • Shows the Amazonomachy where Heracles fights Hippolyte
  • Also shows the Greeks fighting the Amazons during the Trojan War (Amazons allied with the Trojans)
• Aims of sculpture

  • Make the scene easily recognisable
  • Creating realism
  • Filling the space
• Augustus


  The first emperor of Rome
• Julius Caesar


  Adoptive father, assassinated in 44 BC by Brutus and Cassius
• Gaius Octavianus


  His birth name became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus
• Consul


  The most important public official after the emperor in Rome
• Second Triumvirate


  An alliance between Octavian (Augustus), Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus to punish Caesar's assassins
• Greed and jealousy


  Caused the relationship between Octavian, Antony and Lepidus to become sour
• Octavian


  • Found Antony's will → had married Cleopatra and left children of hers to be heirs ; she wasn't a Roman so wouldn't be approved by others
  • Defeated Antony + Cleopatra at the battle of Actium
• Augustus


  • Handed his power over to the senate and the Roman people → it means serious and respected
  • Wanted to continue as a solo ruler ; not be assassinated ; or have rivals for power… so he used propaganda to promote himself, his family, his power
• Augustus' Architectural Aims

  • To recreate the golden age of architecture (style of 5th century Greece)
  • Pax Romana → the peace of Rome
  • Pax Deorum → the peace of the gods
  • Promote himself and his family → potential future heirs through links to the Gods (like Aeneas and Venus)
• Prima Porta Statue


  • Made between 20 BC and 14 AD
  • Based on the Greek statue 'Doryphoros' sculpted by Polykleitos. 'The depiction of the ideal man' however adapted to promote/include Augustus' aims
• How the Prima Porta shows Augustus' Aims

  • Recreates the golden age of architecture → in a relaxed pose yet shows authority/power with his right arm stretched
  • Pax Romana → there is moment of peace and victory on his breastplate (campus martius)
  • Pax Deorum → the Gods depicted on his breastplate
  • Promote himself/his family → showing his connections to the Gods, Venus by his side ; victories in battles ; the peace he brought to Rome
• Ara Pacis (The Altar of Peace)


  • The Roman senate ordered in 13 BC that the Ara Pacis would be built to celebrate Augustus' triumphant return from the wars in Spain and Gaul
  • Originally located in the Campus Martius however is now in central Rome
  • The area was usually used to train the army but the altar was placed there as Augustus wanted to focus on peace instead of the army
  • Sacrifices were performed on the altar by priests and vestals
  • It was surrounded by an enclosure wall decorated with sculpture inside and out. The Altar was also decorated with sacrifice-related scenes
• East Frieze


  • Could either be Tellus, Venus or Pax
  • Roma is also on this frieze, sitting on a throne of weapons
• West Frieze


  • Could either be Aeneas offering sacrifice in front of his son Ascanius
  • Or Numa Pompilius (the second king of Rome)
  • The other scene is linked to the Lupercalia → when the shepherd discovered Romulus + Remus being suckled by the she-wolf
• North + South Friezes

  • Depict a religious procession
• North Frieze


  • Depicts senates + priests
  • One carries a jug and incense box (used in sacrifice) ; other carries laurel leaves
  • Several men have the heads veiled → traditional during Roman sacrifices
• South Frieze


  • Shows the imperial family → Augustus' wife Livia, lead general Agrippa, nephews Lucius and Gaius Caesar, and Tibernas, Livia's son