21 Days, 3 Credits, Eternal Memories

Rome via Brooklyn

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    paoladvalentin

    3–5 minutes

    Day 7: Augustus in June

    Word Count: 746

    Time to Read: 3-5 minutes

    Today we went to the Museum of the Ara Pacis which houses the Ara Pacis of Augustus, the powerful emperor and successor to Julius Ceasar.

    The Ara Pacis according to Augustus himself in the Res Gestae reading was erected after his return from Spain and Gaul in which, “after successful operations in those provinces, the Senate voted in honor of my return the consecration of an altar to Pax Augusta in the Campus Martius, and on this altar it ordered the magistrates and priests and Vestal Virgins to make annual sacrifice.” Augustus, Res Gestae [12]

    Image of the Ara Pacis

    From Augustus’ autobiography the Res Gestae we learn that the functional purpose of the Ara Pacis was A. to honor him and his successes in addition to B. serving as an actual altar for sacrifice performed by the magistrates, priests, and Vestal Virgins, some of the holiest women in Rome.

    Portrayal of the Vestal Virgins present on the Ara Pacis near the altar for sacrifice.

    I really enjoyed walking around this museum as it’s sole purpose essentially is to house, protect, and focus on the preservation and presentation of the Ara Pacis.

    Within the Ara Pacis there are so many details, details that would get lost had there been another main focus of the museum or if the museum was crowded with other things.

    The design of this museum forced me to look at and appreciate the Ara Pacis and to pay attention.

    Present on this piece of the Ara Pacis are representations of differing vegetation and flowers.

    An example of this are parts of the museum that contain labels like the following…

    These labels encouraged me to go and look around the Ara Pacis to find representations of these kinds of vegetation and florals that exist within the monument to honor Augustus, the whole purpose of this museum is to not allow the details to get swept under the rug.

    I actually really appreciated design and label elements like these and it made me reflect on all the other museums we have gone to and how crowded they are in comparison.

    This is an issue because every artifact deserves its time in the spotlight but the problem is there is an issue with space, in Rome especially there is such an abundance in terms of the archaeological record and it is impractical to give every artifact its own museum.

    But in this experience at the Ara Pacis I found so much value and gained so much understanding of this piece that is just not possible in other environments.

    I wanted to take the rest of the blog post to share some of my favorite details and things found within the museum.

    Apotropaic lions present on the altar, if you don’t remember from my last blog post, apotropaic means, at least according to Cambridge, the ability to protect against evil or bad luck

    Essentially, the lions will scare the bad things we don’t want away.

    Depiction of the skull of a bull on the wall of the Ara Pacis, you can also see one of the flowers on the museum label chart.

    Another detail I really loved was the depiction of the bulls within the Ara Pacis as it is was a further reference to the fact that the Ara Pacis was used for yearly animal sacrifice and the bull was likely one of the animals they were using.

    If you look closely you can see a lizard and frog.
    If you look closely you can see a snake.
    If you look closely you can see a snail.

    Present here are some depictions of wildlife on the exterior of the Ara Pacis. These depictions make it more than just an altar or a monument but it becomes an immersive piece, they are bringing it to life.

    Here is Mother Earth (center) with Wind (far left) and Water (far right)

    In this relief we see Mother Earth with two twins because the Romans love twins, shout out Romulus and Remus.

    I really loved the Ara Pacis museum and I really treasure the environment it created in order to foster a better understanding and a better connection to this piece.

    It really fascinates me how it fits into ideas of commemoration and how it is a peek into Roman values and tradition.

    I was scared I would be underwhelmed when I found out the museum mainly housed this one thing but I was very happy to be wrong!

    -Paola ❤

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