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DIGITZING THE IMAGE OF AUGUSTUS: Rome, Italy & the Western Empire New South Wales Premier’s Westfield’s History Teachers’ Scholarship 2009 Dennis Lendon Head Teacher History, Colo High School Temples, arches, roads, theatres and sculptured heads may not enthuse many people, but when you connect their origins across the space of Europe and the time of millennia to one person, all roads lead to Rome. That’s where this study tour took me. From the Louvre to the Vatican museum and several in between, the busts of Octavian – Augustus emitted many feelings, but the most common one was a feeling of semper eadem – always the same, timelessness. Although there were obvious stylistic changes, he was always easily distinguished from those around him. Very few whole sculptures of Augustus survive. Two are very striking: the Prima Porta housed in the Vatican, and the pontifex maximus in the National Museum of Rome. These two allow for a multitude of emotions and deconstructions by the audience. After photographs were taken of the former I stepped back and watched the patrons. Interestingly it was the males who marvelled at it more than the females. To me, it gave off confidence, trust, safety, stability; yet, despite it being dressed in military cuirass1, it did not exude virility. It was this statue that was copied and displayed in Orange and Rimini. The latter was a different matter – it attracted more female admirers. Like the Prima Porta, its message was of calm control and priestly sanctity on a more human scale. Some representations are idealisations of the real Augustus. What do we mean by the ‘real’ Augustus when everyone had their own set of expectations and interpretations of this man? By real do we mean the body politique, the common citizens or the personage known to his familia and amici? It is probably less problematic to keep to the princeps and therefore the image politique. When taking the photographs it was easy to enhance and create an image of Augustus as either the parter patrae – strong, resilient, all knowing or divine-like – austere, dominating and omnipotent; depending on the angle the photograph. Perhaps, although the photograph doesn’t lie, the photographer might? Like Napoleon Bonaparte’s passing out report from the Ecole Militaire (a school for the sons of impoveraged officers) stated “he could go far if the circumstances were right”, so to was the case with Octavian – son of a waning family, adopted by Caesar, having political acumen, he surrounded himself with men of talent and enterprise. The constructions of Napoleon Bonaparte that adorn the public spaces of Paris: victory arches, civic infrastructure projects, additions or restorations of gardens, palaces, and so on and, later, circa 1840, the Dome Church at the Place des Invalides – housing his tomb, bear close resemblances to those strategically positioned by Augustus in Rome and throughout the empire. Examples from Augustus that seemed to have influenced Napoleon; the first emperor of the French Empire include, in the Fora Romanum and Augustum, the Campus Martius and the Palatine Hill, in Rimini the arch that celebrated his civic beneficence in repairing the Via Flaminia , Orange a victory arch celebrating 1 Roman upper body armour his victories in Gaul, his religious construction of the Maison Carre preceninct in Nimes and his water supply infrastructure at Arles just to name a few small, but significant examples in the western half of the empire. It begs the question, did Napoleon know his histories of Rome’s first imperator or is it just the formula that every successful leader must adopt to gain varying degrees of success and lasting, historical immortality? When examining the reliefs around the circular crypt of Napoleon’s tomb, it is as if the creators were moved to direct unabashed imitation of Augustus’ Res Gestae. The themes are almost exact – the difference being that the latter’s accomplishments, were set down in prose before he died and the former’s were set down in friezes after he had died. The impact of both statesmen on their respective societies is undeniable. The comparison between time and space, however, is strongly unified by a common purpose, namely, an equation for establishing, maintaining and memorialising the self promotion of a leader’s legacies to their “country”. The princeps being responsible for establishing concorde by eliminating civil strife and factionalism, encouraging every citizen; great and small, rich and poor, to engage in and carry out their civic responsibilities, educating the youth through the glorious literature past and present; restoring traditional values – especially of family; and then importance of women; restoring commerce and economic prosperity to the commonwealth; establishing equality and right of appeal before a simple, easy to comprehend and administer, standardized legal code throughout the empire; balancing the relationship between Church and State; and, finally, advancement by merit and ability rather than as a birth rite. All of these, Napoleon Bonaparte 1 seems to have imitated – albeit in baroque rather than neo-hellenistic style. However, the message is the same: One man set the ship of State back on a stable and better foundation when he left than what it was in when he arrived on the political career. What is also obvious in this Augusto mania exhibited by past rulers of the French Empires from the Bourbons to Bonapartes is that these artistic creations in both paint and stone indicate that power was allocated