Overall Impact: *** 3 stars – Galerius’ Palace impresses through its scale but, having been incorporated in the medieval and Ottoman city, the Roman remains consist of foundations and walls.
Access **** 4 stars – As with the other sites in Thessaloniki the site is well cared for and curated, and is only a short walk southwards from the Arch of Galerius toward the sea.
Atmosphere ** 2 stars – You will need to use your imagination to recreate the Roman Palace. It is overshadowed by modern housing, but hats off to the City Fathers for displaying such important remains in an area where space is tight.
Other *** 3 stars – OK, it’s not Diocletian’s Palace at Split, and it’s in a busy city and hard to visualise, BUT it is Galerius’ Palace in Thessaloniki and very much worth seeing!
The above photo shows the remains of Galerius’ Basilica or audience chamber, with the nave to the left in front of us. We should be thinking here in terms of Constantine’s Aula Palatina which survives at Trier.
We can see here – above and below – the remains of the Peristyle Hall, with 11 rooms arranged round a courtyard with a fountain.
Above are the exposed remains of the Apsidal Hall. This was a magnificent part of the Palace between the Arch and the Basilica. It has two rooms and ended in a raised niche: was it a more private and intimate Throne Room? It had rich decoration with white and coloured marble on the walls.
Marvellous reconstruction by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City, which can be found at galeriuspalace.culture.gr At bottom was the Rotunda or Mausoleum, then a porticoed way to the Arch of Galerius, and then another portico way lead to the Apsidal Hall, which in turn lead to the Basilica with the Circus to the left (west) and the Palace Complex to the right (east).Another marvellous Plan by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City, to be found at galeriuspalace.culture.gr They rightly won European awards for the quality of their restoration and public explanation. The idea of making visible the Late Roman City of Thessaloniki originated with the plans for the Reconstruction of the City after the disastrous fire of 1917.
Overall Impact: ***** 5 stars – Less well known than the Arch of Galerius but has the impact of the Pantheon in Rome. A unique survival (and a marvellous surprise to us!)
Access **** 4 stars – Situated a short walk (125m) north of the Arch and, unlike the Arch, in a quiet side street. Recently restored and now open to the public.
Atmosphere *** 3 stars – C5th mosaics only partially remain. Damaged during the Mausoleum’s period as an Ottoman Mosque, they have now been wonderfully restored.
Other ** 2 stars – There is no good guide book on sale at the site – but do check out local book shops for a scholarly exposition which we happened upon. No good post cards available.
The Rotunda of Galerius is north of his Arch: built in AD306, it is usually thought to have been intended as his Mausoleum. However, when in AD311 Galerius died hideously from a disease usually interpreted as gangrene, he was buried at Felix Romuliana (Gamzigrad in Serbia), his birthplace. Therefore it probably never fulfilled its intended function.
The Rotunda’s dome is 30m high and is one of the largest surviving from the Empire. The walls are extremely thick, explaining how it has survived earthquakes through the centuries.
East End Apse added when Mausoleum converted into Church in late C4th
It was empty until Theodosius I had it converted into a church in the late C4th. It was then decorated with some very fine mosaics apparently depicting prominent members of the Thessalonica community, rather than Imperial portraits.
The church was turned into a mosque by the Ottomans in 1590. It was re-opened after extensive restoration in 2015, as a Museum.
Overall Impact: *** 3 stars – the Arch is much reduced and damaged by atmospheric pollution. We approached with anticipation but were disappointed by its poor condition – nevertheless, it is a major statement of Tetrarchic power and ideology.
Access **** 4 stars – the Arch sits on what was in Galerius’ time and still is the main street of the City. Accessible 24 hours a day but be alert for traffic and touts.
Atmosphere * 1 star – it feels like a traffic island!
Other * 1 star – there is only perfunctory explanation of what is a major late Roman monument, and its condition is deteriorating exposed to high levels of street pollution.
