Symbology of Augustus of Prima Porta’s breastplate..docx

Augustus: Propaganda and power CL2663 Passages for comments Candidate number:09064
Explain the symbology of Augustus of Prima Porta's breastplate. Before analizying in details the historical and figurative meaning of the breastplate, it's relevant to give some informations about the background of the statue of the Augustus of Prima Porta. This iconic statue was with a high evidence built up in 20 BC with a celebrative meaning, relating to the victory over the Parthians, and was discovered few miles far from Rome in the villa of Augustus' wife Livia Drusilla. Augustus achieved the goal while his predecessors failed At first sight this can be regarded as an usual portrait of Augustus as an imperator, that means the owner of military power. He wears a cuirass, called torax and brings a consular baton. What can be said about his pose? He stands in a peculiar contrapposto pose which can be estimated reasonably similar to Polykleitos' Doryphoros, in particular looking at the balance of the legs. It's easily knowledgeable that the two characters were idealized as youthful and perfect individuals, conveying the idea of the connection between art and propaganda. The emperor Augustus was used to describe himself as a young Greek athlet, even though he was a middle- age man when the statue was commissioned. At this point it's remarkable to focus on the web of allegorical meanings starting from the images of Cupid and the dolphin on Augustus' lower right side. Cupid, or Eros, which is the baby-god of love, son of Venus, highlights deeply the fact that Julius Caesar, the adoptive father of Augustus' claims his descendence from Aeneas and Venus. But the most complex and interesting part to describe is the breastplate, carved in relief with a lot of small figures, that are objects of debate still at the present time. From the top it is possible to notice gods and personifications, who stand close the emperor as Caelus and Sol, the last one driving a four horse chariot. The message they aim to convey represent a tribute to Pax Romana, that shines on all the citizens of the empire. On both sides of the breastplate personifications of the conquered countries, for istance on the left a figure of Hispania(Spain) and at the right a female barbarian. Underneath the female personification the images of the two principal deities of Roman religion, Apollo and Diana with their own attributes: the lyre and a stag. At the lowest part of the cuirass the personification of the earth goddess Tellus, who holds a cornucopia, symbol of fertility and wellness. At the end of the commentary it's compulsory to explain the meaning of the central scene of the cuirass with the description of the returning of roman standards. The figures on the right might be identified, for the majority of the studies on this argument, as a Parthian barbarian because of his outfit: he wears a tunic and baggy trousers. It is presumed that it can be associated to the Parthian king Phraates IV. He is carrying a Roman standard, which was missed by the Roman general Cassius. The man on the left, who receives the standard, wears a military uniform, a cuirass, an helmet and military shoes and probably identifies Tiberius, who was Augustus' mediator in the victory over the Parthians.


Bibliography:
Harald Ingholt, "The Prima Porta Statue of Augustus, Part II: The Location of the Original,"Archaeology, vol. 22, 1969, pp. 304-318.
Heinz Kähler, The Art of Rome and her Empire, New York, 1965.
Diana E.E. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, New Haven & London, 1992.
Allan Klynne and Petter Liljenstolpe, "Where to Put Augustus? A Note on the Placement of the Prima Porta Statue," American Journal of Philology, vol. 121, 2000, pp. 121-128.
John Pollini, "The Augustus from Prima Porta and the Transformation of the Polykleitan Heroic Ideal: The Rhetoric of Art," in Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and Tradition, ed. by Warren G. Moon, Madison, Wisconsin, 1995, pp. 262-282.
Jane Clark Reeder, "The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta and the Underground Complex," in Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History, vol. 8, ed. by Carl Deroux, Brussels, 1997, pp. 287-308.










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