Before 1300: Ancient and Medieval History
Ara Pacis Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace), 13-9 B.C.E.Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris & Dr. Steven ZuckerOn Smarthistory: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/ara-pacis.htmlOn Khan Academy:
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- - We're standing in the marvelous
- new museum that was designed
- by Richard Meier to hold
- the Ara Pacis.
- One of the most important
- monuments from Augustan Rome.
- - Ara Pacis means Altar of Peace.
- Augustus was the first emperor of Rome.
- - And the person who established the Pax Romana
- that is the Roman Peace.
- The event that prompted
- the building of this altar to peace,
- under Augustus, was Augustus'
- triumphal return from military
- campaigns in what is now Spain and France.
- - And when he returned, the senate
- vowed to create an altar commemorating
- the peace that he established in the Empire.
- And apparently on July 4th in the year 13
- the sacred precinct was marked out
- on which the altar itself would be built.
- It's really kind of wonderful
- because today it's July 4th, 2012.
- - Now we're talking about the Ara Pacis
- but of course this has been reconstructed
- from many, many fragments that were discovered
- some in the 17th century, mostly
- in the 20th century.
- - Actually it's a small miracle that
- we've been able to reconstruct this at all
- it had been lost to memory.
- - The remains of it lay under someone's palace
- when it was recognized what these fragments
- were it because really important to
- excavate them and to reconstruct the altar.
- - That was finally done under Mussolini,
- the fascist leader in the years leading up
- to the second world war and during the
- second world war.
- And that was important to Mussolini
- because Mussolini identified himself with Augustus,
- the first emperor of Rome.
- Mussolini was very much trying to reestablish
- a kind of Italian empire.
- We should talk a little bit about what an altar is.
- - Sure, when we talk about the Altar
- really what we are looking at is the walls of
- the precinct around what is in the middle
- of the Altar where sacrifices would have occurred.
- - The Altar itself is interesting and important when
- we think about Augustus.
- Augustus is establishing a centralized
- power.
- Rome had been since its earliest founding years
- when it was under the rule of kings,
- it had been controlled by the senate.
- It had been a republic.
- - That's right. And a senate was basically
- a group of the leading elder citizens of Rome.
- So Rome was a republic and it really was
- a republic until Julius Caesar, who was
- the dictator and Augustus' uncle.
- And then Caesar is assassinated,
- there's civil war, and then
- peace is established by Augustus.
- - Right. Augustus, whose real name was Octavian,
- was given the term Augustus as a kind of
- honorific as a way of representing his power.
- And it's interesting the kind of politics that
- Augustus involved himself with.
- He gave great power back to the senate,
- but by doing so he established real and central
- authority for himself.
- - He made himself princeps, or
- first among equals. But of course,
- he controlled everything.
- - He also held the title of Pontificus Maximus,
- that is the head priest of the state religion
- and so he held tremendous power.
- - Now don't forget too, that his uncle,
- Julius Caesar, had been made a god,
- and so he also represented himself
- as the son of a god.
- - And so the idea of establishing this altar
- has a political as well as spiritual significance.
- - He's looking back to the golden age
- of Greece, of the 5th century B.C.,
- but he's also looking back to the Roman Republic.
- He's reestablishing some of the ancient rituals
- of traditional roman religion.
- He's embracing traditional Roman values.
- - But even as he's doing that,
- he's remaking Rome radically.
- He's changing Rome from a city of brick
- to a city of marble, and the Ara Pacis
- is a spectacular example of that.
- - And when we look closely at the Ara Pacis
- what we're gonna see is that this
- speaks to the sense of a "Golden Age" that
- Augustus brought about in the Roman Empire.
- - One of the most remarkable elements
- of the Ara Pacis is all of the highly decorative
- relief carving in the lower frieze.
- - And that goes all the way around
- it apparently shows more than 50 different
- species of plants; they're very
- natural in that we can identify these species
- but they're also highly abstracted
- and they form these beautiful, symmetrical,
- and linear patterns.
- - There is a real order that's given to the
- complexity of nature here.
- Let me just describe quickly what I'm seeing:
- this massive, elegant acanthis leaf
- which is a native plant,
- which were made famous in Corinthian capitols.
- And almost like a candelabra,
- growing up from it,
- we see these tendrils of all kinds of plants
- that spiral.
- - And there're also animal forms
- within these leaves and plants,
- we find frogs and lizards and birds.
- - And the carving is quite deep,
- so that there's this sharp contrast between
- the brilliance of the external marble and
- then the shadows that are cast.
- It seems to lift off the surface.
- - And art historians interpret all this
- as a symbol of fertility,
- of the abundance of the Golden Age
- that Augustus brought about.