There are three linked remaining monuments of Galerius’ Imperial Precinct in Thessaloniki. The Arch sat across the Via Egnatia‘s exit from the City to the East towards Byzantium. The Imperial Palace lies 230m south of the Arch linked by a road, and the Rotunda Mausoleum lies 125m to the north linked by an arcaded road.
The Arch was an octopylon or eight pillared gateway, forming a triple arch (one central large arch, and two smaller side arches) with four pillars to the east and four to the west. All that is left are three of the western arches. The entire eastern four arches are gone as is the southernmost of the western arches. The two pillars flanking the central large arch retain their sculptures slabs.
The Arch celebrates Galerius’ victory over the Sassanids at the Battle of Satala and the capture of their capital, Ctesiphon, in 298AD.
Our ability to understand the meaning of the Arch is impacted by the loss of the majority of the marble panels. They show:
Galerius, supported by a wreath bearing eagle, in personal mounted combat with the Sassanid Narses, with terrified Sassanids cowering under the hooves of the Caesar’s horse. This may be artistic licence, however, as it seems unlikely they ever personally met in combat.
There is panel with a relief of the Imperial Family making a sacrifice in thanksgiving. This shows Valeria, who was former Emperor Diocletian’s daughter as well as being Galerius’ wife, giving him imperial legitimacy.
In another survivor panel the four Tetrarchs (the Augusti Diocletian and Maximian, and the Caesares Galerius and Constantius) are all in togas, while the personification of Victory holds out wreaths to the two Augusti.
The final surviving panel assert the Unity of the Tetrarchy through the depiction of the Tetrarchs standing together. Galerius is dressed in armour as he makes the offering on the altar.
The Arch is thus a celebration of Galerius’ victory but one achieved very much within the unity of the then-new Tetrarchic System.
Access * 1 star – easy access to Museum, other areas difficult to find
Atmosphere * 1 star – you need to use your imagination to visualise Visigoths
Other *** 3 stars – fascinating subject, but seemingly little local interest
Brief Historical Background
The Visigoths under Alaric sacked Rome in 410, seizing portable treasures. Even Galla Placidia – the sister of Honorius, the Western Augustus – was captured. On Alaric’s death his brother Athaulf succeeded him as leader and spent the years 410 to 415 operating in the Gallic and Spanish provinces, playing competing factions of Germanic and Roman commanders off against each another. He captured Toulouse in 413 and married Galla Placidia in 414 as the Western Imperial Government started to come to terms with the Goths as useful allies. Honorius’ regime used Athaulf to provide Visigothic assistance in regaining nominal Roman control of Hispania from the Vandals, Alans and Suevi.
In 418, Honorius’ regime rewarded his Visigothic allies, now under King Wallia, by giving them land in Gallia Aquitania along the Garonne Valley with Tolosa (Toulouse) as their capital. This is thought legally to have been achieved through hospitalitas – the rules for the billeting of soldiers. At first the Visigoths were not given a large extent of landed estates in Aquitania but they did gain the right to the taxes of the region, so that the Gallic aristocrats, farmers and traders now paid their taxes to the Visigoths instead of to the Western Roman Government.
Settling a barbarian group effectively as a ‘state within a state’ within the boundary of the Empire was a novel and desperate measure, but it was a settlement which the Honorian regime – holed up within the walls of Ravenna, behind protecting marshes – grasped with some relief after Alaric’s sack of Rome in 410 and the chaos of the previous years.
Furthermore the Visigoths, like other barbarian tribes, were Arian Christians having been converted in the mid-Fourth Century when the Arian doctrine of the Trinity was the ‘orthodoxy’ of the Church and Emperor. Arianism is the belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father at a point in time, and is therefore distinct from God the Father and therefore subordinate to the Father. The Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea in 325, and Theodosius at the Council of Constantinople in 381, had strengthened the Nicene formula of the co-essential divinity of the Son, applying to Jesus Christ the term “consubstantial”. The 381 version speaks of the Holy Spirit as worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. Thus Arians became heretics in the sight of the Empire.
