Nothing was more important to a Roman emperor than his image.
Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E. (Vatican Museums)
[0:00] [music]
Dr. Steven Zucker: [0:04] We’re in the museums of the Vatican in Rome, and we’re looking at an ancient over-life-size sculpture in marble called “Augustus Primaporta.”
Dr. Beth Harris: [0:12] This is the great Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. Rome had a period of being a republic. There was a period of civil war that followed that, and Augustus emerges as the first emperor of Rome.
Dr. Zucker: [0:25] The word “Primaporta” in the title refers to a gate north of the city of Rome. This sculpture was found on the estate of Livia, who was Augustus’ wife.
Dr. Harris: [0:35] Who lived near the gate. Now, we think that this is actually a copy of an original bronze sculpture that was probably set up public, but this marble version was a private version that was discovered in her home.
Dr. Zucker: [0:48] The bronze was probably made around the year 19 or 20 B.C.E., that is, during the lifetime of Augustus, after his military victory over one of the great armies in east, the Parthians.
Dr. Harris: [1:02] The Parthians were victorious over Rome several times, in what the Romans considered humiliating defeats.
Dr. Zucker: [1:09] But these were also important symbolic victories. The Parthians captured the Roman standards. These were symbolic staffs that functioned like flags.
Dr. Harris: [1:18] They were carried by the Roman legions into battle. When you captured them, it was a symbol of the defeat of Rome.
Dr. Zucker: [1:24] And so we think that this sculpture, originally in bronze, was meant to celebrate Augustus’ great victory over the Parthians.
Dr. Harris: [1:31] Finally, they had defeated this formidable enemy, and that happened under Augustus. Now, every part of this sculpture speaks of Augustus and his reign. This is all about the political ideology of this new Augustan era.
Dr. Zucker: [1:47] We see an incredibly naturalistic handling of the human body, of its musculature, of its bone structure. The figure seems as if he might be moving forward easily. There’s nothing static about him. Look at the fringe. Look at the way that the drapes fall down.
Dr. Harris: [2:02] Really showing off what the artist could do with marble. It’s important to remember, too, that this sculpture was once painted. His eyes, his pupils, his hair, his uniform, these things were brightly painted.
[2:15] He raises his right hand as though in the midst of addressing his troops. He’s got his weight on his right leg. His left leg is bent. This is contrapposto, directly borrowed from ancient Greek art. This is a natural position for the body, a relaxed position, but also one that gives it a sense of being alive.
Dr. Zucker: [2:34] But here the sculptor is borrowing more than just the position of the body. This seems to be an almost direct copy of a sculpture by a very famous ancient Greek artist whose name is Polykleitos, specifically a sculpture called the “Doryphoros.”
Dr. Harris: [2:47] To recall the Golden Age of Greece, implying that Augustus was bringing a golden age to Rome.
Dr. Zucker: [2:55] And that Rome is the inheritor of the great Greek tradition. It’s also reflected in a subtle symbol at the feet of the emperor. Now, at first glance, this may look like a little angel. In fact, it’s a Cupid. Cupid was the son of the goddess Venus.
Dr. Harris: [3:10] Cupid is riding a dolphin, which reminds us that Venus was born from the sea.
Dr. Zucker: [3:15] What’s important here is that Augustus has chosen this Cupid because he linked his lineage back to the ancient hero Aeneas. Aeneas, who had come from Greece, and therefore he traces his lineage back to Venus. In other words, he was descended from the gods.
Dr. Harris: [3:30] His face is youthful. It’s beautiful. He has these lovely high cheekbones. He raises his eyebrows just slightly to create some lines in his forehead to indicate a seriousness and nobility.
[3:43] We know that he was older when these sculptures were made. The artist is intentionally idealizing Augustus, making him more youthful, more athletic than he was in reality. This, too, looks back to the ancient Greek tradition from the Classical Period of creating beautiful, idealized figures.
Dr. Zucker: [4:03] And it’s simultaneously in contrast to the old republican tradition of portraits that represented age and experience through the lines of the face, through the imperfections of the face.
Dr. Harris: [4:14] Augustus is inventing a new tradition for the portraiture of Roman emperors, one that idealizes instead of emphasizing that dignity that comes with age.
Dr. Zucker: [4:24] Let’s turn to the cuirass, to that armored breastplate, which is probably representing something made out of a hardened leather. It is absolutely full of imagery.
Dr. Harris: [4:32] It tells us so much about Augustus and his great achievements, focusing in the center on a figure which may be the personification of Rome itself, the goddess Roma.
Dr. Zucker: [4:43] Now, we don’t really know that the figure on the left is Roma. It’s a good guess, but scholars are arguing about this. What we do know is that whoever it is, that figure represents Rome.
Dr. Harris: [4:53] On the right, we see a Parthian who’s handing over a standard that may symbolically represent the hundred or so standards that were returned to Rome after this decisive victory. At the top we see an eagle, which is typical of these standards.
[5:08] Augustus is getting back those important military symbols. The Parthian himself wears baggy trousers. He has a beard. He could easily be read as a barbarian, as a foreigner, as a Parthian.
Dr. Zucker: [5:21] Just below this pair, we see Tellus, the goddess of earth. She lounges back and holds two infants. Above, a personification of the sky.
Dr. Harris: [5:30] Holding up the clouds.
Dr. Zucker: [5:32] We see the ancient Greek god Apollo holding a lyre. On the opposite side, we see the goddess Diana and her stag.
