Author Description

The Roman revolution of Augustus manages to achieve the restitutio rei publicae, as an element of security and social tranquility. The most important body of the government, the senate, therefore takes on greater importance, in that interacts with Princeps. The erection of the Ara Pacis was the monumental symbol of the new Augustan "golden age". Augustus built the house-temple complex or Domus Augusta right on the Palatine Hill. This new power structure, both public and private, is a new area of mediation between Princeps and society. The charge of Pontifex maximus ensured a privileged bond with the divinity and with Rome. Even the women of the imperial domus begin to play a fundamental role in the progressive creation of a divine domus Augusta, which becomes the basis of the dynastic cult. It is no coincidence that Livia is the first priestess of cult of the star Augustus. The new Augustan “golden age” is celebrated with a vast program of public works in the Urbs and the Empire. Augustus very quickly understood the importance of visual communication, with which the new regime had to present itself.In the literary work Res gestae, in keeping with the construction of his sacred role, Augustus boasts his merits of a religious nature.