The Visigothic Kingdom continued in Spain, but not in Toulouse, until the Muslim invasion of 711. Clovis welded together the Frankish Kingdom in the early Sixth Century, and in 507, with Burgundian assistance, he defeated the Visigothic King Alaric II at the Battle of Vouillé (Campus Vogladensis) near Poitiers and went on to capture Aquitania and sack Toulouse. By 508 the Visigoths had lost their their grip on Aquitania and only retained the coastal strip called Septimania stretching from Narbonne and Nîmes.
Tolosa was the Visigothic capital for nearly a century – so can we find the remains of their regime?
They are very hard to find. We spent a few days haunting the museums and sites of Toulouse and there are not many traces and very little published information. What remains is generally described as ‘late antique’ rather than Visigothic, and there are few explicit references to the Visigothic period.
This post is about what we found.
Map courtesy of ‘L’ancienne église Sainte-Marie ;a Daurade à Toulouse’ by Quitterie Cazes, published by Musée Saint-Raymond
Health Warnings
Two ‘health warnings’, though, are needed: first, it is not unreasonable to talk about ‘late antiquity’ since any existing buildings of Tolosa would, as part of the Empire, have been made use of by the new Visigothic rulers of the City after 413. Furthermore, it is difficult to distinguish between the Orthodox (Nicene) churches and sarcophagi of the Fifth Century from the Arian ones of the Visigoths.
Secondly, because Alaric is thought in 410 to have carried off from Rome Titus’s booty from the Sack of the Jerusalem Temple, including the Menorah (the seven-branched candelabra), and because in the 13th Century Toulouse went on to become the centre of the Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade, one’s investigations can quickly stray into the misty world of pseudo-history and fictional conspiracy theory. What follows in this blog does not touch on the fate of the Ark of the Covenant, the Priory of Sion – or the novels of Dan Brown!
Sarcophagi in the Musée Saint Raymond
In the museum basement there is a fine collection of late antique sarcophagi from across south-west France. The intriguing question is: are they from the Visigothic period, and are they Orthodox (Nicene) or Arian – and how would you tell?
Model of the Apse of the Daurade Church in Arian Visigothic Days – model was in Musée Saint Raymond early 2017
The Daurade Church
One of the most tragic losses is the Daurade or ‘golden’ Church. It seems likely that this was the Arian Church, close to the Visigothic Palace. The church consisted of nave based on the classical Roman Temple of Apollo, a probably Fifth Century apse, and later additions. It was demolished for a grand but conventional French classical church of 1761. Frustratingly, we are left just with drawings of the impressive apse made before its destruction. One can only think, for a parallel, of the mosaics at San Appolinare Nuovo in Ravenna.
Surviving early column and capital (or replica?) in a Chapel of the current Daurade Church
The demolition of a classical Temple with late antique mosaics puts one in mind of Charles V’s comment when he learned that the stunning mosque at Córdoba had had a standard C16th church inserted at its core. He reputedly said: “You have built here what you or anyone might have built anywhere else, but you have destroyed what was unique in the world.”
Only remaining piece of Daurade mosaics now in Avignon
All that survives are the late antique columns that were given away after the demolition in the C18th and a small fragment of mosaic with gold tesserae.
Model of the Remains of the Visigothic Palace revealed in 1989 before their destruction. Model was in Musée Saint Raymond early 2017.
The Visigothic Palace
This was discovered in 1989 adjoining the Roman city walls on the bank of the River Garonne, near the site of the NW gate of the Roman City. Although the site was excavated and photographed, there seems to have been no detailed recording made of this unique site and the ruins were not preserved. An undistinguished development of 1990s apartments is no substitute.
Saint Pierre-des-Cuisines
This Church just outside the Roman Walls opposite the Palace and near the Garonne dates from the C5th and was built around a necropolis. Its core is early and would date to the Visigothic period.
