ARA PACIS AUGUSTAE
* an altar erected by the senate in honour of the
victorious return of Augustus from Spain and Gaul in 13 B.C., on which
the magistrates, priests and Vestals should offer annual sacrifices (Mon.
Anc.
ii. 39-41 (Lat.):
[Cu]m ex H[ispa]nia Gal[liaque rebus in his p]rovincis
prosp[e]re [gest]i[s] R[omam redi] Ti. Ne[r]one P. Qui[ntilio consulibu]s
aram [Pacis A]u[g]ust[ae senatus pro] redi[t]u meo co[nsacrari censuit]
ad cam[pum Martium in qua ma]gistratus et sac[erdotes et virgines]
V[est]a[les anniversarium sacrific]ium facer[e iussit]; ib. vi. 20-vii. 4
(Grk.)). The decree of the senate was dated 4th July, 13 B.C. (Fast. Amit.
ad iv non. Iul., CIL i 2. p. 244, 320:
feriae ex s.c. quo[d eo] die ara Pacis
Augustae constituta est (begun) Nerone et Varo cos.; Antiat. ib. 248),
and dedicated 30th January, 9 B.C. (Fast. Caer. Praen. ad III kal. Febr.,
CIL i 2. p. 212, 232; Fast. Verul. ap.
NS 1923, 196; Ov.
Fast. i. 709-710;
Act. Arval. a. 38,
CIL vi. 2028; a. 39 (?) ib. 32347 a; HJ 612). Which of
these ceremonies constitutes the setting of the procession represented on
the reliefs is doubtful. The altar is represented on coins of Nero (Cohen
27-31), and of Domitian (ib. 338), but is not mentioned elsewhere either in
literature or inscriptions (for the discussion of these coins, see Kubitschek
ap. Petersen, Ara Pacis 194-196, and in Oesterr.
Jahresh. 1902, 153-164;
cf.
SR 1913, 300-302, and also BM Imp. Nero, 360-365).
This altar stood on the west side of the via Flaminia and some distance
north of the buildings of Agrippa, on the site of the present Palazzo Peretti
Fiano-Almagia at the corner of the Corso and the Via in Lucina.
Fragments of the decorative sculpture, found in 1568, are in the Villa
Medici, the Vatican, the Uffizi, and the Louvre; others, found in 1859,
are in the Museo delle Terme and in Vienna. They were recognised as
parts of the same monument by Von Duhn and published in 1881 (Ann.
d.
Inst. 1881, 302-329; Mon. d. Inst. xi. pls. 34-36; for a fragment found
in 1899 cf.
NS 1899, 50;
CR 1899, 234). Systematic excavations in 1903
under the palazzo (
NS 1903, 549-574;
CR 1904, 331) brought to light
other remains of the monument, both architectural and decorative. The
work was not finished, but carried far enough to permit of a reconstruction
which is fairly accurate in its main features, although there are still
unsolved problems in connection with the arrangement and interpretation
of the reliefs. Most of the fragments then found are in the Museo delle
Terme (PT 65-68), though others still remain on the site.
The altar itself was not found. It stood within an enclosing wall of
white marble, about 6 metres high, which formed a rectangle measuring
11.625 metres east and west, and 10.55 north and south (
NS 1903, 568).
In the middle of the east and west sides were entrances flanked with
pilasters, and other pilasters stood at each angle of the enclosure. The
inside of the enclosing wall was decorated with a frieze of garlands and ox-
skulls above a maeander pattern, beneath which was a panelling of fluted
marble. A frieze of flowers and palmettes adorned the outside of the
enclosure, and above this, on the north side, were reliefs representing the
procession in honour of the goddess, with many figures of the imperial
family and the flamines, and, on the south, senators, magistrates and
others (Reinach, Repertoire des
Reliefs i. 232-237).
1 On the north side of
the east entrance was a group of Honos, Pax and Roma, while on the south
was a relief of Tellus, or Italia (Van Buren,
JRS 1913, 134-141). The
west entrance was flanked on the north by a group of Mars and Faustulus
at the Ficus Ruminalis (?) and on the south by Aeneas sacrificing when
he found the sow. An ingenious attempt has been made to explain the
architectural and decorative scheme of the enclosure as a reproduction in
marble of the temporary wooden enclosure of the site and the ceremony
of consecration on 4th July, B.C. 13 (Pasqui,
SR 1913, 283-304). The
reliefs of this altar represent the highest achievement of Roman decorative
art that is known to us. (For the discussion and interpretation of the
monument and its reliefs, see Petersen,
Mitt. 1894, 171-228; Sonderschrift d. oesterr.
Inst. ii. 1902, published separately as Ara Pacis Augustae,
Vienna 1902;
Mitt. 1903, 164-176, 330; Oesterr.
Jahresh. 1906, 298-315;
Reisch,
WS 1902, 425-436; v. Domaszewski, Oesterr.
Jahresh. 1903, 57-65;
Gardthausen, Der Altar des Kaiserfriedens, Ara Pacis, Lpz. 1908; Dissel,
Der Opferzug der Ara Pacis, progr. Hamburg, 1907; Strong, Scultura
R. 17-65; Cannizzaro, Boll. d'Arte, 1907, 1-16; Wace,
PBS v. 176-178;
Sieveking, Oesterr.
Jahresh. 1907, 175-190; Beiblatt 107;
Mitt. 1917, 90-93;
Studniczka, Abh. d. sachs.
Gesellsch. 1909, 901-944; Wagenvoort,
Med.
1921, 108; Crawford,
AJA 1922, 307; Rizzo, Atti Ace. di Napoli, 1920,
1-21; Capitolium, ii. 457-473; Mon. Piot, xvii.
(1910), 157-187.
