Portrait of the Emperor Augustus in the Princeton University Art Museum, August 2009

Portrait of the Emperor Augustus
ca. 27 – 1 B.C.

Augustan
27 B.C. - 14 A.D.

Carrara marble

h. 40.5 cm., w. 23.2 cm., d. 24.0 cm. (15 15/16 x 9 1/8 x 9 7/16 in.)

Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund

Object Number: 2000-308

Text from: artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/collections/ancient/search/


Gaius Octavius, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, won the civil war that followed Caesar's murder in 44 BC, defeating Marc Anthony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. Proclaimed "Augustus" by the Senate in 27 BC, he ruled not as emperor but as princeps, "first citizen," maintaining the outward forms of the old Republican constitution but dominating public life through his control of the army and such traditional offices as Tribune and Pontifex Maximus (chief priest). Augustus secured the borders of the empire, reformed the civil administration, inaugerated numerous public works, and ushered in an era of peace and prosperity that survived his death in AD 14. His official portraits, of which several types have been identified, were instruments of imperial propaganda, erected in public spaces throughout the empire. This over-lifesize portrait was inserted into a separately carved body representing the ruler as a statesman wearing a toga or as a soldier clad in armor.

Text from the Princeton University Art Museum label.