Wall in Jardin des Plantes
There is also a small surviving section of late antique wall in the south of the city in the Jardin des Plantes
Reconstruction of Wall, Palace and Dourade area of Visigothic Tolosa courtesy of ‘L’ancienne église Sainte-Marie ;a Daurade à Toulouse’ by Quitterie Cazes, published by Musée Saint-Raymond
Toulouse under the Visigoths
Under the Visigoths, Toulouse appears to have prospered more than cities that remained at that time under imperial Roman rule. Given the dominance of the Garonne Valley down to Bordeaux, and the conquest of Hispania and the Gallic Mediterranean sea-board, Tolosa – unlike many late antique cities – appears to have maintained its population levels. It was the centre of an expansionist, although barbarian, Arian kingdom, one which was dedicated to preserving the civilisation that had laid the golden eggs.
Overall Impact: *** 3 stars – remarkable collection of sculptures BUT little context
Access **** 4 stars – in Musée Saint Raymond MSR with lifts
Atmosphere ** 2 stars – there could be so much more to say…
Other ***** 5 stars – the artistry of the works is top quality!
On the first floor of the Toulouse Archaeological Museum (le Musée Saint Raymond) are the remarkable remains from the Villa of Chiragan at Martres-Tolosane on the River Garonne, some 60kms south-west of Toulouse. The museum claims, with only a little exaggeration, that ‘the sculptures extracted from this site are exceptional. No other villa in Europe has yielded so many works in marble’.
Known of from the 17th Century, portrait busts of remarkable quality have been excavated. In 1826 the excavator wrote ‘every quarter of an hour I see a god, a goddess, an emperor come out of the bosom of the earth’. Many are recognisable imperial portraits while others have been interpreted as the procurators and administrators of the imperial domain of forests and quarries and of the imperial tolls and customs.
Excavations at the end of the 18th Century revealed a massive complex of buildings comprising both agricultural production with barns, stables and granaries, and a residence of over 200 rooms with a portico, baths and gardens. They cover 16 hectares in total!
Three broad phases of occupation have been identified. First, a modest villa from the time of Augustus with baths and a peristyle. Secondly, at the time of Trajan, an atrium and two peristyles are added. Finally, at the end of the Second Century, the villa reaches its largest extent and is occupied through to the reign of Arcadius and Honorius at the start of the Fifth Century.
Marcus Aurelius
Trajan
The villa appears to have had a gallery where the portrait busts of Emperors from the First to Fourth Centuries were displayed. There were also many copies of famous Greek works of antiquity, of gods and goddesses, philosophers and satyrs.
The Labours of Hercules. To our mind the most exciting sculptures from the Villa of Chiragan are the reliefs of Hercules. They have been described as ‘baroque’ in style, which is anachronistic, but they are undeniably different from earlier classical statues. Given their scale and energy, they must have been extraordinarily arresting, especially since they were probably painted. It is thought that they were placed on a wall and separated by pilasters.
So what is this villa? It is clearly ‘Imperial’. The key clue seems to be in the largest central panel of the Labours of Hercules. Here we see Hercules killing Geryon, a giant who lived in Southern Spain, before stealing his cattle. The face of Hercules bears a striking resemblance to the portraits of Maximian, who Diocletian appointed in 286 as his fellow-Augustus of the West to share the burden of empire.
Curiously, the giant which Hercules/Maximian is subduing is depicted wearing a cuirass like a Roman general. Could this possibly allude to Maximian’s victories during his campaign against raiding Moors in 296 in Spain, before he crosses the Straits of Gibraltar and crushes the Berbers in 297-8? But the imagery surely makes better sense if it relates to Maximian and his Caesar Constantius crushing Roman usurpers such as the breakaway state of Carausius and Allectus in Britiannia?
