Mausoleum the Mausoleum of Augustus

Pollak 1 Andrew Pollak Dr. Kondratieff Ancient City: Augustan Rome 11/14/2011 Augustus: Mausoleum The Mausoleum of Augustus was finished in 28 BCE. It was a marvel of the world and Rome. It demonstrated to the Romans that Augustus was a Roman through and through, and would be a Roman even after he died, unlike Antony who was to be entombed in Alexandria. Augustus, the master of propaganda, had figured out on his first try how to make both a monument to honor himself and Rome herself. The Mausoleum of Augustus was the first example of Augustus’ new Post-Civil War “authentic Roman” persona. Symbolically, the Mausoleum was built by “Augustus” and not by “Octavian.” Today only the interior walls of the Mausoleum exist, therefore we must rely on the ancient sources to explicate exactly what it looked like from the outside. Strabo describes the Mausoleum as “a great mound near the river on a lofty foundation of white marble, thickly covered with ever-green trees to the very summit. Now on top is a bronze image of Augustus Caesar.” 1 From that description, one can imagine that above the Mausoleum's tall white base, because of the trees, there was a thick plot of soil ascending to the top; however, because no one can truly know how the Mausoleum looked any reconstructions are purely conjecture. (See Fig. 1-3) There is some clue as to the outside decoration of the Mausoleum from both ancient authors and modern excavations. Suetonius writes that in Augustus' will, Augustus left instructions for 1 Strab. 5.3.8. Pollak 2 bronze tablets which contained his Res Gestae to be placed near the entrance.2 The outer wall was originally faced with travertine.3 In his Rerum Gestarum, Ammianus Marcellinus mentions two obelisks were placed at the Mausoleum, however he says that they were placed much later and they are absent from Strabo's description, which means Augustus did not raise them.4 As for the interior of the Mausoleum, the concentric rings that make support for the massive conical tumulus were linked with walls “[creating] enclosed spaces that would have been filled with earth, leaving a very limited amount of interior space accessible to the visitor.”5 (See Fig. 4) There is a single path which visitors could enter the Mausoleum, which led to a circular corridor which has a small pathway into a second interior annular hall, which led finally into the burial chamber.6 It is important to ask when the Mausoleum was built because Octavian changed the way he presented himself. Zanker argues that gradually after Philippi, the young Octavian presented himself more as an adherent of Apollo, while Antony took the guise of Dionysus and traced his family back to Hercules.7 Susan Walker proposes that Octavian's early portraiture may have been inspired by Hellenistic royal images.8 After the first settlement in 27 BCE, he needed a new image of himself as to represent his identity as restorer of the Republic and savior from the Eastern Cleopatra and Antony.9 There is no question that the Mausoleum was completed in 28 2 “an account of what he had accomplished, which he desired to have cut upon bronze tablets and set up at the entrance to the Mausoleum” (Suet. Aug. 101) 3 Johnson, Mark, 'The Mausoleum of Augustus: Etruscan and other Influences on Its Design' in John Franklin Hall (ed.), Etruscan Italy: Etruscan Influences on the Civilization of Italy from Antiquity to the Modern Era, Brigham Young University and the Museum of Art, Provo, Utah, 1996. pp. 218. 4 Amm. 17.4.16. 5 Johnson, pp. 219. 6 Ibid.; Reeder, Jane Clark, 'Typology and Ideology in the Mausoleum of Augustus: Tumulus and Tholos', Classical Antiquity, vol. 11, no. 2, 1992, pp. 298, 27/09/2011, JSTOR. 7 Zanker, Paul. "Rival Images." The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. Trans. Alan Shapiro. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1990. 48,45-46. 8 Walker, Susan. Greek and Roman Portraits. British Museum Press, London. 1995. pp. 65-66. 9 Walker, pp. 66. Pollak 3 BCE as this is what Suetonius says.10 This was also the year in which the gardens surrounding the Mausoleum were opened to the public.11 In 27 BCE, Augustus’ reconstruction of the Via Flaminia to Rimini was completed.12 Reeder has argued that the statue on the top of the Mausoleum was meant to be a triumphal statue, which means that it must have been built in 29 BCE or later after his triple triumph for his actions in Illyricum, Actium and Alexandria.13 The idea that the Mausoleum was built after 29 BCE does not hold up when one considers that the massive size of the Mausoleum would have warranted several years to build, and since Suetonius says that the Mausoleum was completed in Augustus’ sixth consulship that year would be unacceptable.14 Rehak has argued that it is possible that though there was a statue planned from the beginning, based on the fact that there is a central pier for the statue to stand on, it may have originally been a non-triumphal statue. It could also have