(from left to right) details of the obelisks in Piazza della Minerva and in Piazza del Pantheon;
the bare breast and the Egyptian robe of Madama Lucrezia; detail of the obelisk in Piazza di Montecitorio.
"Alexandritis" is the name some old-fashioned citizens
gave to the success met in Rome by everything which came
from Egypt. They regarded it as a dangerous sickness which would eventually undermine
the traditional Roman virtues. The Egyptian fashion replaced in part the Greek one,
although Egypt had been largely Hellenized by three centuries of Greek rule. Ptolomy I, the general who inherited Egypt
from Alexander the Great, promoted the cult of Serapis, a god who combined elements of the
Egyptian god Osiris with those of the Greek mythology.
A gigantic temple to Serapis and his wife Isis (Iseo Campense), was initially built during the second
triumvirate, but it was completed only many years later; destroyed by a fire in 80 AC it was
rebuilt by Domitian.
The alley leading to the temple was flanked not by trees, but by obelisks. Some of its
structures can still be seen inside the buildings of Rione Pigna,
while elements of its decoration are scattered in the area: a cat (more likely a small monkey)
in Palazzo Grazioli, a gigantic foot (Pič di marmo) near Collegio Romano and
part of the
statue of Isis (Madama Lucrezia), which
became one of the talking statues of Rome, near Palazzetto Venezia. Two
of the obelisks are still in nearby Piazza della Minerva and
Piazza del Pantheon; four other obelisks have travelled a bit: two are still in Rome
in Villa Celimontana and near the former Villa Peretti,
while of the other two one is in
Florence and
the other in Urbino.
In Egypt the Romans found a much advanced astronomical knowledge; while Caesar had made use of it
to reform the calendar, Octavian summoned to Rome Egyptian experts to help in
the layout of a gigantic sundial for which an ancient Egyptian
obelisk was brought to Rome.
Octavian becomes Augustus
On August 13, 29 Octavian celebrated the triumph related to the conquest of Egypt: a memory
of that day survives in the Italian holiday of Ferragosto
(Feriae Augusti), now celebrated on the 15th and "covered" by a Christian holiday.
The Romans were tired of internal conflicts and Octavian was given large authorities to ensure
a period of stability; Octavian however, having seen how his adoptive father had lost
support by his almost monarchical behaviour, in 27 gave up most of the powers he had received
and he formally restored the traditional institutions of the Republic.
The first act of the Senate was to nominate him Augustus, a honorific title meaning
consecrated and most likely derived from the original religion of the early Romans. This was based
on the interpretation of the flight of birds (see the example of Romulus and Remus):
the priests were called aruspices (avis=bird, spicio=see) and their response augurium;
no important decision was made without the related augurium (hence to inaugurate).
So augustus was a title having a religious, rather than a military (imperator) or
political (king) meaning; Octavian chose to be referred to as Augustus, because
he thought this title
would have made his almost absolute power better accepted, both in Rome and in the remotest
provinces of the
empire.
Remaining walls and entablature of Basilica di Nettuno
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa did not only assist his father-in-law in war, but also in peace;
his name is associated with several adjoining buildings: his name appears on
the inscription of the
Pantheon (which was entirely rebuilt by Hadrian after a fire) and
certainly appeared also in the nearby Terme di Agrippa, the first large baths
built in Rome with the purpose of providing a location for recreation and social meetings.
He took care also of the erection of a large basilica between these two buildings:
Basilica di Nettuno was not a temple, but a large hall for indoor
meetings with a decoration of marine symbols. Its northern wall is located south of the
Pantheon and it retains fragments of a very elaborate entablature.
Because this part of Campo Marzio was often marshy, Agrippa
drained it by digging a small open air canal which brought the excess of water to the Tiber:
the canal was called Euripo, with a reference to the
very narrow channel in Greece
by the same name. Traces of Euripo can be seen in the underground rooms of
Palazzo della Cancelleria.
Pax Romana
Unlike Caesar who rushed from one corner of the empire to the other to personally
lead the Roman legions against external or internal enemies, Augustus seldom chose to do so.
His stepsons Tiberius and Drusus led several campaigns in Central Europe to consolidate the northern border
of the empire. Tiberius in particular conquered all the territories to the right of the river
Danube (today's Bavaria, Austria and western Hungary and a strip along the river in Bulgaria).
Drusus expanded the Roman influence beyond the Rhine, mainly along the coast of the North Sea.
The eastern border of the empire was secured by a peace treaty with the Parthians, who returned
the Roman insignia they had seized at Carrhae.
A dramatic setback for the Romans occurred in 9 AC when three legions under the command of Publius Quinctilius Varus were massacred
in the Teutoburg Forest
by a coalition of German tribes led by Arminius (Hermann or Armin). He was
a young prince who, while pretending to be a loyal ally, organized an uprising
which caught the Romans when they were crossing a terrain (a thick and muddy forest), where they
could not fight in the way they were accustomed to. The newly acquired province of Germania was
abandoned and the Romans gave up their expansion plans beyond the Rhine.
Modern map of the Roman Empire at the death of Augustus on the rear wall of Basilica di Massenzio
In 13 AC Augustus, then aged 75, prepared his succession; he confirmed the appointment
of his stepson and adoptive son Julius Caesar Tiberius as his political heir; he summarized
all he had done for the greatness of Rome in Index Rerum Gestarum, a spiritual
testament which was affixed to the entrance of his Mausoleum
and sent to all the provinces of the empire (the most complete text is in Ankara).
In this summary Augustus included Ara Pacis Augustae,
an altar consecrated to him and to the periods of peace achieved during his rule.
In August 14 he passed away at Nola, near Naples. See Afrodisia, a town which flourished during the reign of Augustus.
Iconography
The following external links show works of art portraying characters and events
mentioned in this page:
Brutus and Caesar's ghost by William Blake (1806)
.
