himself put it succinctly, was “a peace born of victories” (Res Gestae13). In particu-
lar, we should not overemphasize, let alone narrow down, the role of Apollo because
of Octavian’s struggle against Antony. The schema of Apollo versus Dionysus goes
back to Nietzsche, who saw in it the key to Greek civilization, but it is another
dichotomy that works with only limited success in the Augustan context. Antony
styled himself as the “New Dionysus” in the east, but there is no evidence that this
riled the inhabitants of Rome and Italy: the cult of Dionysus, identified with
Bacchus and Liber, kept enjoying great popularity. Dionysus is a frequent theme in
both Augustan poetry, including Virgil’s and Horace’s comparisons of him to
Augustus, and Augustan art; the floral and vegetal decoration of the famous Altar
of Augustan Peace (Ara Pacis Augustae), for one, is permeated with Dionysiac motifs.
Certainly, however, one impact of Augustus’ religious building activity was the
enhancement of his own “Augustan” aura: he was clearly destined to join the gods
at the proper time, even if Horace begged him not to “return to heaven till late”
(Odes1.2.45).
Similar perspectives emerge from the Augustan restoration of the priesthoods. They
were, as we have noted, prestigious offices and highly coveted by the nobility. Augustus
was intent on keeping them that way and revitalizing them at the same time. Because
of the disarray of the late republic and the civil wars some of the positions had not
been filled, a prominent example being that of the priest of Jupiter (flamen Dialis),
which had stood vacant for some 76 years. In this case, we have the explicit testi-
mony of Tacitus (Ann.4.16) that “Augustus brought certain things up to date for
present practice out of that horrid antiquity,” and the example stands for many.
Restoration was not a mindless recovery of archaic rites but was adaptive. Another
good illustration is Augustus’ transformation of the “Brotherhood of the Cultivated
Fields” (Arvales) from a group that had rather insignificant functions to a high-profile
college of 12, of which he was a member. It bears out Suetonius’ summary state-
ment that “he increased the priesthoods in numbers and dignity, and also in privi-
leges” (Augustus31); the Vestal Virgins received several of the latter, including special
seats in the theater and lands in the vicinity of Rome. At the same time, there was
another distinction that set Augustus apart from ordinary mortals: he was the first
Roman to belong to all the major priestly groups. In the Res Gestae(7.3), he in fact
prides himself on that, quite in contrast to his insistent refusal, in the previous
paragraphs (5 – 6), to accept any offices and powers that were “inconsistent with the
custom of our ancestors.” Religion was a priority for many reasons. Therefore, and
analogous to his role as temple builder, Augustus now was in charge of selecting
the priesthoods’ new members, and thereby replacing previous contentious mechan-
isms such as co-optation.
The restoration also involved religious festivals. When Suetonius enumerates them
(Augustus31), he typically uses the word restituit, which, as we saw at the beginning,
implied change as well as continuity. The most outstanding and best-documented
example is the Secular Games (ludi saeculares) that Augustus celebrated with the
Roman populace for three days and nights in 17 bc. The title comes from the Latin
word saeculum, which could connote periods from one generation to a hundred years.
The only previous celebrations of the festival that are attested securely, if not
76 Karl Galinsky