2. The Ara Pacis

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we look at the Ara Pacis, an altar dedicated to the goddess Pax (‘Peace’) that was built to commemorate the return of Augustus to Rome after three years in Hispania and Gaul, but which no doubt also evoked the end of civil war after Augustus’ defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battles of Actium (31 BC) and Alexandria (30 BC).

All digital modelling and 3D images are (c) Dr Matthew Nicholls, University of Reading. 2015. All rights reserved.

Course

Before the Emperor Augustus died in 14 AD, he boasted that he had found Rome a city of brick, but left it a city of marble. In this course, Professor Matthew Nicholls (University of Reading) explores Augustus’ rebuilding of the city of Rome through his award-winning digital model of the city. After a brief introduction to Augustus’ rise to power and his building programme as a whole, we turn to individual monuments, including the Ara Pacis, The Forum Romanum, The Forum Augustum, The Mausoleum of Augustus, and the various leisure and entertainment buildings that were constructed in the Campus Martius.

All digital modelling and 3D images are (c) Prof. Matthew Nicholls, University of Reading. 2015. All rights reserved.

To continue exploring the architecture and history of Rome with Prof. Matthew Nicholls, a free online course is now available on Futurelearn.

Lecturer

Matthew Nicholls is a visiting professor of classics at the University of Reading and Senior Tutor at St John's College, Oxford, specialising in the political and social history of the Romans, and the way the built environments of Rome and cities around the empire expressed their values and priorities. In 2014, Matthew was presented with a Guardian Teaching Award for his 'Virtual Rome' project, a digital model of the city of Rome, showing the city as it appeared in c. AD 315.