The Altar of Augustan Peace is dedicated in Rome - January 30th, 9 BC

On this day in 9 BC, the Altar of Peace was dedicated in Rome as a tribute to Caesar Augustus.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day.
I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're looking at the story
behind one of the most richly adorned artifacts of ancient Rome,

(00:23):
a ceremonial altar honoring the ruler who brought peace to
the volatile region for more than two centuries. The day
was January thirtieth, nine BC. The Altar of Peace was

(00:43):
dedicated in Rome as a tribute to Caesar Augustus. The
ornate marble monument was a square enclosure built on a
low platform with an open air altar at its center.
The altar was used for the ritual sacrifice of animals,
o religious rite carried out annually by magistrates, priests, and

(01:04):
vestal virgins. But aside from the altars let's say practical purpose,
it also functioned as an important propaganda tool for Augustus.
Its exterior walls were adorned with intricately carved friezes which
told the story of Augustus's reign and reinforced his image
as the ruler who brought peace to the empire That

(01:25):
narrative wasn't too far off the mark either. Prior to Augustus,
formerly known as Gaius Octavius, the Roman Republic had been
characterized by political assassinations, power struggles, and civil wars. But
the chaos of that failed government finally came to an
end in thirty one BC when Augustus defeated Mark Antony

(01:46):
and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Four years later,
the Roman Senate granted extraordinary powers to its liberator, bestowing
upon him the name and title of Caesar Augustus. This
effectively madeid him both the founder and the first emperor
of the newly formed Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus

(02:07):
was a time of substantial change for Rome, socially, politically,
and culturally. He passed laws to encourage marital stability and
to revive traditional religious practices, and he improved the administration
of the empire by instituting a system of taxation and
a census. He also led a number of public works projects,

(02:27):
including building more roads and monuments, founding a postal service,
and establishing a regular police force and fire brigade. This
period of unprecedented development and stability became known as the
Pax Romana or the Roman Peace. But that's not to
say that the Roman military sat on its laurels during
Augustus's reign. Far from it. He greatly expanded the Empire's

(02:51):
territory through military conquest, annexing Egypt, part of Spain, areas
of central Europe, and even parts of the Middle East.
It was after his victorious campaigns in Spain and Gaul
in thirteen BC that the Senate proposed building a monument
to Augustus. It would be called the Ara Paches Augusta,

(03:12):
or the Altar of Augustine Peace, and it would stand
in the Campus Martius, an area just outside the city
that had traditionally been used as a military training ground.
Construction began soon after the Senate's proposal and took roughly
four years to complete. The monument was formally dedicated on
January thirtieth, nine b C, a date chosen for two

(03:35):
symbolic reasons. First, it was the birthday of Augustus's wife, Livia,
and second, it was the anniversary of Augustus's assumption of
the title Potter Patriai or father of the country. The
four walls that formed the Altar's enclosure measured about thirty
five feet wide and long and thirty eight feet high.

(03:57):
They were carved from solid luna marble and ea. Each
side featured four panels of detailed friezes or sculpted decorations.
The north and south facing panels are the most well
known today, depicting stately processions of Augustus, his family, and
an assortment of magistrates, priests, bodyguards, and attendants. These scenes

(04:18):
embody the central ideals of Augustus's reign, family values, religious devotion,
and civic duty, and emphasize the connection between them as
a way of maintaining peace. The other panels are a
bit more diverse in their subject matter. The upper parts
of those exterior walls depict four scenes from Roman mythology,
including the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus, and Remus. The

(04:43):
lower panels, on the other hand, feature elegant patterns made
up of traditional Roman motifs such as plants, fruits, flowers,
and animals. The friezes centered on myth and nature may
not seem as explicitly tied to Augustus as the others,
but in the minds of the ancient Romans, it was
all connected by showing the emperor's own lineage and rain

(05:04):
alongside scenes from Roman legend. The suggestion was that it
was all part of one grand, ongoing story, and the
natural imagery of plants and animals further evoked the current
happy chapter, symbolizing the abundance and prosperity which the empire
enjoyed under Augustus's rule. Originally, each of these scenes would

(05:24):
have been painted in vivid colors to stand out against
the white marble, but unfortunately all of that color has
since been lost due to centuries of exposure to the elements.
The Altar itself was also hit hard by the passage
of time. Following the eventual fall of the Roman Empire,
the monument sank into disrepair and was gradually buried in

(05:46):
silt thanks to the periodic flooding of the Tiber River.
By late antiquity, it had practically disappeared from view and
wouldn't be seen again until the Renaissance, when portions of
the monument were intermittently discovered. Even then, a full excavation
of the Altar of Peace wouldn't take place until the
twentieth century, when Fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered it

(06:09):
to be dug up and reconstructed at a new location
several hundred meters away. Nearly seventy years after that, in
two thousand and six, the Altar was once again relocated,
this time to a modern museum designed by American architect
Richard Meyer. Housed within its own dedicated museum, the Altar

(06:30):
of Peace is finally shielded from the elements, allowing it
to continue singing the praises of Caesar Augustus for many
generations to come, and thanks to new technology including VR
goggles and projection lights, guests can even visualize the altar's
original full color appearance, just as the Emperor's pr team

(06:50):
would have won. I'm Gay, Bluesier and hopefully you now
know a little more about history today and you did yesterday.
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(07:11):
you can always send it my way by writing to
this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays
for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll
see you back here again tomorrow for another day in
History Class