and monitored by the princeps. The differences are barely discernable in the idealism and iconography of art but in reality the French experience required its players to be much less subtle about the fact that they moved rapidly with a counter-revolutionary procession back to monarchy than that of the Augustan paradigm. It is possible that both men; who provided the link between republican and monarchic governments, professed similar sentiments with sincere intent which Augustus expresses in his Res Gestae2 34.1; he states that that whilst in public office he had no more power than his fellow magistrates, what made his position different from his fellow citizens was his auctoritas – his moral influence attained by virtue of his actions performed in the name of civic duty that made him princeps senatus and princeps civitatus. Fortunately or unfortunately – depending on one’s political perspective, hindsight gives us the last chapter, the end of one political society and the beginning of another. 2 achievements The art, sculpture and architecture embued with an eerie Augustomania found throughout Paris is a strong indicator of the success of the image that the Augustan publicity machine constructed post 31 BC. The Museums at Trier, Orange and Nimes were an unimagined bonus. They housed many artefacts that brought home the impact of Augustus on Romanisation of Lower Germania and Transalpine Gaul. In the former; among the many items too numerous to list here, was an inscription not usually cited that illustrates how Augustus publically demonstrated who was to succeed him. This was similar to that which was positioned across the Maison d’ Carre in Nimes. In these temple inscriptions these adopted grandchildren were put up as leaders of the youth. In the Italian town of Rimini (south of Venice) there stands a substantial commemorative arch that terminates the Via Flaminia – one of the many military roads restored by Augustus as a role model to encourage other wealthy citizens to use their fortunes to contribute to the up-keep of public infrastructure. It was thrilling to look down from the arch whilst in Rimini, then; once in Rome past the Vatican on the opposite side of the Tiber to look north knowing that the two gazes collided under that arch. Additionally at this town I experienced an eerie revelation. The main street of the town had four Julian points of irony: the Augustan arch; a statue of Caesar commemorating his crossing of the Rubicon; a dilapidated arch of Marius who fought the Social War in the 90s BC: and the Tiberian Bridge. It could almost have been called the Via Familia Iulia. In fact it was called the Corso d’Augusto. The strength, power and longevity of the individual elements contained within Augustus’ propaganda machine were striking. Considering he died in AD 14, the omnipotent characteristics allowed Augustus to establish and maintain his position in the State. This iconography was later adopted by all European monarchies in order to substantiate and legitimize their status and position within the nation-states. He; Augustus, used art, architecture, literature, honorific titles & traditional Roman values to: re-imagine the res publica3 in an ideal form by re-setting standards construct the self and re-strain the evils of the past remove the toxicity of the past develop a pedagogy of supervised competition and paternalism re-conceptualise and plunder the past in terms of the present needs as the situations arose 3 public things re-introduce values through visual coercion (although the elements of his products where not essentially different, just omnipotent) shape and impose a specific kind of conformity on all who wished to be included in the new old Rome, and encourage imitation and, consequently, exclude non conformists. The Palatine Hill is the site that contains three vital structures – The so-called House of Livia (Augustus’ second wife), House of Augustus and the Temple of the Palatine Apollo. It is considered that the first two were separate dwellings, however, when we examined the two with the Commune di Roma archaeological guide, it became obvious that they were one and the same “house”. Archaeological reports at the British School Of Rome mention that lead pipes inscribed with the word “IULII” on them. This is the family name of the Julii (Caesar’s family) NOT Livia’s as she was of another patrician gens. Both parts are amazing to see. Augustus’ section has the most spectacularly restored frescoes – especially in the upstairs “study”. The downstairs examples are very similar to those found in the Campanian region of Italy. “Livia’s” house is the Italic style with peristyle garden and dining rooms. These rooms have frescoes less decorative than in the former house, yet they reflect the garlanded sculptures of the Ara Pacis4. CARDANINI & BRUNO suggest that: there existed a domus publica5 AND a domus privata6 the so-called separate houses of Livia and Augustus may not have been that separate both houses were indeed “modest” compared to the contemporary dwellings in Rome and elsewhere in the empire, and it’s not so much the house of The Family, but the precinct in which they were part of and all the associated messages that is important. K. MILNOR suggests that: the Palatine Complex was an articulation of their social & political roles, and Rome and the Empire was Augustus’ household (echoed by Beth Severy). 