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After a century of bloody civil and foreign wars that had brought to the end of the Roman Republic, Augustus, who had ruled as emperor since 27 B.C., seemed finally to have placed the Romans under his own personal peace, the Pax Augusta. In recognition of this achievement, the Roman Senate voted in 13 B.C. an altar dedicated to peace and to the emperor who had made the end of the civil wars possible. The result, completed about four years later, was a triumph. The Ara Pacis Augustae, the Altar of Augustan Peace is the most intimate imperial monument. The Ara (a 35—by—39—foot rectangle) is a perfect example of the elegant and gracious style cultivated by Augustus. Justly proud of his altar Augustus made mention of the circumstances that led to its creation in his Achievements of the Divine Augustus ( Res Gestae divi Augusti) , the official autography he wrote near the end of his long reign.

Today the Ara Pacis is standing at all as per miracle after the restoration and its incorporation in the new project wanted by the architect Meyer. Like so many imperial monuments it has been destroyed during the barbarian invasions that laid waste to Rome in the fifth and sixth centuries , and its existence had been threatened a lot. Some of its fragments disappeared and others were carried off to such disparate places as Vienna, the Vatican, the Medici collection of ancient sculpture in Florence, and the tomb of a seventeenth—century priest in Rome’s church of Il Gesu'. In the late nineteenth century archaeologists began suggesting that these scattered fragments belonged to Augustus’s Ara Pacis, and efforts were made to collect as many of them as possible at Rome’s Museo delle Terme.

Although in 1903 archaeologists explored the original site of the altar, groundwater made excavation extremely difficult. Only three decades later, with active encouragenient from Mussolini, who was eager to have anything associated with Rome’s first emperor brought to light to enhance his own imperial claims, engineers experimented an ingenious method of solving this problem: by means of huge refrigeration devices they froze the groundwater, making it possible between 1937 and in 1938 for archaeologists to excavate the foundations of the altar.

The reconstructed Ara Pacis now stands within a large, reinforced glass and concrete shelter, also the work of Mussolini’s architects, designed to protect it from the elements and pollution.

Marble surfaces of the box—shaped Ara Pacis are covered with relief sculpture carved in white marble. The artists are unknown, but the level of craftsmanship is exceptionally high, ending archaeologists to suggest that they may have been Greeks, or at least Greek—trained artists. As with much ancient Greek sculpture. Reliefs were originally painted, which would have made the stand out much more clearly than they do now.
Overall theme of the Ara Pacis is an era of prosperity, and spiritual renewal, benevolently presided over Augustus, with the assistance of his government officials and part of his family.

Augustus worked tirelessly at reviving traditional religious observances. He restored more than eighty of the city’s temples, encouraged marital fidelity, and—although the ancient Romans (like the modern ones) were enthusiastic practicers of birth control- he convinced his fellow citizens to raise larger families.
The sculptural decorations of the Ara Pacis consist of two horizontal slabs on each of its four sides. A lower, continuous band displays a scrolling pattern of branches and leaves, swarming with animal life, a lush world of flourishing plants and lively animals including birds, toads, lizards, and an occasional snake. It forms the foundation both visually and symbolically for the human figures and scenes in the upper band. The scrolls refer to the fertility of the earth durnig this presumed golden age brought about by Augustus.

The upper panels on the short front and back walls, the location of the two doorways to the sanctuary, show four scenes from Roman history and religion. All but one are in a poor state of preservation. On the front are the fragments of two scenes from the most ancient history of Rome: on the right Aeneas Sacrificing to the Penates (ancestral household gods) and on the left the god Mars with Romulus and Remus. Both scenes concern legendary founders of the Roman state. Aeneas, a hero of from Troy (celebrated in Virgil’s epic poem, the Aeneid, coninussioned by Augustus), was regarded as the first settler on Italian shores. Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Mars who were nursed by a the- wolf were the founders of the city.

The two ceremonial processions on the longer side walls are a portrait gallery of high- ranking officials and the imperial family. The most fascinating aspect of the Ara Pacis is the record it gives us of the ruling elite and the emperor’s extended family.The faces are no mere conventional masks, idealized beyond recognition. These are portraits from life and they still retain their freshness and individuality. Augustus believed (somewhat presumptuously, in retrospect) that not only the prosperity but the very existence of the Roman state depended on the continuance of the imperial family. For this reason children play an important part in the imagery of the altar: they guarantee the empire’s future.

The ceremony in which all these people are participating is the inauguration of the Ara Pacis itself, a reminder that familiar modern rituals such as the inauguration of a president have ancient Roman roots.

The panel on the right side, which shows the start of the procession and contains the figure of Augustus, is the most severely damaged. From the first third, only a few fragments of figures remain. Although the heads are fairly well preserved The emperor is shown slightly taller than the other men, since he liked to think of himself as primus inter pares, first among equals. His handsome face, although damaged is recognizable from numerous other portraits.

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