Hercules, who has the face of Maximian, defeating the 3 headed Giant Geryon who is clearly wearing Roman military gear and possibly represents the Usurpers defeated by Maximian and Diocletian as Augusti
Further credence is given to this identification by the strong association which Maximian had with the god Hercules and Diocletian with Jupiter – the premier Legiones Palatinae in the late Roman Army lists are the Ioviani and the Herculiani.
Also, there are portrait busts from Chiragan of Maximian and his wife Galeria Valeria Eutropia, and a youthful portrait of Maximian’s son Maxentius and his wife Valeria Maximilla. (Maxentius, who would have been 18 in 296, went on to be defeated at the Milvian Bridge by Constantine the Great in 312.)
Maximian Hercules
Galeria Valeria Eutropia
Maxentius
Valerian Maximilla
So there must be a strong presumption that Maximian and his family stayed at Chiragan around 295-6 and had the Labours of Hercules carved for them. Maybe they also caused some other wonders to be built here in the foothills of the Pyrenees?
Overall Impact: *** 3 stars – fascinating (but did he create Europe?)
Access *** 3 stars – Roman stairs and pavement!
Atmosphere ***** 5 stars – Italian design, dramatic lighting
Other *** 3 stars – does not quite hold together!
Exhibition is on 29th November 2017 to 16th September 2018
It is very welcome to have a focus on the Emperor Trajan, in many people’s view the “best” Roman Emperor. Adopted from outside the Imperial Family, he was the Emperor who expanded the borders to their greatest extent through the annexation of first Dacia and then Armenia, Assyria and Mesopotamia.
He is in many ways an attractive character who looks out at you from his realistic and unflattering portrait busts with a knowing and somewhat world-weary air.
Late bronze of the Emperor Trajan
The exhibition is superimposed on the excellent permanent exhibits and restoration of Trajan’s Markets, which contains artefacts from the Imperial Fora and their temples.
You enter through a recreation of the base of Trajan’s Column, which stands a mere 100metres distant. Inside, in deep darkness, a modern Trajan on film exhorts you in Italian and you see two glass vessels old enough that they could have contained the ashes of Trajan and his wife Plotina.
Then in the central hall of the markets there are plaster casts of scenes from the Column indicating his virtues as Creator and Conqueror.
The remarkably surviving Roman street that survives and runs past Trajan’s Market
Opening off the central hall are a number of rooms with exhibits relating to Trajan. The best, to our mind, are the model from the 1930s of an Imperial Triumph, including realistically downcast captives (carried aloft and presumably awaiting their unpleasant fate), and the recreations of the rebuilt Tropaeum from Adamklissi in Dacia (modern Romania), and images of the crude but vital representations of the Dacian Wars that formed its frieze, probably carved by specialists from the legion who fought there.
Two reconstructions of the Tropaeum at Adamklissi
There are well-explained casts of military tombstones and a room featuring busts of Trajan, his father, and his role model, Alexander. A “large headless statue of a man wearing a cuirass” found in his own Forum is not explicitly identified as Trajan but surely depicts him, particularly as the tabs round the bottom of the cuirass show the emblems of a number of different legions who served in his armies.
Possible legionary emblems on cuirass
Further on are rooms featuring stunning models of the bridge over the Danube from the Dacian Wars, the bridge at Alcantara in Spain and Trajan’s Temple, the Trajaneum in Pergamum.
Model of the Trajanic-era Bridge at Alcantara in Spain
Going upstairs there are features on Trajan’s much-loved and influential wife Plotina, his sister Ulpia Marciana, and her niece Vibia Matidia, and their iconography, complemented by a feature on the activities of women during his reign. This is by far the best coverage of women in an antique exhibition we have seen, showing their role in the Imperial family and in society.
Bust of Trajanic period
The small collection of stamps on ceramics recording businesswomen’s identities is particularly good. We also learn about Trajan’s frumentarium (a tax-funded social security scheme) for poor families.
