Ara Pacis: Altar In Rome Dedicated To Pax, The Roman Goddess Of Peace

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - The Ara Pacis, or Altar of the Augustan Peace, in Rome, was built to celebrate the return of Augustus (63 BC – 14 CE) from his campaigns in Spain and Gaul.

Augustus was the first and - by all accounts – greatest emperor of Rome.

Ara Pacis: Altar In Rome Dedicated To Pax, The Roman Goddess Of Peace

The 3 m tall altar stands on a 6 x 7 m podium and is richly decorated and was consecrated on July 4, 13 BC and dedicated on January 30, 9 BC, the birthday of his wife, Livia. The U-shaped altar was inside a precinct, open to the sky with one staircase and double doors. Image credit: Manfred HeydeCC BY-SA 3.0

The marble structure, which once stood on the Campus Martius, is a masterpiece of Roman sculpture, particularly of beautiful and vivid portraits. Wonderful skills of the Roman artisans dominate when we are looking at their mastework.

Indeed, the altar is an exquisite work of art, richly decorated with Vine ornaments and a detailed figured frieze, which depicts a sacrificial act, in which the imperial family and the most important priests participate. There are also mythical representations of the goddess Roma, the twins Romulus and Remus suckling the She-Wolf, Aeneas and Mother Earth, represented as a symbol of peace.

Senators, officials, and the Imperial family are depicted on the wall reliefs of the monument in an animated people's procession that welcome the emperor's return.

Ara Pacis reliefAra Pacis relief. Image credit: Miguel Hermoso CuestaCC BY-SA 3.0

Augustus recorded the altar's construction in his "Deeds of the Divine Augustus" (Ris gestae), revealing important details: when and why it was consecrated and where it was built.

The 3 m tall altar stands on a 6 x 7 m podium and is richly decorated and was consecrated on July 4, 13 BC and dedicated on January 30, 9 BC, the birthday of his wife, Livia. The U-shaped altar was inside a precinct, open to the sky with one staircase and double doors.

Historical, legendary, mythological, sacrificial, and decorative reliefs adorn the inner and outer walls. The relief figures include Augustus and the Imperial family, officials such as magistrates, senators, priests, and their families. All are captured in a single moment as they participate in a procession.

Initially, the altar complex consisted of an interior altar surrounded by a stone precinct wall. The whole structure was raised on a marble platform with steps leading into the precinct.

The Ara Pacis were heavily ornamented with relief carving. The visual images and symbols are often associated with fertility and prosperity, in the form of vegetation and animals, depicted in the masterwork's lower register. In the upper, there are scenes depicting Rome’s mythic past.

Altar of Augustan Peace - Ara Pacis Augustae. (left) A member of the Priestly college of Septemviri epulones, carries an incense box, processional scene (north side), (Altar of Augustan Peace) 9 B.C.E. (Ara Pacis Museum, Rome) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Altar of Augustan Peace - Ara Pacis Augustae. (left) A member of the Priestly college of Septemviri epulones, carries an incense box, processional scene (north side),  9 B.C. Ara Pacis Museum, Rome, Image credit:  Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Ara Pacis appeared on the coins of Nero between 64 and 67 CE. Various altarpieces were re-discovered in c. 1568, 1859, and 1903 CE and later during excavations between 1937 and 1938 CE.

The monument was restored on a new site in the 20th century. The altar fragments, stored in several European museums, were collected together and the altar reassembled. The Ara Pacis is almost complete and stands in the Museo dell'Ara Pacis, next to the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on September 9, 2022

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References:

Nancy Thomson de Grummond (edited), Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology

E. E. Kleiner, Roman Architecture: A Visual Guide