Augustus of Prima Porta
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Augustus of Prima Porta
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Augustus of Prima Porta.
Augusto di Prima Porta is a 6 ft high marble statue of Augustus Caesar, the first and one of the most significant emperors of Ancient Rome.
It was discovered in 1863 in the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta, near Rome. Augustus Caesar's wife Livia Drusilla, now known as Julia Augusta, retired to the villa after his death. The sculpture is now displayed in the Vatican Museums.
Augustus was both the first Roman Emperor and the one ruled longest. Born Gaius Octavius Turinus, he was adopted by his great uncle Iulius Caesar when he was nineteen and took his family name becoming Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus until he became emperor and was finally known as Imperator Caesar Augustus. The different names are used when referring to his different ages.
His rule was the beginning of what we call the Pax Romana, 200 years of relative peace throughout the empire, never seen before or ever repeated so far. He was deified after his death at age 75 and his names Caesar and Augustus became part of the title of the following rulers. The eighth month of the year bears his name as the seventh does that of his great uncle.
A man of two millennia ago whose influence has reached us in the present.
More Roman images at https://weston-westmoreland.pixels.com/collections/rome
Weston Westmoreland
Uploaded
February 5th, 2019
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