Flora Unveiled

238 i Flora Unveiled

into Rome’s pantheon, and she assumed many of Demeter’s attributes. In his satirical novel
The Golden Ass, written around 155 ad, Lucius Apuleius describes his personal encounter
with the great goddess. After being accidentally turned into an ass by magic, he was miracu-
lously restored to his human form by Isis, the Queen of Heaven. On her head she wore
“many garlands interlaced with flowers” and she held “sheaves of wheat” in one arm. She
informs him that she is known by many names throughout the world, among which she
lists “Demeter” and “Persephone.” Lucius attends her sacred processional in Rome in which
she is led by blossom- strewing women dressed in white, reminiscent of both the Elusinian
Mysteries and the Cerialia:

Some women, sparkling in white dresses, delighting in their diverse adornments and

garlanded with spring flowers, were strewing the ground with blossoms stored in their

dresses along the route on which the sacred company was to pass.^15

Tellus and the Ara Pacis Augustae

From the foregoing it should be clear that Romans, along with most of their neighbors and
forebears throughout the Mediterranean, believed that plants, agriculture, and, indeed, all
of the natural world, were primarily the domain of goddesses. From the earliest stages of
urbanization in ancient Mesopotamia to the height of the Roman Empire, absolute rul-
ers associated themselves with powerful agricultural goddesses who represented the very
foundation of civilization. This tradition arguably reached its most elaborate expression in
Rome, in the relief panel located at the southeast corner of the Ara Pacis Augustae, an altar
dedicated in 9 bce in honor of the Pax Romana, or era of peace, established under the rule
of Augustus.
Like the Mesopotamian palace relief sculptures of sacred trees during the Neo- Assyrian
Period, the monumental Ara Pacis Augustae, which was originally located north of Rome
on the former floodplain of the Tiber River, embodied the Roman civil religion and sym-
bolized Augustus’s power and prestige. The upper panels of the exterior walls depict various
figures ranging from processionals of Roman citizens to deities representing the state. The
elaborate floral friezes of the lower panels are filled with complex nature symbolism.^16 These
floral symbols are symbolically connected to the stunning relief sculpture on the southern
end of the eastern wall, shown in Figure 9.4, the so- called “Tellus panel.”
The identity of the goddess depicted in the “Tellus panel” is still unresolved. In addi-
tion to the earth goddess, Tellus, several other related goddesses have also been suggested,
including Ceres, Italia, Venus, Rhea Silvia, and Pax, to which we might add Flora and
Magna Mater.^17 The presence of several kinds of fruit (grapes, pomegranates, and nuts) on
the goddess’s lap, as well as the prominent display of wheat, poppies, and other flowers on
her left are all primarily associated with Ceres, but, as we have seen, the same botanical attri-
butes have also been attached to several other Roman agricultural goddesses, thus raising
the possibility that the figure is an amalgamation of two or more of them. The two figures
holding billowing cloth could be Aurae (breezes), nymphs, Horae, or other spirits of nature.
The two infants clearly identify the central figure as a mother goddess, drawing a parallel
between human and agricultural fertility.