Brick stamp from Julia Procula’s brick works
We then progress to a fascinating video about what may have been his house before he became Emperor, a site now only accessible by descending through a manhole into the depths below a car park. One can but hope that this will be restored and opened up to the public in the future, allowing us to admire the painted rooms. Then we see images off his rural palace at Arcinazzo in the mountains, highlighted by amazing and painstaking recreations of delicate plaster work and wall paintings.
Brilliantly restored plaster-work from Trajan’s Country Palace at Arcinazzo
So, as you can see from the above description; there is much here that is unmissable and every Romanist should try and visit it if possible.
However, we have three caveats, two minor and one major. Let’s get the two minor ones out of the way. The exhibition in each room is shoe-horned in amongst the already excellent Trajan’s Markets exhibits, so it is somewhat incoherent. Some rooms beyond the main hall are also very easy to miss, unless one picks up the very modest leaflet in the ticket hall, which forms the only English guide. Secondly, the catalogue is large and sumptuous – but entirely in Italian. As the good information panels in the exhibition itself are bilingual, it is a pity even that relatively brief material is not included in the catalogue. We would then have loved to buy it!
Thirdly, it is to our mind misconceived – although understandable in these uncertain times – to claim that Trajan “founded Europe”. He ruled and extended an Empire that spanned three continents – Europe, Africa and Asia – which was built around Mare Nostrum, the Mediterranean. Furthermore, he was a great Emperor – arguably indeed the best – but he was Emperor of Rome, all-powerful crusher of the Dacians and Persians, benefactor of the poor, builder of infrastructure, and supreme ruler of the Roman World. The Empire of AD117 was at its height a unitary super-state of the Ancient World and vastly different in almost all dimensions – economy, governance, culture and values – from the Europe of Charlemagne, Charles V or the present day. (It is therefore interesting that all three claim to be the heir of Rome!)
Paul and Sally
Trajan’s Market at dusk. In reality these were more likely offices than markets.
Overall 4**** A hotly-disputed four, given the points below.
Display 3*** Let down by minimal labelling and not much context. Very much the academic art-historical approach – given where it is, not surprising.
Access 4**** It’s at Yale in New Haven CT, so a long way to go – we drove for 2 hours from Boston! But it’s free and there is easy parking near.
Atmosphere 3*** Studious art-historical setting. Given what they have, they could make of their unique Roman exhibits.
Other 6****** This rating is in recognition of the uniqueness of the finds – the only legionary shield – and its decoration intact; the only figurative synagogue decorations; the only intact Mithraeum decorations; and one of only three sets of cataphract armour!
In 1920 a British Army unit occupying former Ottoman territory stumbled across wall paintings in the ruins of the City of Dura Europos on the banks of the River Euphrates. They notified the eminent American archaeologist Professor Breasted of the University of Chicago.
Dura had been founded on the upper Euphrates by the Hellenistic ‘Successor’ Seleucids around 300BCE, and had been taken over by the Parthians in C2BCE, becoming a major fortified crossroads of East-West trade. It was captured by the Romans in AD166 during Verus’ Parthian War. It then formed a frontier garrison on the Euphrates for the Romans with strong influence and troops from the Roman ally of Palymra. In 256AD the Sassanids, the successors of the Parthians in the East, besieged Dura successfully and sacked it.
The excavations at the site at Dura in the 1920s and 1930s were led by a Yale University team lead by the Russian emigré Prof Rostovtzeff and the French Academy of Inscription and Letters. Owing to the siege that led to the end of Dura and its abandonment, many remarkable and unique finds dating principally from the Tge Third Century AD were uncovered. The Romans had reinforced their most vulnerable sector on the west of the city by piling up earth and sand behind the walls, thus hermetically sealing a whole sector of the city. Furthermore, the Sassanids and Romans mined and countermined under a tower which then collapsed, entombing both Roman and Sassanid soldiers.
The Yale expedition took their share of the finds home and these are well displayed in the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.
