Early Empire
The murder of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 BCE,plunged
the Roman world into a bloody civil war. The fighting lasted until
31 BCEwhen Octavian (better known as Augustus), Caesar’s grand-
nephew and adopted son, crushed the naval forces of Mark Antony
and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt at Actium in northwestern Greece.
Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, and in 30 BCE,Egypt,
once the wealthiest and most powerful kingdom of the ancient
world, became another province in the ever-expanding Roman
Empire.
Historians mark the passage from the Roman Republic to the
Roman Empire from the day in 27 BCEwhen the Senate conferred
the majestic title of Augustus (r. 27 BCE–14 CE) on Octavian. The
Empire was ostensibly a continuation of the Republic, with the same
constitutional offices, but in fact Augustus, whom the Senate recog-
nized as princeps (first citizen), occupied all the key positions. He
was consul and imperator (commander in chief; root of the word
emperor) and even, after 12 BCE,pontifex maximus (chief priest of the
state religion). These offices gave Augustus control of all aspects of
Roman public life.PAX ROMANA With powerful armies keeping order on the
Empire’s frontiers and no opposition at home, Augustus brought
peace and prosperity to a war-weary Mediterranean world. Known
in his own day as the Pax Augusta (Augustan Peace), the peace Au-
gustus established prevailed for two centuries. It came to be called
simply the Pax Romana.During this time the emperors commis-
sioned a huge number of public works throughout the Empire:
roads, bridges, theaters, amphitheaters, and bathing complexes, all
on an unprecedented scale. The erection of imperial portrait statues
and monuments covered with reliefs recounting the rulers’ great254 Chapter 10 THE ROMAN EMPIREI
n every town throughout the vast Roman Empire, portraits of the
emperors and empresses and their families were on display—in
forums, basilicas, baths, and markets; in front of temples; atop tri-
umphal arches—anywhere a statue could be placed. The rulers’
heads varied little from Britain to Syria. All were replicas of official
images, either imported or scrupulously copied by local artists. But
the Roman sculptors placed the portrait heads on many types of
bodies. The type chosen depended on the position the person held in
Roman society or the various fictitious guises members of the impe-
rial family assumed. Portraits of Augustus, for example, show him
not only as armed general (FIG. 10-27) but also as recipient of the
civic crown for saving the lives of fellow citizens (FIG. I-9). Other stat-
ues show him as veiled priest, toga-clad magistrate, traveling com-
mander on horseback, heroically nude warrior, and various Roman
gods, including Jupiter, Apollo, and Mercury.
Such role playing was not confined to emperors and princes but
extended to their wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers. Portraits of
Livia (FIG. 10-28) depict her as many goddesses, including Ceres, Juno,
Venus, and Vesta. She also appears as the personification of Health,
Justice, and Piety. In fact, it was common for imperial women to ap-
pear on Roman coins as goddesses or as embodiments of feminine
virtue. Faustina the Younger, for example, the wife of Marcus Aurelius
and mother of 13 children, appears as Venus and Fecundity, among
many other roles. Julia Domna (FIG. 10-63), Septimius Severus’s wife,
is Juno, Venus, Peace, or Victory in some portraits.
Ordinary citizens also engaged in role playing. Some assumed
literary pretensions, as did a husband and wife (FIG. 10-25) in their
Pompeian home. Others equated themselves with Greek heroes (FIG.
10-60) or Roman deities (FIG. 10-61) on their coffins. The common
people followed the lead of the emperors and empresses.
Role Playing in Roman Portraiture
ART AND SOCIETY
10-27Portrait of Augustus as general, from Primaporta, Italy,
early-first-century cecopy of a bronze original of ca. 20 bce.Marble,
6 8 high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.
Augustus’s idealized portraits were modeled on Classical Greek statues
(FIG. 5-40) and depict him as a never-aging son of a god. This portrait
presents the emperor in armor in his role as general.
1 ft.