A Dead Caesar And Captured

Standards: The Temple of Mars Ultor

and the Forum of Augustus

NUI Maynooth Classics Research Discussion Group

Dr Trevor Mahy
30 March 2012
Caesar
Pompey’s Theatre: Site of Caesar’s
Assassination
Present Site of Caesar’s Assassination
 The Triumvirate

Lepidus Antony

Octavian
Philippi
 Republican Temples of
Republican VictoryLargo
Temples
Argentina
Forum of
Augustus
 Temple of Mars
Ultor in the Forum
of Augustus
Augustan “Golden Age” Ideology
“Soon after attaining sole power in 31 BC, Octavian altered his
political style, and in 27 he ‘restored the Republic.’ As a savior
of the state he received the honorific title Augustus.
Henceforth he did everything possible to separate this period
from that which had gone before, and with good reason.
Much that happened between 44 and 27 had to be forgotten;
the image of himself that Octavian promoted before this
turning point is fundamentally different from that which he
later conveyed so successfully as Augustus (Zanker 1988: 33).”
 Ovid’s Fasti
“Mighty is Mars and mighty his temple. He could not reside in the city of his son
Romulus in any other way. The building itself would have been a worthy monument to
the victory of the gods over the Giants. Mars [Gravidus] may unleash savage war from
here, when an evil-doer in the East incites us or one in the West tries to bend us to his
yoke [a reference to the state ceremonies that took place in the Forum at the profectio
of a general]. Mars strong in armor looks upon the temple pediment and rejoices that
unvanquished gods occupy the places of honor [cf. fig. 150]. At the entranceways he
sees arms of all sorts from all the lands conquered by his soldier [Augustus]. On one side
he sees Aeneas with his precious burden and about him the many ancestors of the Julian
house; on the other, Romulus, son of Ilia, with the arms of the enemy chief he
conquered with his own hand and statues of distinguished Romans with the names of
their great deeds. He gazes upon the temple and reads the name of Augustus. Then the
monument seems to him even greater [Fasti 5.533 ff.] (Zanker 1988: 113).”

All square brackets in this quotation are Zanker’s own.

N.B. the lines quoted by Zanker are actually Ovid, Fasti 5.553-568.
spectat et Augusto praetextum nomine templum,
et visum lecto Caesare maius opus.

“He beholds, too, the name of Augustus on the front of the temple;
and when he reads the name of Caesar, the building seems to him even
greater (Ov., Fast. 5.567-568).”
“…how intimately architecture and imagery were linked to corresponding ceremonies,
while particular images were linked to wide-spread expectations and slogans. No matter
how multifaceted and complex the individual symbols, or how elitist the archaizing or
classicizing style of the images, the message was comprehensible to all. That the
monumental devotion of the ruler was in the end seen as a sign of his own greatness is
not just Ovid’s panegyric of the princeps (Zanker 1988: 114).”
The Return of the Standards from the
Parthians (20 BC)
Philippi
Mars Ultor
Temple of Venus Genetrix
Temple of Apollo on the Palatine
Temple of Jupiter Tonans
Temple of Divus Julius
 Irregular
Shape at the
NE End of
the Forum of
Augustus
Qui parentem meum interfecerunt, eos in exilium expuli
iudiciis legitimis ultus eorum facinus, et postea bellum
inferentis rei publicae vici bis acie.

“Those who slew my father I drove into exile, punishing

their deed by due process of law, and afterwards when
they waged war upon the republic I twice defeated them
in battle (Augustus, Res Gestae 2).”
Round Temple of Mars Ultor on the
Capitoline
Round Temple of Mars Ultor on the
Capitoline
Feriale Duranum
Plan of the
Forum
of Augustus
and the
Forum of
Caesar
Valle-Medici Relief
Valle-Medici Relief: Detail of the
Pediment
Sestertius of Antoninus Pius
Pompeian Wall Paintings
Plan of the Forum of Augustus
Sestertius of Antoninus Pius
Mars Ultor
Algiers Relief
Summi Viri Statues
Summi Viri Statues
Quadriga Statue
Jupiter Ammon
Jupiter Ammon (and Caryatids)
Erechtheum
Colossal Statue of Augustus \Statue of Augustus?
“The monument which most fully expresses this new
mythology is the Forum of Augustus (fig. 149). Octavian had
vowed a temple to Mars Ultor during the battle against the
assassins of Julius Caesar at Philippi (42 B.C.), but the
sanctuary was finally dedicated only forty years later. By
then Mars had proved himself Rome’s avenger a second
time, against the Parthians. This is why the recaptured signa
were permanently displayed in the cella of the new temple.
Identifying Mars Ultor with this later occasion, as well as
with other deeds of Augustus’ armies and generals, was a
convenient way of forgetting the association with the civil
war (Zanker 1988: 194-195).”