A connecting theme of the Yale displays is the co-existence of many cultures and religions in this Roman frontier city. There is evidence of Latin, Greek, Palmyrenean, Hebrew, Safaitic and Pahlavi being spoken. Turning to religion, there are temples to the eastern gods of Syria, the local deity Dolichenus being associated with Jupiter from the Roman Pantheon. There is an early example of a Christian house church with a baptistery. There is synagogue with painted ceiling tiles, showing figurative art previously not recognised in Jewish art. Perhaps most extraordinary of all is a well-preserved Roman Mithraeum intact paintings, set up by a unit of Palmyran horse archers. Finally, there is a painting of a dedication by a Roman tribune and his unit to three deified Emperors in military uniform. Taken together, this is a stunning assemblage of mid-Third Century AD religious items and paintings reflecting the great diversity of beliefs and religions in the Empire at this period.
The other extraordinary assemblage of finds is the military remains. There is a unique legionary semi-cylindrical scutum and a large oval auxiliary shield. Both are painted, with the scutum preserving remarkably clear decorations. The display does not offer any interpretation of the motifs on the scutum, but we think the lion suggests an association with Legio XVI Flavia Firma which was based in the Province in that era and had proven tunnelling expertise from the port of Selucia.
Alas, the oval shield has not been so well preserved, but watercolour paintings of this and two others made at the time of the excavations fortunately record the very intricate and colourful patterns.
Even more remarkable are the circumstances of the finds. Deducing what happened from the excavations, it seems that in AD265 the Sassanid besiegers dug a mine under a tower of the western wall of Dura. The Romans, hearing their approach, dug a counter-mine and broke in to the diggings. However, the Sassanids had prepared counter measures of pitch, sulphur and bitumen that gave off deadly gases in the confined space.
The Sassanids then seem to have piled up about 20 dead Roman soldiers, complete with their shields, into a barrier whilst they prepared to demolish the tower by setting fire to the props of the tunnel with more bitumen. The Sassanid soldier who set the fire put down his helmet and sword, but lingered too long and was overcome in his turn by the fumes.
There are many other interesting finds in the Museum including Palmyran sculptures and everyday items of life from the city.
Here are some more photos from this stunning set of finds.
Overall 5***** uniquely interesting memorial of Age of Augustus (and his PR machine)
Display 5***** super display of the altar and explanations; coloured lighting at night
Access 5***** we liked windows in the controversial cover building; good disabled access
Atmosphere 4**** not particularly numinous, being rather clinical and art-historical
Other 5***** Our first site with 3 ***** main criteria!
The Ara Pacis Augustae was commissioned by the Roman Senate in 13BCE to commemorate Augustus’ return to Rome after his three years re-ordering Gaul and Spain. It was consecrated in 9BCE. It was located on the open Campus Martius to the north of Rome, to the west of the Via Flaminia, and dedicated to Pax – the Goddess of Peace.
The exterior is decorated with allegorical and historical panels in the upper part, including scenes of Augustus and his family processing to a sacrifice. The men are in priestly clothing and there are women and children in the procession. The historical scenes have seated figures of Roma and Pax, with the discovery of Romulus and Remus and possibly the sacrifice by Aeneas. The lower part has natural themes with intertwined vines, flowers and wildlife.
This is an important example of Augustan propaganda, combining nature and prosperity with themes of traditional Roman religion and establishing his family as Rome’s ‘first family’. It shows how tightly he controlled the Respublica 20 years after Actium.
From the outset the Ara Pacis began to sink into the marshy ground and it was only rediscovered in the C16th. Parts were excavated over time until, in 1937, Mussolini decided to re-assemble the Altar to mark the 2,000th anniversary of Augustus’ birth, and to place it next to Augustus’ Mausoleum to create a fascist ‘Augustus Theme Park’.
The hastily constructed 1930s cover building decayed and a new replacement by Richard Meier opened in 2006 to great controversy. We rather liked it, as the Altar is displayed with lots of natural light and is visible from outside the building.