been a triumphal statue from an earlier triumph. One of the earlier dates for the start of construction for the Mausoleum is 32 BCE.15 32 BCE is the year that Octavian opened the will of Antony and read it aloud to the senate.16 This could mean that Octavian immediately saw the chance to augment his separation from the increasingly “Eastern,” Dionysian Antony and become the good “Roman.” The placement of the Mausoleum of Augustus is also an important issue to consider because where one was buried could show how prestigious a Roman was in life. There were several reasons to place the mausoleum in the Northern Campus Martius and in the exact spot 10 “[The Mausoleum] he had built in his sixth consulship [28 B.C.] between the Via Flaminia and the bank of the Tiber, and at the same time opened to the public the groves and walks by which it was surrounded.” (Suet. Aug. 100.) 11 Rehak, Paul ed. by John G. Younger, Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 2006. pp. 36.; Suet. Aug. 100. 12 Rehak, pp. 36. 13 Reeder, pp. 272 14 Rehak, pp. 36. 15 Rehak, pp. 37. 16 Rehak, pp. 37.; Suet. Aug. 17.; Plut. Ant. 58.3; Dio. 50.1 Pollak 4 where it was located. (See Fig. 5). At this time, the Northern Campus Martius was undeveloped.17 Many of the Augustan building projects were later built in the Northern Campus Martius for this reason.18 The symbolic significance of the Campus Martius was more important than its emptiness. Some have argued that the Northern Campus Martius was a major complex honoring Augustus.19 Rehak observes that visitors to the Northern Campus Martius in 14 CE, would not see the torrent of people running about attempting to live in the bustling city that they would see in the city proper and newly developed Southern Campus Martius.20 Instead, guests could visit the gardens, and behold the Ara Pacis, Horologium Augusti, and Mausoleum of Augustus.21 Due to the relative closeness of the three sites, some scholars have argued that the entire Northern Campus Martius was devoted to honoring Augustus22. Johnson however, refutes this claim by noting the eighteen-year gap between the construction of the Mausoleum of Augustus and the Ara Pacis and Horologium Augusti.23 Over the years, the Northern Campus Martius may have evolved into a monumentalized space honoring Augustus, but it was not one from the beginning. The majority of Augustus’ undertakings were carefully planned and based on precedent, and the placement of his Mausoleum was no different. The Campus Martius was a place for the monuments and tombs of great Romans: “Tomb of Romulus”24; Sulla the dictator25; the fallen consuls Hirtius and Pansa; 26 Julia, the daughter of Julius Caesar, beloved by the people, were among those who were entombed in the Campus Martius.27 These Romans were either beloved 17 Reeder, pp. 273.; Rehak, pp. 36. 18 Reeder, pp. 273 19 Rehak, pp. 142. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 Johnson, pp. 218. 23 Ibid. 24 Rehak, pp. 36. 25 Johnson, pp. 218.; App. BC 1.106.; Liv. Epit. 90.; Plut. Sulla 38. 26 Rehak, pp. 36.; Zanker, pp. 74.; Liv. Epit. 119.; . 27 Rehak, pp. 36.; Liv. Epit. 106.; Plut. Pomp. 53.; Plut. Caes. 23. Dio 39.64 Pollak 5 or greatly respected by the Roman populace, and thus deserved a place of honor. Octavian believed that he, too, deserved an honorable entombment; because it had been established that no one could be buried within the pomerium, the Campus Martius was the closest and most prestigious areas in which he could be build his tomb. The design of Augustus’ Mausoleum was also based on precedent. This is very similar to Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ description of Aeneas’ tomb.28 Was Octavian copying Aeneas’ tomb? Looking at his obsession with Aeneas, it is an apt hypothesis that Octavian had Aeneas’ tomb in mind when building his own. (See Fig. 6.) As Aeneas was a Trojan and “ancestor of the Romans and most directly of the Julii,” Augustus might have wanted to establish this visual connection to Aeneas’ tomb.29 The tomb of Aeneas, which is also claimed to be a heroon and not a tomb, “was meant to honor the man and his deeds.”30 Similarly, Augustus, having stated in his will that his Res Gestae were to be positioned on the Mausoleum, made his Mausoleum a monument to honor his deeds.31 It may be argued that the Mausoleum was a monument to honor his deeds from the beginning of its construction or from a revision; especially if one considers that it was built in the Campus Martius just opposite the starting area of the triumphs.32 Zanker believes the “shining white cylinder” of the Mausoleum could be viewed as “a monumental base for the statue of Augustus” situated on the top, which would have been gigantic.33 Rehak suggests other honorific themes in the Mausoleum: The surviving fragments of marble “preserves on the underside the Egyptian corona atef pattern between two coffers, while one of the coffers carries in relief a type 28 Rehak, pp.

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