- - We also see that same pattern
- repeated in the plasters
- that frame these panels.
- And then we also have meander,
- that moves horizontally around
- the entire exterior.
- And it's above that meander that we see
- the narrative friezes.
- - These panels relate, again, to this Golden Age
- that Augustus establishes.
- These refer back to Aeneas, Rome's founder,
- and Augustus' ancestor.
- We see other allegorical figures
- representing Rome and peace.
- - We have to be a little bit careful
- when we try to characterize what
- precisely is being represented.
- There are lots of conflicting interpretations.
- - And these allegorical or mythological scenes
- appear on the front and back of the altar,
- and then on the sides of the altar
- we see a procession.
- - We've walked around the outer wall,
- and we're now looking at
- a panel that's actually
- in quite good condition.
- But that doesn't mean
- we really know what's going on.
- - No, there's a lot of argument
- about what the figure in the center
- represents.
- Some art historians think this
- figure represents Venus.
- Some think it represents the figure of peace,
- some the figure or Tellus, or Mother Earth.
- In any case, she is clearly
- a figure that suggests fertility
- and abundance.
- - She's beautifully rendered;
- look at the way the drapery clings
- to her torso so closely
- as to really reveal the flesh underneath,
- like the goddesses on the Parthenon
- on the Acropolis in Greece.
- - And on her lap sit two children,
- one of whom offers her some fruit.
- There's fruit on her lap.
- On either side of her sit two
- mythological figures who
- art historians think represent the
- winds of the Earth and the sea.
- - Well, look at the way the drapes
- that they're holding whip up,
- creating these beautiful,
- almost halos around their bodies.
- - And at her feet,
- we see an ox and sheep,
- so there's a sense of harmony,
- of peace and fertility.
- - And that must have been such
- a rare thing in the ancient world.
- - Well, Augustus reigns after decades
- of civil war, after the assassination
- of Julius Caesar.
- So I think there's a powerful sense
- that this was the Golden Age.
- - So let's walk to the sides now
- and take a look at the procession.
- The frieze moves from the
- back wall of the precinct,
- up towards the very front, on both sides.
- And the figures are also facing
- towards the main staircase.
- - Art historians are not really clear what
- event is being depicted here--
- - Art historians aren't clear
- about any of this, are we?
- - No. [laughter]
- Uh, there are a couple of
- posibilities that have been raised.
- One is that what we're seeing is
- the procession that would have taken place
- at the time the altar was inaugurated.
- The figures that we see here are priests,
- and we can identify those figures
- because of the veils on their heads.
- And there also seem to be members
- of Augustus' family,
- although their identities are not
- quite firmly established.
- - We think we know which figure
- is Augustus, although the marble
- itself is not in especially
- good condition, and we've lost
- the front of his body.
- And we also think we can identify
- one of his most important ministers.
- - And that would be Agrippa.
- If we think about this as looking back
- to the frieze on the parthenon
- from the Golden Age of Greece,
- those figures are all ideally beautiful,
- they don't represent anyone specific
- so much as the Athenian people, generally.
- - But these are portraits.
- - That's right, and we can't
- always identify them for certain,
- but they really are specific individuals
- on a specific date,
- taking part in a specific event.
- - It's interesting to think about it
- because of course, throughout the
- Republic, portraiture in stone
- was something the Romans
- were extremely good at.
- And so it doesn't surprise
- me that they would not
- look to the idealized, so mush as
- look to the specific.
- - We also notice those differences
- in the depth of the carving;
- some figures are represented
- in high relief, other figures that
- are supposed to be in the background
- are represented in low relief.
- So there's a real illusion of
- space and of a crowd here
- at the procession.
- - Another way that the specificity
- of the Romans is expressed, is
- through the inclusion of children.
- This is a sacred event,
- and a formal event,
- and yet there are children
- doing what children do;
- that is to say they're not
- always paying attention.
- - There are a couple of interpretations
- that have been offered about
- the presence of children here.
- Augustus was actually worried about
- the birth rate and passed laws
- that encouraged marriage and
- the birth of children.
- It originally was painted –
- we would have seen pinks and
- blues and greens – and
- it's very difficult to imagine that when
- we look at the marble today.
- - Well, it's true. Especially in
- Meier's building which is
- so stark and modern,
- it's almost a little garish
- to imagine how brightly
- painted this would have been –
- they were pretty bright!
- - They were. So one of the
- things that Augustus said of
- himself was that he found
- Rome a city of brick, and he left it
- a city of marble.
- Augustus created an imperial city,
- and here we are 2000 years later
- in the Rome that Augustus created.
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At 5:31, how is the moon large enough to block the sun? Isn't the sun way larger?
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