Dr. Harris: [5:39] Above those two divine figures, we see representations of captives.
Dr. Zucker: [5:43] Referring to important earlier victories by Augustus. Just above the captives, on either side, we see on the left a personification of the sun. And on the right, a personification either of the dawn or perhaps the moon.
Dr. Harris: [5:56] Overall, we get this impression that Rome’s victory over its enemies, this expansion of its empire, is something that is divinely ordained, and that Augustus is this divinely ordained leader of the Roman Empire.
[6:11] [music]
Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E., marble, 2.03 meters high (Vatican Museums) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Augustus and the power of images
Today, politicians think very carefully about how they will be photographed. Think about all the campaign commercials and print ads we are bombarded with every election season. These images tell us a lot about the candidate, including what they stand for and what agendas they are promoting. Similarly, Roman art was closely intertwined with politics and propaganda. This is especially true with portraits of Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire; Augustus invoked the power of imagery to communicate his ideology.
Augustus of Primaporta
One of Augustus’ most famous portraits is the so-called Augustus of Primaporta of 20 B.C.E. (the sculpture gets its name from the town in Italy where it was found in 1863). At first glance this statue might appear to simply resemble a portrait of Augustus as an orator and general, but this sculpture also communicates a good deal about the emperor’s power and ideology. In fact, in this portrait Augustus shows himself as a great military victor and a staunch supporter of Roman religion. The statue also foretells the 200 year period of peace that Augustus initiated, called the Pax Romana.
Detail, Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E., marble, 2.03 meters high (Vatican Museums) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Recalling the Golden Age of ancient Greece
Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), Roman copy after an original by the Greek sculptor Polykleitos from c. 450–440 B.C.E., marble, 6’6″ (Archaeological Museum, Naples) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
In this marble freestanding sculpture, Augustus stands in a contrapposto pose (a relaxed pose where one leg bears weight). The emperor wears military regalia and his right arm is outstretched, demonstrating that the emperor is addressing his troops. We immediately sense the emperor’s power as the leader of the army and a military conqueror.
Delving further into the composition of the Primaporta statue, a distinct resemblance to Polykleitos’ Doryphoros, a Classical Greek sculpture of the fifth century B.C.E., is apparent. Both have a similar contrapposto stance and both are idealized. That is to say that both Augustus and the Spear-Bearer are portrayed as youthful and flawless individuals: they are perfect. The Romans often modeled their art on Greek predecessors. This is significant because Augustus is essentially depicting himself with the perfect body of a Greek athlete: he is youthful and virile, despite the fact that he was middle-aged at the time of the sculpture’s commissioning. Furthermore, by modeling the Primaporta statue on such an iconic Greek sculpture created during the height of Athens’ influence and power, Augustus connects himself to the Golden Age of that previous civilization.
The cupid and dolphin
So far the message of the Augustus of Primaporta is clear: he is an excellent orator and military victor with the youthful and perfect body of a Greek athlete. Is that all there is to this sculpture? Definitely not! The sculpture contains even more symbolism. First, at Augustus’ right leg is cupid figure riding a dolphin.
Cupid on a dolphin (detail), Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E., marble, 2.03 meters high (Vatican Museums) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The dolphin became a symbol of Augustus’ great naval victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, a conquest that made Augustus the sole ruler of the Empire. The cupid astride the dolphin sends another message too: that Augustus is descended from the gods. Cupid is the son of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Julius Caesar, the adoptive father of Augustus, claimed to be descended from Venus and therefore Augustus also shared this connection to the gods.
The breastplate
Finally, Augustus is wearing a cuirass, or breastplate, that is covered with figures that communicate additional propagandistic messages. Scholars debate over the identification over each of these figures, but the basic meaning is clear: Augustus has the gods on his side, he is an international military victor, and he is the bringer of the Pax Romana, a peace that encompasses all the lands of the Roman Empire.
Detail of the breastplate, Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E., marble, 2.03 meters high (Vatican Museums) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
In the central zone of the cuirass are two figures, a Roman and a Parthian. On the right, the enemy Parthian returns military standards. This is a direct reference to an international diplomatic victory of Augustus in 20 B.C.E., when these standards were finally returned to Rome after a previous battle.
Detail of Sol and Caelus on the breastplate, Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E., marble, 2.03 meters high (Vatican Museums) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Surrounding this central zone are gods and personifications. At the top are Sol and Caelus, the sun and sky gods respectively. On the sides of the breastplate are female personifications of countries conquered by Augustus. These gods and personifications refer to the Pax Romana. The message is that the sun is going to shine on all regions of the Roman Empire, bringing peace and prosperity to all citizens. And of course, Augustus is the one who is responsible for this abundance throughout the Empire.
Detail of Tellus on the breastplate, Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E., marble, 2.03 meters high (Vatican Museums) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Beneath the female personifications are Apollo and Diana, two major deities in the Roman pantheon; clearly Augustus is favored by these important deities and their appearance here demonstrates that the emperor supports traditional Roman religion. At the very bottom of the cuirass is Tellus, the earth goddess, who cradles two babies and holds a cornucopia. Tellus is an additional allusion to the Pax Romana as she is a symbol of fertility with her healthy babies and overflowing horn of plenty.
Not simply a portrait
The Augustus of Primaporta is one of the ways that the ancients used art for propagandistic purposes. Overall, this statue is not simply a portrait of the emperor, it expresses Augustus’ connection to the past, his role as a military victor, his connection to the gods, and his role as the bringer of the Roman Peace.
