Can I read Venus in a Relief of the Ara Pacis Augustae on EtoBox?

Venus in a Relief of the Ara Pacis Augustae by G. Karl Galinsky is a Arts and Humanities article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Venus in a Relief of the Ara Pacis Augustae about?

Ever since the discovery of the marble slabs composing the outer frieze on the enclosure of the Ara Pacis Augustae,1 the interpretation of the scenes represented on them has been the subject of continuous discussion.2 This is not surprising. For no other artistic monument of the Augustan era expresses with comparable elaborateness and symbolic intensity the aspirations of the young Principate and, primarily, of the emperor himself. This point deserves to be stressed from the outset. The recent controversy between S. Weinstock and J. Toynbee, while proving little else except that not much in connection with the Ara Pacis can be "proved,"3 has at least pointed up very clearly that the altar was not built merely for the cult of Peace. It also had a very personal connection with Augustus, being decreed, as he himself tells us, pro reditu meo (Mon. Anc. 2.38), in thanksgiving for his homecoming from abroad.4 Initially the Senate had planned to build an altar in honor of Augustus in the Forum and further had decreed roi0q KETEV- cacuv aVrOvY EvrTO vTo o7TI7)ptov aaEtav Eva (Cass. Dio 54.25-3). In place of this suppliant altar, the Ara Pacis, approved by the emperor, was built ad Campum M

Who reads Venus in a Relief of the Ara Pacis Augustae?

Author

G. Karl Galinsky

Published

1966

Language

EN

Field

Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)