Model with original arrangements – Ara Pacis to left background on Campus Martius, with Augustan Mausoleum in foreground, and Pantheon in background.
Overall 2 ** interesting site, unique display of a legionary barrack block
Display 1 * one barrack block is original the other three are surface representations
Access 3 *** you can park in adjacent rugby club car park unless a match is on
Atmosphere 1 * the multiplicity of walls are confusing in the ‘real’ barrack block
Other 3 *** However all of this is part of the fabulous displays at Caerleon
In the North West of the Fortress there is a block of four barracks on view. These constitute two-thirds of the barracks of a single Cohort. The first line of barracks are the actual stone buildings, and are below ground level. The other three barracks are much higher at current ground level are are modern.
The original barracks from 75AD were wooden, but the Fortress was rebuilt in stone over the next few years. There is controversy as to whether only the bottom parts of the barracks were stone with timber top halves, or completely of stone.
The II Augusta was composed of 10 cohorts, each of six centuries composed of 80 legionaries. The centuries were twinned reflecting the old Republican maniple, and the barrack blocks faced each other. There were 10 contuburnia each of 8 legionaries in each century. Each contubernium had two rooms in the barracks, one at the back with bunks and cooking equipment, and a room at the front for storage of weapons, armour and shields.
The excavated remains show 12 pairs of rooms, which allows for some to be used as store-rooms or new recruits. At the other end of the barrack-block are the Centurion’s quarters, which combine quite lavish accommodation with the offices of the Century.
In summary this is rather a disappointing site, given what we are looking at here. Unlike the Roman Baths where the site is brought to life through finds, light effects and models, here we are presented with the confusing multi period jig-saw of walls which make it very hard to envisage what life was like for the legionaries who built this and lived here. The best place to feel this is perhaps the admittedly auxiliary reconstructed barracks at the Saalburg.
Overall 2 ** it’s in terrible state – but gets the ranking because of what it is!
Display 0 nothing, what a shocker
Access 1 * you can’t go in but can get a view from the fascist square around it
Atmosphere 1 * gloomy neglect
Other 5 ***** Just think who it was for – one of the major figures of World History and it’s next door to the re-located but, magnificent Ara Pacis in it’s modern Museum.
The Mausoleum of Augustus was built by Augustus in 28BCE on the Campus Martius, close to the Tiber north of Rome.
Intriguingly it was one of the first – not the last – projects initiated by Augustus in Rome, just after assuming unchallenged power over the ‘Republic’, after his Victory at Actium in 31 BCE. He lasted until 14AD. Does this suggest an element of pessimism in his character or just careful planning?
Just imagine if Octavian as he then was had died in Egypt of disease in 30BCE, it seems highly likely that the Roman Republic would have continued to tear itself apart with Civil Wars and the apparent inevitability and stability of the Roman Empire created by Augustus and Agrippa might never have happened. Thus the 5 stars in the ‘other’ category. Just think what if…..
It was circular in plan and consists of concentric rings of brick. It was planted with cypresses and probably capped with with a status of Augustus. There were burial spaces in vaults inside and granite obelisks flanked the arched entry.
We know that Marcellus, Agrippa, Drusus, Octavia Minor, Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar were interred there before Augustus. After him the ashes of Livia (his wife), Germanicus, Agrippina, Nero and Drusus sons of Germanicus, Caligula, Tiberius, Claudius, Britannicus and Nerva were interred there.
There is a story that in Alaric’s Sack of Rome in 410, that the ashes of the imperial family were scattered on the ground as the Goths made off with the urns. However there appears to be no corroboration for this. The Mausoleum was used as castle in the middle ages, became successively a bull ring and a theatre, until cleared by Mussolini with the newly reconstructed Ara Pacis alongside. After the War it was allowed to fall into shame-fall neglect, although at last renovations seem to be underway, financed by a Telco.
At present the site is closed during reconstruction works.
Roman Sites 