Via Labicana Augustus at The Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris by RMN

Description

This large marble sculpture was given its name after being found in the Via Labicana, an ancient road of Italy leading east-southeast from Rome. The road entered Rome through the Aurelian walls via the ancient monumental gate of Porta Prenestina where the sculpture could have originated from. The sculpture is also known as Augustus as The Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in Ancient Rome. The Pontifex Maximum was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 245 BC, when a plebeian first occupied the post. A distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office. After Julius Caesar´s assassination in 44 BC and Marcus Aemlilius Lepidus´s political exile, Augustus was given the roint to appoint other pontifices which lead to the creation of this sculpture. It is a significant statue because it adds another aspect to Augustus´self-representation; not only is he the politcal head of the Roman Empire, he is also the religious head of it. In the Rae Gestae 19-20 he talks about all of his religious benefactions to the city of Rome, such as building temples for "Minerva, Queen Juno and Jupiter Libertas". Augustan representations in statue form are highly controlled to the extent that there are only three or four different subgroups; based on features such as the detail of the hairstyle this may be…