1 Earliest Rome

4· R E L I G I O U S P L A C E S
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4.2 The temple of Mars Ultor (the Avenger) and the Forum of
Augustus
From the late Republic on, there was a scries of extravagant building programmes
in the city of Rome. Often centred on a temple, they were in part
designed to enhance the claims to power of the politician or emperor who
founded them: the theatre of Pompey, for example, with its temple of Venus
Victrix (Giver of Victory); the Forum of Caesar with its temple of Venus
Genetrix (the Ancestress). By far the best documented of these is the Forum of
Augustus with its temple of Mars Ultor, which (at least according to later
Roman tradition) was vowed by the future emperor Augustus in 42 B.C. before
the battle of Philippi (fought against the assassins of Julius Caesar). It was dedicated
in 2 B.C.
See further: Vol. 1, 122-3, 145, 199-201 (for the developments of Pompey,
Caesar and Augustus); Vol. 1, Map 1 no. 9; Zanker (1968); Walker and
Burnett (1981) 29-32*; Kaiser Augustus (1988) 149-99; Zanker (1988)
194-205, 210-15*; Herbert-Brown (1994) 95-108; for Augustan temple
building in general, see Vol. 1, 196-201; Gros (1976).
4.2a Plan of the Forum of Augustus and its sculptural decoration
The character of the Forum of Augustus was partly traditional, partly highly
innovative. The basic plan of a temple set on a high platform at one end of a
paved precinct had traditional Italian roots. But the elaborate colonnades,
"semi-circular exedrae (apsed bays) and many of the decorative details (all faced
in white or coloured marble) owed their inspiration to the Greek world. Most
striking of all was the profusion of sculpture throughout the whole scheme.
There was only one statue of Augustus himself, in a chariot in the centre of
the Forum. But it was he who provided the link between all the other varied
sculpture. Statues of Venus, for example, in the temple eella and on the pediment,
called to mind the claims ot the emperors family to be descended from
the goddess. The central cult image of Mars Ultor alluded to the god's protection
of Augustus' family - particularly Mars' role in avenging Caesar's murder;
while a statue of Julius Caesar (now divas Julius) must also have stood somewhere
in the temple, asserting the divine status of Augustus' adoptive father.
Most of the sculpture is now losr. For surviving traces, see notes below. For
a long poetic account which provides the basis of a reconstruction of the sculptural
scheme, see Ovid, Fasti v.545-99.