4 Altar of Peace 5 public residence for official business 6 Private residence for intimate, family life and the entertaining of friends Tracking down the Egyptian obelisks brought back after the battle of Actium against Antonius and Cleopatra proved an exciting adventure and allowed time to explore the back blocks of Rome. It was ironic to see that the Catholic Church has used these obelisks in the same way Augustus had done. They have incorporated their own laudatory, papal inscriptions under his and they have repositioned them to advance the prestige of the Church as Augustus did to enhance his own position. Merkelbach; when hypothesising why he chose the ones he did suggests that those erected outside the Mausoleum and as the spina (turning points) in Circus Maximus offers these suggestions. [1] RE-CONQUEST – XIXTH DYNASTY Seti and I Ramses II (tradition) [2] CULTURE – XXVITH DYNASTY Psammeticus II- first relations and cultural influences between Greece and Egypt (learned patricians) [3] THE GREAT CONQUEROR – Nectanebo I & II – worshipped Amon at Siwa just as Alexander had done. In Rome, the Ara Pacis certainly earns its name. In its entirety, is exudes peace and security. Just they way Augustus had intended. He and his circle were master manipulators. This structure, more than any of the others around Rome really sum up his position in the Empire and especially in Rome. E.U.R. was another great find. Its full title is the Museum of Roman Civilisation. It has far too much to see in one session. However, because the exhibits are all copies, there are not as many over vigilant guards. Additionally, they have many scale models of many of the Roman structures so that one can see them in all of their former glory. With the exception of actual sites visited (the Palatine Hill, Napoleon’s Tomb, Chateau Versailles, Augustus’ Mausoleum, Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, the theatres of Nimes, Orange and the in-situ triumphal arches at Orange, Nimes and Rimini) most of the venues containing images of Augustus and his associates were housed in museums and stately buildings arranged like museums. Having taught History Extension since its introduction to the NSW HSC in 2000, it has become difficult not to pose provocative questions which always contain elements of relativity of perspective. Given the predominating theme of this study; the image of Augustus in Rome, Italy and the western areas of the empire (Gaul and Lower Germania), I began thinking about the roles, nature and values expressed in museums. Here are some thoughts. A museum is an intentionally constructed environment, contrived to carry out any or all of the following purposes. To display objects of a specific culture across a time and space continuum in order to show that society’s progress in technology (civilian and / or martial), the arts and everyday life perhaps across different social groups. To showcase; almost in a celebratory manner, local archaeological finds that indicate the longevity of the territory’s human occupation. This was found to be the case of Trier, Nimes, Orange, Arles and Rimini. All of which seemed ironic given that these towns were all occupied and culturally impacted upon by the external agency of Rome – especially that of the Caesars. They were in fact conquered, occupied and participated in the Romanisation process. These sites and museums publicised their subjugation by Rome. Until postmodernism took hold in the historical and social sciences, this acculturation was viewed as an evolutionary step towards “civilisation”. It was obvious that Augustus played an important part in the process. Consequently the image of Augustus was spread far and wide both in his time and for centuries after his death. To preserve objects considered as having ecumenical and timeless value as opposed to a narrower purely nationalist importance. Although the later cannot be ignored. This was evident in both the Museum of Roman Civilisation (EUR) and the Chateau Versailles. Excluding the various holocaust monuments and museums, not one of the sites or museums I visited presented history, material progress or the images of Augustus in a negative light. Like the writing of history, museums projected a positivist view. Perhaps leaving the relativity of experiences of different groups to the creative and reflective minds of the patrons? Another question asked was the degree of success of the site or museum or to put it in a different light – the degree of customer satisfaction with their experiences at the venue. This raises the issue of the nature of the museum which can be best responded to suggesting further questions with which to reflect upon: What was the environment like? Objects in display cabinets or in open display? Arranged chronologically or thematically? Was there any attempt made to recreate the time and space of the object/s? Was the signage multi-lingual? Too detailed? Conjectural or descriptive? To what extent could the patron interact with the objects? Was there any use of static or dynamic technology to bring the past to life? Were the objects original or replicas? Were diagrams used as contextual aids? In terms of “whole sites”: what percentage was reconstructive? How much access was accorded to the visitor? How much mental creativity was required to visualise what it was like? This can often enhance the experience as on wonders “what would it have been like to be here during the Augustan times?” This was certainly the case at all sites visited. Perhaps those teachers and students who have studied or have apprehensively thought about developing the museum case study for History Extension may find the above observations useful catalysts. The size or engineering prowess of the Romans and the impact and foresight of Augustus to stamp his legacy and notoriety on the Western provinces was truly staggering and absolutely awe-inspiring. He achieved his goals well and truly. It was an unforgettable personal experience and easily transferable to dissemination situations. It was enlivening to see firsthand the places and the material remains that contributed to the imagemaking of Octavian/Augustus; as the rebuilder and reviver of Rome and Italy, the initiator and project manager who provided the impetus; albeit with self promotion as at least one motive, for infrastructure programmes that laid the foundations for the consolidation of the Roman Empire on the one hand, and the political, social and economic efficiency of a later Europe on the other. The strength, power and longevity of the individual elements contained within the Augustus’ propaganda machine were striking. Considering he died in AD 14, the characteristics made omnipotent for Augustus to establish and maintain his position in the State. It was clear that he was not only imitated in “ancient” times but his leadership qualities were passionately displayed by such leaders / rulers as the Medici of Florence, the Micengo of Venice, Louis XIV and Napoleon Bonaparte of France. Each one of these men seemed to have adopted Augustus’ programme of image creation and self promotion to the letter. The strength of his image has also been kept alive in the preservation of the artefacts in museums dotted throughout France, Germany and Italy, the naming of streets, palazzos and municipal insignia in every one of the cities visited. It is as if they are proud of their shared kinship with Caius Caesar Octavianus – Augustus. Ironically, half the globe away, in a place that Augustus probably did not know existed, there is yet another example of the influence and power of this Roman. As you look at the entrance to the Art gallery of NSW you will see on the right a rectangular relief sculptured frieze. Who should be the centre of attention but Augustus himself. His publicists succeeded. Augustus, Macaenas, Agrippa, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Plutarch, Vitruvius, the multitude of artisans all played their part exquisitely. BIBLIOGRAPHY The following is a list of books that were consulted both before and after the study tour (2009 – 10), either in whole or part. Andersen, W.; The Ara Pacis of Augustus & Mussolini; Editions Fabriart, Geneva; 2003 Badie, A. et.al. The Ancient Theatre of Orange; Culturespaces; 2006 Beard, M.; The Roman Triumph; Belknap-Harvard; 2007 Berger, J.; Ways of Seeing; Penguin, London; 1972 Carandini, C. Bruno, D.; La casa di Augusto dai Lupercale al Natale; Laterza & Figli; 2008 Cooley, M.G.L. (ed); The Age of Augustus; Lactor Number 17; Cambridge University Press; 2003 De Agostini; Archeo, 25.1 January 2009 Eck, W.; The Age of Augustus; Blackwell; 1998 Everitt, A.; The First Emperor: Caesar Augustus and the Triumph of Rome; John Murray, London; 2007 Favro, D.; The Urban Image of Augustus; Cambridge University Press; 2008 Fischer, E. The Necessity of Art; Verso, 2010 Fowler, H.; The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political Culture; Chapel Hill, 2006 Frazer, A.; The Roman Villa: Villa Urbana; University of Pennsylvania Museum; 1998 Galinsky, K.; Augustan Culture; Princeton University Press; 1996 Galinsky, K.; The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus; Cambridge University Press; 2005 Gallico, S.; Ostia Antica: A Guide to the Excavations; ATS Italia Editrice, Roma; 2000 Golvin, J-C., Lontcho, F.; Rome Antique Retrouvee; Editions Errance; no publication date available on text. Gurval, R.A.; Actium and Augustus: The Politics and Emotions of Civil War; University of Michigan press, 1999 Hales, S.; The Roman House and Social Identity; Cambridge University Press; 2003 Holland, R.; Augustus: The Godfather of Europe; Sutton, 2006 Iacopi, I.; The House of Augustus: Wall Paintings; Electa, Roma; 2008 La Regina, A.; Archaeological Guide to Rome; Electa, Commune di Roma; 2009 Levick, B.; Augustus: Image and Substance; Longman; 2010 McEwen, I.K.; Vitruvius: Writing the Body of Architecture; M.I.T. Press; 2003 McKay, A.G.; Houses, Villas and palaces in the Roman World; Johns Hopkins University Press; 1998 Meneghini, R., Valenzani, R.S.; I Fori Imperiali (1991-2007); Viviani Editore; 2007 Millar, F. & Segal, E.; Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects; Oxford University Press;1984 Milnor, K.; Gender, Domesticity and the Age of Augustus: Inventing Private Life; Oxford University Press; 2005 Parker, J.H.; The Twelve Egyptian Obelisks in Rome: Their history explained by translations of the inscriptions upon them; Kessinger Publications; 1879 Raaflaub, K. & Toher, M.; Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate; California University Press; 1993 Rehak, P.; Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius; University of Wisconsin Press; 2006 Richer, M. & Schomberg, R.; The Life of Maecenas: With Critical Notes; Kessler Publishing; 1748 Rossini, O.; Ara Pacis; Electa, Museo Comune di Roma; 2006 Severy, B.; Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Roman Empire; Routledge; 2003 Shotter, D.; Augustus Caesar; Routledge; 2005 Southern, P.; Augustus; Routledge; 1998 Stamper, J.W.; The Architecture of the Roman Temples from Republic to the Middle Empire; Cambridge University Press; 2005 Ward-Perkins, J.B.; Roman Imperial Architecture; Yale University press; 1981 Zanker, P.; The Power of Image in the Age of Augustus; Michigan University Press; 1990